My husband didn’t want to build a home, and who could blame him with his new promotion in a new office. With the high cost of the very pathetic homes on the market at the time, our options were few and expensive…So, I was to be the owner/builder (aka general contractor), as my husband didn’t want to even hear about the project… Yipeee! No squabbling about who wants what! Of course I had never even built a shed, much less a house before! What was I getting us into?
To make matters worse, we were about to move to a place were the temperatures ranged from below freezing to well over 100 in the summers. As a stay at home mom I didn’t want the guilt of using the utilities when I was home alone. Even before we started the design process, “we” had decided on an efficient home envelope building system for our future home – Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF).
Insulated Concrete Forms are four foot long Styrofoam blocks held together with hard plastic grids. It’s like building your home with huge Lego blocks, re bar and concrete. When it’s done, its almost as if you live in a huge igloo cooler! This keeps your home temperature inside more constant, be it cooler or warmer depending on the weather outside. After a little research I settled on blocks by Amvic and took a weekend course to learn the process.
So, with that decision made, I guess we needed to find some land and financing … nothing like putting the cart before the horse.
Wonderful site. Lots of useful info here. I am sending it to some buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thanks to your effort!
Thanks! Hopefully, I’ll keep the info entertaining too!