The attached pictures are the footings to an ICF house being built on the Oregon coast (not a project of mine, but adjacent to one of mine). This is a flat site with good soil (top foot is silty, but underneath is great bearing material). The house is to be two stories without a basement. The ground floor will be a slab on grade, so the footings are supporting the first floor exterior walls, the second floor and the roof. The house footprint is about 40’x40′ and the garage is about 30’x40′.
The footings are all at least 4′ wide and 18″ thick. A majority are over 6′ wide and some on the garage are 10′ wide!! The fooing in the middle of the house for a column load is 10’x10’x20″ thick! I have placed a 2′ long level in the pics for scale. They needed over 120 cubic yards of concrete to pour just the footings.
Can’t wait to see the rest of the construction!
Replies
Maybe it's a Passive House? They don't seem to care anything about what thye cost. Or then again it may be a project of some state or Federal agency. They don't care either. Or maybe some moron misread the specs. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before.
"an ICF house being
"an ICF house being built"
That's what they WANT you to believe.
On the Coast, Huh?
They must be building to the 1,000-year wave rule then. Sure isn't gonna move when the Big One hits!
WOW
Oregon Coast earthquake code!!
All depends on what the wall above needs to do. As you can see, that would be grossly inadequate for my rear wall.
Florida, houses like mine typically cost considerably less to build than stick-built. Lots of concrete and steel, the rest is cheap. Not to mention that we have no heating or cooling system to buy, maintain, or feed.
More Pictures....
Well, after almost a year of construction, the house has now got the first floor ICF walls up....and I mean up! The height of the first floor to the bottom of the second floor "framing" is 12' - and that's 2' above the footings - the walls shown in the pictures are 14' tall and there's another story and roof deck to go! The concrete is 8" thick between the ICF panels - not the overall wall thickness, but just the concrete...
The second floor deck is being constructed of preformed foam panels. When the concrete deck is poured, it will form a series of reinforced concrete channels. This seem like a really expensive and impractial idea between interior floors....why not a simple truss system and pour a slab of the top? Like everything I have seen about this project so far....???
Finally, what's with all the blocks of foam sitting around....hundreds of them.....they are about 12"x18"x48"...
Remember -- in that house no one can hear you scream.
No buried walls....this house is just off the view, so I am sure they are building as high as the zoning will allow to get a view from the upper floor. I have also heard about a roof deck on the top. The only problem is the wind blows like crazy here 360 days a year....this along with a 25-30' tall uphill slope toward this house, really accelerates the wind velocity (like wind over an airplane wing). My clients put a wind guage on their house just after completion and it hit '99' (only had 2 digits) 3 times in December. View will be nice, but only for a few minutes or a couple of days a year.
I also attached another pic...this one of the scaffolding being constructed next to the garage (the structure to the rear in the other photos) for what I think is a concrete bridge between the second floors of the house and the garage - .
The lesson for today is: 'Invest in a nicer lot'
Update on Construction
Here's an update on the ICF construction...amazing...
The first floor walls are 14' tall total....12' from the first floor slab to the bottom of the first floor construction. They are using the preformed foam floor panels as seen in some of the earlier pictures. In the last update, there were also pallets of foam blocks sitting all over the site. The blocks are about 12" x 16" x 48". Turns out, these are being glued to the top of the floor panels between the preformed channels at the edges and reinforcement is added in the slab and at the bottom of these now deep channels. Concrete is poured over the entire assembly forming a 5" thick slab and concrete "joists" at about 2' on center. The overall height of this assembly is 24" thick of foam and concrete. See the attached floor detail sketch.
In addition, these slabs also cantilever 10' on all sides of the house and the "detatched" garage. There is now a 30' wide "bridge" that connects the upper floor of the house to the upper floor of the garage. There will be a guest house over the garage that will now be level with the upper floor of the house. These cantilivers and bridge make up almost 4000 s.f. of exterior deck space.
