Congratulations! I find it hard to believe that you did so much by yourself and surprisingly, so far did a fabulous job. It'll be interesting to see how the test of time holds up for things like maintenance, warranties, etc. Behind the scenes who was guiding you the most on things like permitting, building codes (garbage disposal), and design intent?
Well, Thank you for the great comments! I did everything myself. My next door neighbor is a long time resident in the area, and currently is a flooring contractor. He pointed me in the right direction, and so did the Montrose County Planning Department. Great people there! The only contractors I brought in were for the Electrical and the roofing. Electrical uses the State Department, which is a little harder to deal with as a self-builder. All the other inspectors were great, and pointed out a few things as we went. Also, I did all the home design, with the roof trusses designed by the Truss company, and the septic system was Engineered by local Septic engineering firm. Hard work, long days, rough winter, but got it done! Now on to traveling, hang with us as we use the Barn as our Basecamp as we travel and show cool places to visit in the west!
Great video! Question: any reason you used a peel and stick instead of a fluid-applied waterproofing system? I've been looking at rub-r-wall or hulk systems...
Thank you for the good question. Nudura ICF requires their own waterproof membrane: It doesn't deteriorate their foam. I looked into a roll-on product, but it couldn't guarantee it wouldn't melt the foam. As an example, I marked where all the vertical rebar was to go in the first foundation concrete pour. I used a can of fluorescent spray paint, and it slightly melted the foam if I used too much! Other Brands of ICF may be more resilient, I don't know.
GREAT! But then is it not called a pole barn? ICF Barn? We need a good name for this style of Barndominium! Where in the country are you doing the construction?
@@ToddBizCoach stronghold. In my opinion they make the best. Fox is good as well,but more expensive here bc concrete company sells them. Starting in spring now
Very cool project! Where’s the dog’s quarters? How does heating with the mini split system work in the cold? I have some friends in Denver who struggle to keep their home comfortable in single digit temps with mini split systems.
Kenai sleeps with us at the foot of our bed (or on the couch-she loves couches) both in the Barn and our RV. The super insulation does wonders. I think the floor insulation helps a bunch too. We put radiant pipe in (but no heat for them yet), just in case the Mini-splits didn't keep up. One winter in, a mild one at that, and we were fine. Good solar gain with the big south facing windows helped greatly. A little electric fireplace heat in the eve while watching football, or RUclips, was all we needed. Never got below 60 in the living space, with the Mini-Splits working in the mornings only. We didn't get below 50 in the garage, with no heat at all! So far the hard work is paying off!
Hello, I noticed that you did your ICF walls in three sections. Is the reason to just make it easier as a DIY builder instead of doing the entire wall once? I am using Home Assistant for home automation. It has gotten much easier to use over years but it still requires some learning. Anyway, it allows you to program/control almost everything, and it has a large group of users willing to help online .
Thank you for watching! We did 3 wall pours because concrete is very heavy, and would tend to blow out the bottom foam if poured in too tall at one time. Also, once the concrete is in place, the walls move way more than I thought they would! Concrete, when poured, is a liquid, and the foam barely had enough strength to contain it! So bracing a very tall wall would be hard to do.
One of the high performance builders on the Build Show Network uses engineered studs when wall heights are 12' or higher. It keeps them laser straight. Sure it's more cost, but, keeping a perfectly straight wall with long regular dimensional lumber is all but impossible. I also agree with you on having all doors and hallways be 36" wide minimum to accommodate someone who may need to use a walker or wheelchair. I am looking at doing ICF for my next house build. Did you have any issues with indoor humidity right after the walls were poured?
Lots of good thoughts. We live in a high altitude, low humidity environment. the walls were poured maybe 10 months before we moved in. I can't say we saw or felt the humidity from the concrete, but I for sure felt humid when the drywall was being mudded, and when I was painting the interior. Once all that had dried, it really hasn't been an issue. Our Ventilation system has a humidity monitor, and we are typically around 30%. I will see if that goes down over the next year, as I have read the concrete will take that long to cure. Thank you for watching!
Your home is truly one to be admired, WOW! Thank you for sharing.
Lot of work, but it was worth it, thank you!!
Great project, the home looks beautiful.
Thank you!
Congratulations! I find it hard to believe that you did so much by yourself and surprisingly, so far did a fabulous job. It'll be interesting to see how the test of time holds up for things like maintenance, warranties, etc. Behind the scenes who was guiding you the most on things like permitting, building codes (garbage disposal), and design intent?
