John Grabowski wrote:

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

"John Grabowski" wrote in message
I have a customer who built most of his house out of insulated
concrete forms. One dormer and the roofs are made from insulated
panels. He said he would never do it again except for the
foundation. The house is very well insulated and his heating and
cooling bills are low. However because of plumbing and electrical
requirements he needed to build walls inside of the concrete walls.
He said he wound up paying for two walls where he only needed one.

Sounds like more of a case of poor design and planning. Thousands of
houses are build with ICFs every year with no problem. Different
materials call for different methods.


I was thinking the same thing when I first saw the place and knowing
this guy. Unfortunately at the time he was not able to find a lot of
contractors, designers, architects, and engineers who had experience
with this type of construction.


IMHO, there is no advantages to using 'ICFs' over 'sips' above grade
unless you live in hurricane country or maybe tornado alley. I'm in
Wisconsin

Sips structures are cheaper and faster to construct......7-9 a sq ft v
10-15 for ICFS and offer much better insulation value.

My idea is to build a full ICF basement with 10' walls and chase all the
mechanicals above a suspended ceiling into a sips construction main
floor walls and roof.

YMMV

Curly