Replies

1. 
   rez | May 14, 2005 06:13pm | #1

   Greetings REALTIGGE,

   Seeing you're a long time lurker I won't Welcome you to Breaktime. :o)

   This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.

   Perhaps it will catch someones attention that can help you with advice.

   Cheers

   This is purely a case of alien identity

2. 
   frenchy | May 14, 2005 09:35pm | #2

   THEREALTIGGE

       Base numbers seem to be nearly impossible to find,  I tried to do just that once and again last week.  Those in the profession are really reluctant to shoot numbers out for a variety of reasons.. (some are actually valid) 

     In general my experiance has been to do a quick calculation of materials  and ignore the variations in labor..   Never deduct for windows doors etc.  while you won't need material for those areas the labor of putting them in will more than eat up any material savings.

    In fact if you don't intend to do the work yourself Have a contractor look at your plans and give you an off the hip number, a budget number .  I promise you it won't be accurite but it's a starting point to see if you have a budget that can afford the idea..

     I assume that you live where heating/cooling isn't an issue  otherwise you'd be only looking at ICF's  Same with strength, hopefully you don't live in either a Tornado area or a Hurricane area since only ICF's seem to hold up well in those conditions..

     

1. 
   therealtigge | May 15, 2005 05:12pm | #3

   thanks frenchy - I AM in a hurricane area (Pensacola where IVAN landed)
   but the few AAC homes that were here all did well except those that were actually on the beach and got storm surge full force. acutally most of the houses of all kinds that were here did ok as far as strutural except for the roofs. I had a 2x6 t&g roof on 4x6 beams and had no roof damage at all. I wanted to do that again for the new house but the currant costs of wood beams and 2x6 T&G are staggering.rusti

1. 
   frenchy | May 15, 2005 07:14pm | #5

   I honestly can't comment about Florida building practices, except to note that to those of us in the northern climates your practices seem extremely weak..  Southern California which has similar weather (without the hurricane threat) has dramatically stronger construction requirements...

        I'm in love with either SIP construction or ICF construction.. due to their strength and insulational values.. I suppose electricty bills for air conditioning are really cheap in Florida compared to our gas bills for heating.. 

      The numbers published for both ICF and for SIP construction  are dramatically higher than those I've read about For Stick or AAC homes, in addition I've only seen one source of numbers for AAC construction and at a causual glance it didn't seem anyplace as strong as ICF construction..  Numbers were high but from a practical perspective I failed to understand where that strength came from.  To be fair I didn't spend a great deal of time studing AAC since there wasn't a source nearby and they had such weak insulational numbers compared to either SIP or ICF construction..

1. 
   therealtigge | May 17, 2005 02:02am | #6

   I had a long converstion with myself and I have to admit there are 2 big reason for wanting to go with AAC. I still think that the initial coast of ICF is going to be higher than I can handle (if I want to finish the rest of the house ;-} ) and the other reason is that I love to change things. If I decided in a couple of years that I need another window or that one of the ones I have is too small, I want to be able to jump in with my trusty recip saw and change it. ICF kind of looks eternal.

   I do, however hear what you're saying about R values. In Pensacola it's
   not the big deal that it is elsewhere. temps are usualy within 10-15 degress of the 70-75 range. two or three days a year we freeze (high 20's) and for the month of aug we sweat to death. high 90's with 90 %
   himidity. Otherwise it's pretty good. Non the less, I'd like to keep the energy bill as low as possible.If I do cave to the ICF choice, is it insane to insist on a crawl space instead of slab. Slab is another thing I don't like for several reasons.
   How do thay put the vents in?
   You probably have basements and don't know the answer do you? I remember basements from years ago when we lived in Va.
   Around here they are virtually nonexistant. We have either slab or crawl space 2 ft high which is vented all around. It's a great way
   to take care of the electric, plumbing and hvac lines when youdon't have a basement. Otherwise I've got to get creative with soffits or chases of some kind.
   thanks for listening to me being confused.

3. 
   CJD | May 15, 2005 05:53pm | #4

   I won't comment on material costs but be careful about AAC insulation claims. The actual static R value is about 1.1/inch. The numbers they prevalently quote are dynamic, meaning under certain circumstances where there are large temperature variations during a 24 hour period. There is a lot to like about AAC, in the right application. Use in environments that stay well above or below your desired internal temperature for days or weeks is not one of them.