A Blueprint for Better Building
(Page 4 of 5)
August/September 2005
By Steve Maxwell
For my workshop, I chose a perimeter foundation wall of insulated concrete forms (ICF). These large, hollow, environmentally friendly blocks are filled with rebar (a type of metal rod for reinforcement) and concrete, which leaves you with a high-performance foundation wall that is structurally sound and superinsulated. My ICFs extend into the limestone bedrock 2 to 4 feet below grade. I poured an insulated 7-inch-thick concrete floor on compacted fill placed within the perimeter of these ICF foundation walls. Two inches of expanded polystyrene foam underneath the concrete slab retain the warmth transmitted to the concrete by the radiant-heat tubing that’s cast right into the concrete.
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Whenever you’re pouring a concrete floor, there are two things to remember: First, never pour on any kind of heavy soil. Because clay and silty loam retain water, they’re likely to expand if they freeze, which can crack your concrete. Compaction of the fill underneath the floor is another big deal — never apply more than 8 to 10 inches of fill to an area before hammering it down with a walk-behind earth compactor.
If your building will have a raised wood floor measuring less than 15 by 15 feet, and if you need a foundation that extends below the frost line, then consider using concrete pier foundations. Cardboard form tubes set into holes that extend below the frost line are the easiest and least expensive way to create an all-weather foundation that’s stable and reliable. If you live in an area where wintertime temperatures drop below zero, wrap the outside of the concrete piers in black polyethylene before pouring the concrete in the ground. This makes the outside of the forms slippery, preventing frozen soil from gripping the outer surface and raising the piers.
Choosing Your Walls, Floors and Roof
The ever-increasing number of building options you’ll find these days can be confusing. In addition to traditional approaches such as stud-frame walls, timber frames and logs, there are now ICFs, structural insulated panels (SIPs) and engineered floor joists, beams and rafters.
Do these modern building methods make you nervous? I used to feel that way. That’s why I’ve used stone, timber and wood on most buildings I’ve constructed. And while I still use these classic materials, I can’t ignore the strength, durability and energy efficiency of some newer building materials. That’s why I chose SIPs to build my own workshop.
SIPs are factory-bonded sandwiches of foam and oriented strand board manufactured from waterproof heat-cured adhesives and thin wood chips that are arranged in cross-oriented layers with no laps, gaps or voids.
There are four reasons why SIPs are particularly good for building structures: The first is simplicity. It’s easier to understand how a SIPs wall goes together than a stud or timber frame equivalent — and its simplicity means fewer chances for mistakes. Progress can be made more quickly with SIPs, too. This is the second reason I chose to use them. Panels are typically 4 feet wide, tipped into place one at a time onto a solid-wood bottom plate. On a calm day, I can raise 10-foot-tall panels by myself. Reason number three: SIPs are three times stronger than similar stud-frame walls. And the fourth reason is the clincher for me: SIPs structures are 75 percent more energy efficient than typical walls in a stud-frame structure built to code with an identical floor plan.
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