# ICF block for house



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

Here are some photos of us building our home about 5 years ago. We decided on the ICF Nudura block for its durability and ruggedness. Insulated Concrete Forms from NUDURA; environmentally friendly building with Insulation Concrete Forms. The walls are 1 ft thick and provide a R-value of 51 and can withstand a rictor 10 on the earthquake scale also. It is almost fireproof with the addition of a concrete based siding called Hardie board.


----------



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Love the pictures ... do you have more to share?


----------



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

NaeKid said:


> Love the pictures ... do you have more to share?


From start to finish. I'm going to add some to my album also.


----------



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Hey. Giant Lego blocks!! I love Lego's.


----------



## Vertigo (Aug 6, 2009)

hey Bunkerbob,

nice pics, just one question.

I see that the building blocks are hollow, and there is 
some rebar put in those cavities. Did you eventually fill 
this up with concrete or something? Or is that not the 
purpose of this?

thanks

V.


----------



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

Vertigo said:


> hey Bunkerbob,
> 
> nice pics, just one question.
> 
> ...


Look closley at the 3rd photo, that is a concrete pumper hose that they are holding, filling that 6" void with 37 yards of concrete total for the walls. This is the second pour, there are plywood patches about halfway up wall for the first pour. The photos also show the wall bracing that is required prior to filling the wall for support, lots of weight there. Acually had one blow out, lost about a yard of concrete, eveything else went fine. The walls are poured directly on the slab, rebar coming out of a 3'x3' footing for the weight. No gap here for insects to infiltrate like in conventional stick construction with a bottom plate bolted to the slab.
I posted some more photos on my album page if you need some more.


----------



## Vertigo (Aug 6, 2009)

bunkerbob said:


> Look closley at the 3rd photo, that is a concrete pumper hose that they are holding, filling that 6" void with 37 yards of concrete total for the walls. This is the second pour, there are plywood patches about halfway up wall for the first pour. The photos also show the wall bracing that is required prior to filling the wall for support, lots of weight there. Acually had one blow out, lost about a yard of concrete, eveything else went fine. The walls are poured directly on the slab, rebar coming out of a 3'x3' footing for the weight. No gap here for insects to infiltrate like in conventional stick construction with a bottom plate bolted to the slab.
> I posted some more photos on my album page if you need some more.


Hi,

I thought that was a concrete hose of sorts, I just was not sure. So this basically means, the walls are 1 foot thick reinforced concrete? Seems to me, that is some pretty good building! Not like the 1/2 foot of walls we have here, where only a couple of inches is brick, with the rest being insulation! 

Btw, I went to your website to find that album page you were referring to, but sadly I could not find it...  Would you be so kind to point me in the right direction, and maybe post the direct link?

Thank you,

V.


----------



## TNmedicman (Nov 8, 2009)

Bob I love the post. I have been in talks with Nu-Dura to buy their products for my build. Can you give me some input. How easy were they to use? Did you take one of their installation courses? Just trying to get a little more info from an unbias source. Thanks in advance.


----------



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

Vertigo said:


> Hi,
> 
> I thought that was a concrete hose of sorts, I just was not sure. So this basically means, the walls are 1 foot thick reinforced concrete? Seems to me, that is some pretty good building! Not like the 1/2 foot of walls we have here, where only a couple of inches is brick, with the rest being insulation!
> 
> ...


Up in the top bar under all albums... http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/all_albums.php
Then look at "my house and more" thats me bunkerbob. I have many more photos of the build also.
Click on my signature bunkerbob for my modest personal site for a little bit more.


----------



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

TNmedicman said:


> Bob I love the post. I have been in talks with Nu-Dura to buy their products for my build. Can you give me some input. How easy were they to use? Did you take one of their installation courses? Just trying to get a little more info from an unbias source. Thanks in advance.


 Unfortunately we are getting up there in age, even though we had planned to take a course and do it ourselves, we hired a local contractor that specialized in the NUDURA block construction, he had built a few here that we could visit. I'm glad we did, because he had the braces and contacts for materials we would have had to rent. He also had left over brackets from another job for the truss to wall bracing that we used. This house is built to last!!! By the way we were going to put on light-weight concrete roof shingles but the truss manufacturer messed up the load factor and would not make it right. So with cost in mind we settled for composite shingles instead, standing seam metal was way too expensive, but would have been nice.


----------



## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I can't wait to see the rest Bob!


----------



## TreeMUPKennel (Jan 29, 2010)

Awesome, cant wait to see more pic's.


----------



## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

TreeMUPKennel said:


> Awesome, cant wait to see more pic's.


Go to all albums, 'house and more', bunkerbob for more.


----------



## youpock (Oct 20, 2009)

ha! they almost look like legos; but that is awesome


----------