Well, Thank you for the great comments! I did everything myself. My next door neighbor is a long time resident in the area, and currently is a flooring contractor. He pointed me in the right direction, and so did the Montrose County Planning Department. Great people there! The only contractors I brought in were for the Electrical and the roofing. Electrical uses the State Department, which is a little harder to deal with as a self-builder. All the other inspectors were great, and pointed out a few things as we went. Also, I did all the home design, with the roof trusses designed by the Truss company, and the septic system was Engineered by local Septic engineering firm. Hard work, long days, rough winter, but got it done! Now on to traveling, hang with us as we use the Barn as our Basecamp as we travel and show cool places to visit in the west!
Great video! Question: any reason you used a peel and stick instead of a fluid-applied waterproofing system? I've been looking at rub-r-wall or hulk systems...
Thank you for the good question. Nudura ICF requires their own waterproof membrane: It doesn't deteriorate their foam. I looked into a roll-on product, but it couldn't guarantee it wouldn't melt the foam. As an example, I marked where all the vertical rebar was to go in the first foundation concrete pour. I used a can of fluorescent spray paint, and it slightly melted the foam if I used too much! Other Brands of ICF may be more resilient, I don't know.
I’m building a pole barn 50x70x18 out of icf next month. I’m very excited
GREAT! But then is it not called a pole barn? ICF Barn? We need a good name for this style of Barndominium! Where in the country are you doing the construction?
@@basecampbluesky MN. Icf is the same cost as doing metal building and spray foam. Icf barn sounds great lol
Fantastic. Get it done! We will be up in MN in August. Great weather. But winter, watch my last video cautioning about cold weather with ICF's...
@@coreym5072what brand of ICF? I m trying to decide between Fox and Alleguard. When are you starting?
@@ToddBizCoach stronghold. In my opinion they make the best. Fox is good as well,but more expensive here bc concrete company sells them. Starting in spring now
Q. Did you buy slabs or prehung doors from that website? I was wonder how prehungs would fare during shipping.
Thank you for the comment. All doors were pre-hung. They were shipped in two very well made containers with very good bracing. We had no problems.
@@basecampbluesky good to know. Thx.
Very cool project! Where’s the dog’s quarters? How does heating with the mini split system work in the cold? I have some friends in Denver who struggle to keep their home comfortable in single digit temps with mini split systems.
Kenai sleeps with us at the foot of our bed (or on the couch-she loves couches) both in the Barn and our RV. The super insulation does wonders. I think the floor insulation helps a bunch too. We put radiant pipe in (but no heat for them yet), just in case the Mini-splits didn't keep up. One winter in, a mild one at that, and we were fine. Good solar gain with the big south facing windows helped greatly. A little electric fireplace heat in the eve while watching football, or RUclips, was all we needed. Never got below 60 in the living space, with the Mini-Splits working in the mornings only. We didn't get below 50 in the garage, with no heat at all! So far the hard work is paying off!
Hello, I noticed that you did your ICF walls in three sections. Is the reason to just make it easier as a DIY builder instead of doing the entire wall once? I am using Home Assistant for home automation. It has gotten much easier to use over years but it still requires some learning. Anyway, it allows you to program/control almost everything, and it has a large group of users willing to help online .
Thank you for watching! We did 3 wall pours because concrete is very heavy, and would tend to blow out the bottom foam if poured in too tall at one time. Also, once the concrete is in place, the walls move way more than I thought they would! Concrete, when poured, is a liquid, and the foam barely had enough strength to contain it! So bracing a very tall wall would be hard to do.
One of the high performance builders on the Build Show Network uses engineered studs when wall heights are 12' or higher. It keeps them laser straight. Sure it's more cost, but, keeping a perfectly straight wall with long regular dimensional lumber is all but impossible. I also agree with you on having all doors and hallways be 36" wide minimum to accommodate someone who may need to use a walker or wheelchair. I am looking at doing ICF for my next house build. Did you have any issues with indoor humidity right after the walls were poured?
Lots of good thoughts. We live in a high altitude, low humidity environment. the walls were poured maybe 10 months before we moved in. I can't say we saw or felt the humidity from the concrete, but I for sure felt humid when the drywall was being mudded, and when I was painting the interior. Once all that had dried, it really hasn't been an issue. Our Ventilation system has a humidity monitor, and we are typically around 30%. I will see if that goes down over the next year, as I have read the concrete will take that long to cure. Thank you for watching!