Tools & Materials
Using ICFs in the FHB House Foundation
Insulated concrete forms are like Legos for builders.
Rather than setting up traditional form boards, pouring the concrete, then removing the form boards days later, the FHB House foundation walls rely on interlocking foam blocks that not only provide the form to fill with concrete, but also provide insulation that greatly outperforms the thermal resistance of solid concrete alone.
After you take a look at that time-lapse video of the site in progress, check out these articles for more details:
- Stacking the ICF Foundation
- A Fast Foundation for an Addition
- A Solid, Well-Insulated Foundation
- Building Stem Walls with Insulated Concrete Forms
View Comments
I wish you could have kept that film going to show all the way through the pour, the application of the stickers to the outside of the ICF's all the way out to backfilling. Regardless, you are my favorite magazine. I'm not even in the business anymore and I love it...JB
Thanks John. We added the links to other articles after you saw the original version, so hopefully you'll find more value that way. And we're looking to add more video all the time.
-- Mike Alterio, FHB Web Producer.
What a waste of time.
I agree the video is pretty worthless, there is no information in it, just a wide-angle timelapse.
to make a video like this worth something, add a clock to show how long the process takes. As John says, include the pour/finish time
Then have the same thing of other options (poured concrete, concrete blocks come to mind)
If you want to be really slick, show the three options in one screen 1/4 of the screen per option, with the 4th quarter showing the costs (equipment, labor, material)
Since the results are supposed to be comparable, find a builder somewhere who's building several identical houses and find sponsors for each foundation type to fund the building of three identical foundations.