Finally, this entire system will be duplicated again...the upper floor walls witll be 12' tall again and a 2' thick roof structure identical to the upper floor/deck with 10' cantilevers will be added - forming a roof garden almost 8,000 s.f.
There are hundreds of 4x4 columns purchased by the owner just to support the foam floor panels as shoring. The floor and deck concrete pour is coming next.
Surely this is one of the most wasteful and incomprehensible efforts I have seen in a long time. They could have completed a conventional house months ago and for less money than they have spent already.
Floor Detail
I have attached a jpeg of the detail to make viewing easier...
waste?
Why would they waste the money on cutting the ICF in half to insulate the footing. They still had to brace the footing. Should have used a 18'' Wall form and lay it on its side and brace that. Much cheaper. Money is no object to some. Let us know why such large footings, maybe they're putting a wind turbine ontop of the house. haha
waste?
Why would they waste the money on cutting the ICF in half to insulate the footing. They still had to brace the footing. Should have used a 18'' Wall form and lay it on its side and brace that. Much cheaper. Money is no object to some. Let us know why such large footings, maybe they're putting a wind turbine ontop of the house. haha
Deja Vu
This reminds me of the 1st chapter of my odyssey with ICF. Plans called for footings so large I thought they duplicated the footings for the Bay Bridge. I never built the house. Now with a new simplified house plan (2 story, 10' walls each floor), I am reconsidering.
Update...never build a foam house in a windy area!!
A few pic's from the site....
Once upon a time there were 4 little pigs. One build a home of straw, another built one from sticks, another from bricks and the final piggy built his from foam. Along came a wind storm. 3 little piggies lived happily ever after. THE END
They are still only at the first floor - looks like a step backwards!
So is this some guy only working on weekends or what?
cantilevered concrete decks?
bad idea. concrete creeps. gauranteed problem.
July 2015 update
Well, they're finally about ready to pour the upper floor slab. Ther vertical rebar is for the upper floor exterior walls (12' tall, 16" thick) to come next. If you've seen the previous posts....floor structure is made up of poured concrete with foam fomrs totalling 2' thick. Upper level walls and identical roof deck yet to come. The area around the exterior of the walls is a 10. cantilivered walkway/deck around the entire exterior and a 30'x30' covered area over the space between the detatched garage and the house.
Finally pouring...
More than twenty 10 to 12 yard concrete truckloads - over 200 cubic yards of concrete for just the second floor of this place!!! It's getting crazier every visit.
???
Im building a commercial space that is 110'x55' and we had a 5' slab and we were just under 100 yrds...how big is that place? or how think is that slab?
See sketch....
I attached a sketch that I posted a while back (sorry if it's turned sideway...everytime I rotate it - it turns sideway after it's saved).
There's about 7500 s.f. of slab area split equally between a garage and house. House is about 30'x40' with a cantilvered 10' deck on all sides (makes the pour 50'x60'). Garage/shop is a little bigger and it also has a cantilevered 10 deck on all sides, plus there's a 30' wide deck that connect the two at this second level. What makes the pour so big is the 'joists' formed by the foam panels and the 5" slab.
The whole thing is ridiculous...but sort of like watching a car wreck....can't stop looking..
Sketch....
Sorry...sketch didn't want to load...here's another try...
well when the zombie apocalypse comes, ill be headed there!
August 2015 update picture
Here's a fisheye picture of the second floor slab. The vertical rebar around the edge of the slab is for the handrail surrounding the entire floor. The ring of vertical rebar 10' in from the edge of the slab is for the future ICF 2nd floor exterior walls of the house. Also, in the distance you can see the second floor above the garage for the guest suite and the 30' wide 'bridge' that connects the two.
I found it interesting there's no difference between interior and exterior slab elevations. Seems like it will be a lot more difficult to waterproof that joint in a stormy, rainy climate on the Oregon coast - storms bringing 4" of rain a day and 90 plus mph winds...