ICF - Be Aware, Part 1

Entitling this "Part 1" because I'm 100% sure during the process there will be things that have been overlooked.

If you're not familiar with ICFs (short for Insulated Concrete Forms) it's basically a more green way of building that is also a secure structure in severe weather, which The South is famous for.  Not to mention your energy bills are fantastic, and you generally recoup the increased cost over a stick-build within a 5-year period.  We are not excessively knowledgeable about green builds, but after researching the cost vs. benefit of things like geothermal, solar, LED, etc, the cost-effectiveness and quality of an ICF home was a no-brainer in comparison.  Our shell (translation: exterior walls) is being built with ICFs but with that comes a bit of forethought.   So far it's been an interesting process to watch, kind of like foam legos, and if you look at the earlier post of 1/25/13 you'll see things that I have made note of in advance.   Here are things to make note of re: ICFs too:

1.  Noted all HVAC, electrical and plumbing lines so that the holes can be punched into the foam BEFORE the concrete is poured into the walls.  I'm so glad I remembered the hose bibs!  And a chase between the upper & lower floors in case future wiring needs to be done, so that it can be done without much issue. My HVAC guy almost forgot I needed an ERV, too.

2.  Windows in general - where the rough openings are for the windows is where most mistakes will occur.  so, it's extremely important to check! check! check! the rough openings.   In hindsight, I wish my GC would have double-checked the very first window rough opening BEFORE they were all done, because there were a few pages the ICF installers did not double-check on the architectural plans and at the end,  5 windows had to be moved by mere inches and we were almost charged an excessive change order.  Checking the very first window would have set a precedent for all the others and avoided this, as well as even more-detailed architectural specifics on the plan.  You can bet we will be more conscientious of this when the second floor goes up, to make sure everyone is on the same page as to where their measurements are coming from. 

3.  Corner windows - our architect specified several corner windows that didn't have a lot of space in between at the corner.  this presented a challenge for an ICF build, however, unless we wanted to get into a lot of expense/delays figuring out steel posts in between for support, etc.  we resolved this by giving up a little bit of space in between the windows, where an ICF will separate it now, and not have to a complicated support issue  it's barely any space to give up so it thankfully wasn't a big deal - you can see the two black lines drawn near the corner where the windows will be begin on each side:

4.  Look at the work being done!  My builder and I just happened to be out there with the subcontractors going over all the holes for plumbing and I glanced up, only to notice that a 2nd story window had actually been placed on the first floor, which hadn't been noticed yet.  What a disaster that would have been!  This goes back to number 2 above:  make sure to check and re-check your window chart and plan repeatedly.  Your architect cannot be too over-specific.