Thread

Good progress. It took me forever to get my house finished. If you have ICF questions, feel free to ask.

It’s a pretty small house so I’m hoping it won’t take me too long. What kind of siding did you go with?

Masonry stucco. It’s been great. We did metal lathe and fiberglass in the base coat and havent needed expansion joints. I’m in the Deep South. Bucking windows and doors are next for you, right? Consider wrapping the house in tevk wrap, my framers didn’t understand how to tape flash openings. Wrap isn’t needed for icf, but it’s a cheap norm which everyone is used to.

I love the look of stucco. I’m far north though and don’t think the extreme freeze thaw would be good for it. I’m debating between thermo Ash lap siding, or solid rock. I actually put Tyvek on, but it was a big mistake to not spend a little extra and go with a self adhesive house wrap. I was out in a blizzard today trying to reattach what hadn’t completely blow off already. I might be a bit insane, but I am considering building my own doors and windows.

I think the challenge with doors and windows is the condensation and weather stripping

Yeah, my frames might not be quite as good as a vinyl R value wise. But I’m planning on using a vacuum sealed window panes, which are quite a bit better than an argon filled one.

If you used treated wood in the bucks, then they are going to be moist from the concrete. The window rough opening or frame need to be isolated or rated for moisture. Drywall returns are a more complicated too. Building a house with the emergence of hash for heat is exciting. Heated floors would be a great luxury. Icf is well suited for constant heat load, but the concrete is like a giant sponge for humidity. You seem to covering your bases well.

I used a special icf window buck that has the plastic all around the edges and every 8in on the inside. So I should be able to install all my doors and windows just like normal.