Bye bye big city!

[CopperNick]

One that I liked was the pre-asssembled heavy styro-foam forms that snapped together like Lego blocks and which could then be filled with concrete to build a basement or crawl space without the mess and nuisance of building wooden forms. Once the concrete sets, the foam outer layers stay; they become the insulation. Come in 6" and 8' widths. Run a layer of insulating strip along the top, add your sill plates and the prefab I-beam floor joists and you are half way to a floor. From there, well............. those pre fab walls with the built in insulation sound interesting.... no on site framing needed for them. Or....................

You could always score a 4 or 6 pack of decommissioned seacans and do an off the grid exercise to turn them into a house. Just saying here......



Nick

If he has a well, how big of a deal is storage?

Storage for water usually means cisterns of some kind. They typically get formed and poured from concrete if you are going serious about volume and quantity. You can get the molded heavy wall poly-styrene or PVC storage units but to avoid evaporation from exposure to the sun they still have to be buried.... and then you have to create a system to get the water in.................. and get it back out again. It might be worth while to check into pre-fab concrete cisterns. They make them as holding tanks for septic systems, could the same unit be used to store water if it was still clean and uncontaminated?

 

[Streetbu]

One that I liked was the pre-asssembled heavy styro-foam forms that snapped together like Lego blocks and which could then be filled with concrete to build a basement or crawl space without the mess and nuisance of building wooden forms. Once the concrete sets, the foam outer layers stay; they become the insulation. Come in 6" and 8' widths. Run a layer of insulating strip along the top, add your sill plates and the prefab I-beam floor joists and you are half way to a floor. From there, well............. those pre fab walls with the built in insulation sound interesting.... no on site framing needed for them. Or....................

You could always score a 4 or 6 pack of decommissioned seacans and do an off the grid exercise to turn them into a house. Just saying here......



Nick

Storage for water usually means cisterns of some kind. They typically get formed and poured from concrete if you are going serious about volume and quantity. You can get the molded heavy wall poly-styrene or PVC storage units but to avoid evaporation from exposure to the sun they still have to be buried.... and then you have to create a system to get the water in.................. and get it back out again. It might be worth while to check into pre-fab concrete cisterns. They make them as holding tanks for septic systems, could the same unit be used to store water if it was still clean and uncontaminated?

Our house was built, well our foundation was, with the ICF blocks. Insulated concrete forms. Works great, just a PITA to attach anything to especially from the outside.

 

[ck80]

Our house was built, well our foundation was, with the ICF blocks. Insulated concrete forms. Works great, just a PITA to attach anything to especially from the outside.

If you had to do it again, would you plan some strategic points where you drilled holes in the preform, ran a thin rebar to the outside, then sealed the hole tight to the rebar for during the pour so nothing leaked out?

 

[Supercharged111]

One that I liked was the pre-asssembled heavy styro-foam forms that snapped together like Lego blocks and which could then be filled with concrete to build a basement or crawl space without the mess and nuisance of building wooden forms. Once the concrete sets, the foam outer layers stay; they become the insulation. Come in 6" and 8' widths. Run a layer of insulating strip along the top, add your sill plates and the prefab I-beam floor joists and you are half way to a floor. From there, well............. those pre fab walls with the built in insulation sound interesting.... no on site framing needed for them. Or....................

You could always score a 4 or 6 pack of decommissioned seacans and do an off the grid exercise to turn them into a house. Just saying here......



Nick

Storage for water usually means cisterns of some kind. They typically get formed and poured from concrete if you are going serious about volume and quantity. You can get the molded heavy wall poly-styrene or PVC storage units but to avoid evaporation from exposure to the sun they still have to be buried.... and then you have to create a system to get the water in.................. and get it back out again. It might be worth while to check into pre-fab concrete cisterns. They make them as holding tanks for septic systems, could the same unit be used to store water if it was still clean and uncontaminated?

If one has a well, of what value is a cistern?

 

[carnutjw]

If one has a well, of what value is a cistern?

Well dries up, well pump takes a crap, well gets a dead critter in it or otherwise contaminated.

 

[Streetbu]

If you had to do it again, would you plan some strategic points where you drilled holes in the preform, ran a thin rebar to the outside, then sealed the hole tight to the rebar for during the pour so nothing leaked out?

What would the rebar be for? I meant attaching electrical boxes or garden hose reels, etc. It's just foam on the outside, you have to go in 1.5" or so to hit concrete... the outside gets parged so the foam won't degrade but that's only 1/8" to 1/4" thick at maximum.

 

[ck80]

What would the rebar be for? I meant attaching electrical boxes or garden hose reels, etc. It's just foam on the outside, you have to go in 1.5" or so to hit concrete... the outside gets parged so the foam won't degrade but that's only 1/8" to 1/4" thick at maximum.

Whelp, you could bolt some wood, whether it was a long board of 6, 8, 12 feet or whatever, or, as small as a 6" long scrap, and you drilled then used a nut and washer to secure similar to when you add a deck to a scructure under the more recent building codes. Basically makes it a whatever you want situation, but with no need that you ever even truly used it to begin with. And some epoxy would keep the hole in the foam watertight. Upside, no drilling, downside limited to places preset.

 

[Supercharged111]

What would the rebar be for? I meant attaching electrical boxes or garden hose reels, etc. It's just foam on the outside, you have to go in 1.5" or so to hit concrete... the outside gets parged so the foam won't degrade but that's only 1/8" to 1/4" thick at maximum.

Was there a monetary advantage to the foam? Just curious what its appeal is. One would think it cuts the labor down if no forms need to be laid up, but then again there is procuring/stacking of the blocks.

 

[ck80]

Was there a monetary advantage to the foam? Just curious what its appeal is. One would think it cuts the labor down if no forms need to be laid up, but then again there is procuring/stacking of the blocks.

As someone who has been exploring actively building, modern building codes require insulation of basement walls, so, the forms by virtue of being integrated with the pour are already insulated without the extra steps.

It also means you don't need to erect and remove wooden forms, and, depending on when your inspector wants to visit, some are willing to allow you to backfill your grade before final curing you otherwise wait for before pulling the wooden wall forms.

Third benefit is easier to use as self-help, and just hire a crew to do the pour and bring cement but all the prep work can be done at home using a rented backhoe.

 

[Supercharged111]

As someone who has been exploring actively building, modern building codes require insulation of basement walls, so, the forms by virtue of being integrated with the pour are already insulated without the extra steps.

It also means you don't need to erect and remove wooden forms, and, depending on when your inspector wants to visit, some are willing to allow you to backfill your grade before final curing you otherwise wait for before pulling the wooden wall forms.

Third benefit is easier to use as self-help, and just hire a crew to do the pour and bring cement but all the prep work can be done at home using a rented backhoe.

I've been doing the same. I thought I'd get discouraged, but quite the opposite. I am hesitant to cut my own grade though, at least right now I am. Pole barn first so there's a dry spot to store building materials before the house is weatherproofed. I really like the appeal from a DIY perspective, I just wonder in the case of streetbu if it saved money having someone else do it. If it saves time, it ought to save money, but the material costs are different too.