Concrete house

[PaleRider]

Is it completely ridiculous to pour a foundation with basement, and also pour concrete walls for a house? Obviously it would need to be reinforced with steel. It seems like a very cost effective way to build a shell and then build a roof over the top of it, and the insulation aspect is a plus. Wiring and plumming would have to be figured out ahead of time and remodeling would be a joke, but it seems like a worthy idea. My construction experience is limited so please someone shed some light on this idea.

Thank you!

[rreidnauer]

Masonry homes are popular in Europe. We have a Romanian where I work, and he can't believe the flimsy houses people here in the States are willing to live in, let alone pay for. (and I agree)

Not too long ago, I visited a museum, that was once a home built in 1912, completely constructed of concrete and recycled materials. (actually, "castle" would be a better description) Anyhow, as I took the tour, I noted that gas heating has been installed recently. (BTW, I saw no less than two masonry heaters) I asked how much it costs to heat the place. I don't recall the exact figure, but it was something around $10,000 last January!!!! But the guide said they usually don't have to turn on the heat until late December. So here's what's happening. The thermal mass of the concrete releases the warmer weather's attained heat slowly. But once that heat soak is gone, it becomes a nightmare to heat, and the concrete reverses, and just sucks up room heat through to the outside colder climate (hot always goes to cold) Therefore, finally getting to the point, I whole-heartedly recommend some sort of thermal break should you decide to pursue this building style.

[ChainsawGrandpa]

I have spent the majority of my career in a concrete box that
was completed in 1929. It has thermal mass. A nightmare in
the summer and almost impossible to heat in the winter. Placing
insulation on the exterior would make a dramatic difference.
This places the thermal mass on the inside.

-Rick

[adubar]

If you happen to live in an area where cement, sand and agregate are on the cheaper side, it makes a lot of sense to think about using it for your entire house. However, in many areas, even a poured foundation can be costly.


-A

[rocklock]

My basement is made of Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF's). ICF's provide R10 on each side or R20 total. The concrete is 8 inches thick and can go to 20 feet or more... If I were to build in a place where there were no trees, I would choose ICF's.
Concrete is not nearly as expensive as I previously thought especially if you do the work your self.

Dave

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creatingkoan/236433470/[/img]

[Kennit]

My mother-in-law's house was built using the ICF's. Essentially they are styrofoam blocks that lock together and have plastic ties to lock the inner and outer walls. My Brother-in-law built it for her. We poured a normal footing, put in the required rebar, and placed the blocks. The concrete pour went pretty smooth, no blow-outs, no colapse. The ICF's have rigid plastic embedded in them to act as a fastening point for interior framing, sheet rock, siding, cabinets, etc. They installed the in-floor heating with the water tubes in the lightweight concrete floor. The house was always comfortable and she never moved her thermostat more than a few degrees each season.

As well as it worked, I'm suprised that concrete homes haven't become more popular. My guess is that the current construction method for new homes today is so cheap and easy, it takes little to no planning (since there only seems to be about 7 different floor plans out there), and when the cheap unskilled labor screws up... they can cover it up, uh, I mean fix it before anyone knows. I'm a firefighter and have walked through a lot of houses while they are under construction with my crew. It's a good lesson for them to learn how the damn things are put together so they know how they are going to come apart when its burning. (getting off my soap box now)

Concrete homes are great, at least in the temperate climate of the Pacific Northwest... but I like log homes better.

[ponyboy]

This guy would like to make concrete houses with a BIG cnc machine.

http://www.contourcrafting.org/

:shock:

[msjones]

Here (http://www.thenaturalhome.com/passivesolar.html) is a site on this subject that I found very interesting.