Insulated foundation

Whoever poured that basement was a hack. There's no excuse for those mistakes.

Not any harder to brace than traditional forms. Read the instructions.

Blocks come in different widths.

One needs to put a skim coat of mortar or some such medium on the outside. Guy could spray on gunnite easily. For inside one can sheetrock it or skim coat it when outside is done.

Most vendors don't have an answer to my question, "What about digging critters outside?" If they have an answer they often say there's no food value in the insulation. But its warm and its a comfortable place for mice and insects to tunnel for a living space destroying its insulation value. And some critters like badger just dig to chase smaller critters. These critters then can easily remove both the insulation and the exterior waterproofing.

One company that I've seen has insecticde IN the foam. Is that safe for the house occupants? They don't answer that either.

Cost of material is higher, but since the foam blocks are the forms, there' no labor cost for removing the forms. But the forms don't get reused and there has to be quite a bit of bracing installed and removed. You can't pour as fast, and mostly need a concrete pump to control the drop. You can't drop concrete 12 feet down a tall wall, but have to put the pump hose down near the bottoms and raise it as the concrete rises. Read the literature, there will be a maximum concrete drop distances usually under 4 feet. Concrete pumper trucks and concrete that will pump raises the cost.

Its not a horribly bad technique, just its not nearly as good as some would claim.

Gerald J.

Two reasons I don't use ICFs: 1)you can't vibrate normally and don't strip, thereby having no idea about voids. I've seen daylight before. 2) there's the insulation on the inside, between you and the mass. Thermally, that's the wrong place for insulation, should all be on the outside. Says me, and Oak Ridge Labs.

Heard it before but I don't share your concerns with buried insulation, been living in an underground house for 10 yrs. No problems. What happens is that critters prefer the top soil that surrounds the insulation, not bothering my "umbrella" of insulation and 6 mil poly, which extends 20' beyond the perimeter. The dirt surrounding the house is my heating/cooling system. We get serious about how the insulation works and where it is, otherwise we'd have to heat and cool the house. We discourage large burrowing critters from staying around.

Gerald J.

It should cost about 10% less than traditional construction. I didn"t use it because I think they are gouging people with the price.

Some folks down the road started an addition last year with it. The walls are poured but no roof, I don"t know if they ran into trouble doing it themselves.