Do you live in an ICF (concrete) house? (Williston: new home, construction)

[fargodave]

Hello,

Our family is looking at building a new home in the spring, and we are investigating ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) construction. So far we really haven't found any negative aspects of this construction method except that the building cost is higher ... but you get that back in energy efficiency savings.

What we are looking for is the opinions of anyone that's lived in an ICF house for a year or more. What are the pluses and minuses? If you had to start all over, would you do ICF again? Any other feedback?

Thanks!

[Roloff1976]

I have a friend in Williston that built one a couple years ago. He said the positives out way the negatives. The positives are the insulation, noise value. The negative was the cost (at that time)...but they figure that will pay for itself over the years with the amount they save on heating-cooling. The only other downfall was once the house was built, his wife decided she wanted a bigger window in the master bedroom...or possibly a french door...but because it was concrete, the cost to cut the opening bigger would have been expensive. So cosmetic changes to a concrete house could become a negative.

[kosnebbear]

Have you taken a look at building a nice steel building instead. They now have panels that offer you insulation rating of over R-30. It is a lot cheaper than ICF. You can add on at a later date with much less cost. Also you can build it large enough to have a nice size home inside with a basement and have a garage area where you can park four or more vehicles inside out of the weather. You can even add more insulation to increase the "R" rating if you like. They have several different colors to chose from and styles of steel panels. The panels come in any length that you like. Construction of a steel building takes less time as well. Steel also will stand up to about anything that North Dakota or any other state on the high plains weather can throw at it. No you will not hear hail hitting the roof any more than any other roof. Just a thought for you to look at.

[olende]

We have lived in an ICF home for almost 2 years. It is the only way to go. Cheap to heat, cheap to cool and very quiet. If you get the right contractor, ICF construction is competitive with stick-built___ and way more efficient. If you are interestetd, let me know. Come look at our house, see our utility billx and compare our cost of construction.

[wolfeyes]

We live in North Carolina and built our house with PolySteel Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs)..We bought our forms through here..>> Moderator cut: cannot post link to advertisement "polysteel"
It is much better than a regular stick built home! Didn't cost allot to build (the most expensive part of the build is the inside design such as kitchen cabinets, bathroom stuff, flooring, painting,...etc...), It's Very energy efficient, sturdy built and very quiet..We built the house ourselves 8 years ago (even the kids helped)..it is like putting Lego's together. 5 bedrooms 3.5 bath over 4000 sqft..(Basement exterior is 12 and half inches thick..the two upper floors are 10inches thick). Our power bill usually runs 100-120 a month which is much better than our last house which the power bill was usually 180-200 a month. We haven't found anything negative about living in this structure and we would build another..just smaller..lol If your looking to build one of these homes I say go for it, It is well worth the money.