32' x 62' ICF Home in North GA

[gbennett]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking for some time reading up on all the great threads here on the forums. Helps to motivate when you see all the other great owner builder projects.  Being as we are close to starting our house project I figured I'd share it with everyone

The wife and I purchased 8 acres and we're planning to build an ICF home on the property. My goal is to make it as energy efficient as the budget will allow.

This will be an all cash project so the plan is to do as much work our self's as possible. I have trade friends I will call on when needed but we should be able to do a good amount of the work.

The budget is $70,000 to do everything including house, septic and well drilling but does not include the land purchased. I've played with the numbers a lot and I think I can swing it but we'll see. Worst case we'll get it dried in this year and just wait until next to finish it if needed.

Basic plans are: 32'-6" x 62'-6" slab foundation, ICF walls, vinyl siding, truss roof with open cell spray foam under roof decking, with a metal roof.

I'm keeping very good records of everything down to the cent so I'll try and keep a running total of the project here on the forums for others to see what a project like this would cost.

Here's the numbers as of now:
      
Land Clearing/Tree Removal       $2300.00             
Skid Steer Gas, Hydro Oil, Etc.       $150.00       
Temporary Toilet Permit          $100.00          
Septic Permit                          $300.00          
Porta-John / Temp Toilet               $64.00 per month   

Total: $2914 as of 4/25/13

Here's a picture of the floor plan.



            

[gbennett]

Here are a few pictures of the property and a little history.

The previous owner lived on the property without electric or running water. We have no idea how he got water. Our best guess is he got it from the small creek that runs down the back property line. The son (person we purchased the property from) said he was raised on the property dirt poor in a small shack (the son removed the shack before we purchased the land).

These pictures are when we purchased the property before we did any clearing.







For some reason I can only post 3 pictures at a time. 

[MushCreek]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! I'm doing a similar build not far away in upstate SC. Although our footprint is only 1250 square feet, we built on a full basement, so in reality it's more like 2500 sq ft. I expect we will be well over $100K by the time we move in. We went full ICF on the basement as well. Do you have an experienced ICF contractor to work with? How much do you know about the process? I was lucky enough to have a full-time ICF contractor living only a mile away, and he has been invaluable for all kinds of detailed advice about designing and stacking the walls. I rented braces from him, and paid his crew to do the actual pouring. With $10,000 worth of materials at stake, I wanted it done right. I used Fox Blocks, and got excellent results. I'm assuming you're going to do much of your own work? If so, I can give you lots of advice, and suggestions for tools and equipment.

[gbennett]

Jay,

Thanks for the advice offer. I will defiantly be taking you up on it. I've been doing a lot of research on ICF's so I feel comfortable with everything but the pour. We'll be using BuildBlocks. The BB distributor has been a huge help. We found an ICF contractor that will be renting me his bracing. Him and his guys will be doing the pour. I plan to do all the stacking, bracing setup, and door and window bucking. He'll come out and verify everything is square and plumb then do the pour.

I hope it's okay to post links to other websites. I found this website to be a huge help on ICF's: http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Forums/tabid/53/afv/topicsview/aff/4/Default.aspx

What was the name of your contractor? Mine is up in the SC area.

[MushCreek]

My contractor is Travis Anderson. He always uses Fox. Good to hear you are working with a pro. What are you planning to use for window bucks? I used PT lumber, ripped to fit inside the forms. I screwed galvanized lag bolts in, leaving a few inches plus the head sticking out towards the concrete to anchor everything in place. I made my window openings 11" larger the rough-out, and designed a build-up so I can make tapered window flares. This helps negate the tunnel effect you can get from the thick walls. Other strategies are to set the windows further into the wall. My house is traditional outside, so I didn't want to inset the windows. I have pics of the design, and a window which I mocked up to see how it will look when done. If you want to do anything 'different', you really need to plan carefully before the walls are poured. Its a lot easier to fill in an opening that's too wide rather than trying to widen one that's too small! You'll need to select all of your windows and doors to  plan the openings. I have a build thread going on here if you want to see pics. 33 X 43 ICF build in SC. Feel free to PM if you want to email directly about details.

I go on greenbuildingtalk regularly- good group over there (as well as here).

[gbennett]

After fighting with the county about ICF use I finally gave up on using ICF's. My county just does not understand ICF technology and refused to listen to reason. They just kept on about termite protection. They would not pass anything unless I agreed to use non wood materials in the house. I would have to use metal studs and metal trusses ($$$).

We decided to just go conventional. Poured basement with 2x4 construction.

[MushCreek]

Ummm... they do know that termites eat wooden homes, right? There can be termite issues with ICF, though, and you can't see them as they tunnel through the foam. Like any other home that has wood products of any kind, you have to put barriers in place and be vigilant about ground treatment. Coming from FL, I know a lot about termites. We had them in our masonry home!

Moving forward, I'd go 2X6 on the walls, and use exterior foam over your sheathing as a thermal break. Even in your mild climate, you still have cold weather once in a while, not to mention very hot weather in the summer.