How is the foundation holding up? Have u had the house tested for mold since the move in? How did it turn out? Really would like to try this out. Have you built anymore houses like this? What did they think of it?
Material cost for the 4 layers of sheet material will be $6 - $7 p/sf. Material cost for 4" Concrete with 4" EPS at about $5-$6 p/sf (dependent on reinforcement req). Big DIY advantage goes to the plywood/EPS system; consider using a Permanent Wood Foundation to eliminate 100% of concrete. PWF also DIY friendly. Perhaps an insulated concrete slab would prove advantageous by adding heat-sink value in colder climates.
I"m lazy can I skip the 2" of gravel on the ground and just put a little sand down to level it out and then a vapor barrier, then foam then wood? the vapor barrier would stop any capilary action. Charlotte, NC
there's virtually no give. no one will notice it's "softer" then concrete given the 10 minutes of walking across a floor people typiically do per day. lets face it most of the time you are sitting down
@Josh Salinger Hello I was wondering if I could have a conversation with you on Concrete Slab, with radiant floor heating with rigid foam and plastic barrier, our building also might be out of Order too??? We live in New England and We being my Wife and I are designing and going to be building an OFF-grid home. I am trying to source out the most efficient and economical and strong I.C.F for our Foundation and I am trying to reach out to people that actually have used them with good results... When you contact a manufacture they all down play their competitors in the worst way to survive !!! As I have built before and this will be my first ever use of I.C.F's I want to take a consensus of Real Users to be honest!!! Liked#52!!!
Well done; thanks for the great details (drawn and photos) and lessons learned! Videos like this help make low embodied carbon doable; thank you!
How is the foundation holding up? Have u had the house tested for mold since the move in? How did it turn out? Really would like to try this out. Have you built anymore houses like this? What did they think of it?
Material cost for the 4 layers of sheet material will be $6 - $7 p/sf.
Material cost for 4" Concrete with 4" EPS at about $5-$6 p/sf (dependent on reinforcement req).
Big DIY advantage goes to the plywood/EPS system; consider using a Permanent Wood Foundation to eliminate 100% of concrete. PWF also DIY friendly.
Perhaps an insulated concrete slab would prove advantageous by adding heat-sink value in colder climates.
Ya very surprised after saying how bad concrete was that they didn’t use a PWF
I"m lazy can I skip the 2" of gravel on the ground and just put a little sand down to level it out and then a vapor barrier, then foam then wood? the vapor barrier would stop any capilary action. Charlotte, NC
How much compacting do you need to do of the earth and then of the gravel?
I've been thinking about combining this with permanent wood foundations for concrete-free basements. :+ )
Great into to a new technique! Prefab wall would make not having a deck to frame on a non-issue. Have you considered SIPs or off-site built walls?
Any possibilities on a garage floor application w/o a concrete slab?
Road grime would get into the seams u can wash concrete
Does this have advantages over a Frost Protected Shallow Foundation? Could we use a shallow grade beam around a concrete-less slab?
How much give would the floors have? Would things shake or rattle as you walk? Or is it subtle enough that you wouldn’t notice?
there's virtually no give. no one will notice it's "softer" then concrete given the 10 minutes of walking across a floor people typiically do per day. lets face it most of the time you are sitting down
@Josh Salinger Hello I was wondering if I could have a conversation with you on Concrete Slab, with radiant floor heating with rigid foam and plastic barrier, our building also might be out of Order too??? We live in New England and We being my Wife and I are designing and going to be building an OFF-grid home. I am trying to source out the most efficient and economical and strong I.C.F for our Foundation and I am trying to reach out to people that actually have used them with good results... When you contact a manufacture they all down play their competitors in the worst way to survive !!! As I have built before and this will be my first ever use of I.C.F's I want to take a consensus of Real Users to be honest!!! Liked#52!!!
Do you need to dig down to solid earth before placing the gravel?
Are you able to do radiant flooring with this?
I had the same thought. I wonder about the possibility of using Warmboard for the upper plywood layer.
sure why not?
How is the insulation in the garage? How many psi so a car won't compress it
regular 25psi should work fine, they do make 60psi foam as well
Would you be able to do this with post frame?
sure why not