Thermohouse ICF

Pairc86

Hi,

Looking to build a Thermohouse ICF build in the coming months in the munster area.
Anyone know where the best place to discuss getting a builder for the project would be?

Calahonda52

you need specialist contractor

BryanF

And a detailer, there are lots of junctions to be planned out.

Could we just refer to the system as ICF ‘insulated concrete formwork. That’s what the company named provides and there are several in the market.

OP btw, we don’t comment on or recommend products or builders here. All we need is negative comments from someone (anyone) and there could be claims of slander etc.

Count Mondego

A friend of mine build one of these type of houses about 10 years ago. Excellent on performance but it's an incredibly expensive way of building a house. Some of the point to note.

1) huge amount of concrete poured into the forms $$$
2) huge amount of steel,as above $$$
3) Cannot plaster on the forms, need a specific render and could be hard to get guys who do it. $$$

Think he paid in the region of 35k for the forms for 2800sqft house, before you consider all of the above.

Pairc86

BryanF wrote: »

And a detailer, there are lots of junctions to be planned out.

Could we just refer to the system as ICF ‘insulated concrete formwork. That’s what the company named provides and there are several in the market.

OP btw, we don’t comment on or recommend products or builders here. All we need is negative comments from someone (anyone) and there could be claims of slander etc.

My issue is that there are plenty of builders willing to look at alternative brands of ICF. I have an engineer and an architect working on the design side. I'm aware of the general quality and cost implications.

To be clear: I am looking for a forum where I can obtain contact details of interested builders.

BryanF

Pairc86 wrote: »

My issue is that there are plenty of builders willing to look at alternative brands of ICF. I have an engineer and an architect working on the design side. I'm aware of the general quality and cost implications.

To be clear: I am looking for a forum where I can obtain contact details of interested builders.

mod note

welcome to C&P forum. Best to have a read of the forum charter. The forum charter asks that any recommendations regarding specific companies are by PM only.

PowerToWait

Count Mondego wrote: »

A friend of mine build one of these type of houses about 10 years ago. Excellent on performance but it's an incredibly expensive way of building a house. Some of the point to note.

1) huge amount of concrete poured into the forms $$$
2) huge amount of steel,as above $$$
3) Cannot plaster on the forms, need a specific render and could be hard to get guys who do it. $$$

Think he paid in the region of 35k for the forms for 2800sqft house, before you consider all of the above.

I recently got a quote from a well known ICF supplier which came in at 12% lower for the equivalent SIP build.

Kilough

PowerToWait wrote: »

I recently got a quote from a well known ICF supplier which came in at 12% lower for the equivalent SIP build.

Interested to know if you also compared against block built?

Have heard ICF costs are coming more in line with block built in recent years but have never seen a detailed breakdown of the costs. Would imagine ICF forms + concrete + rebar + pump hire + cost of internal walls in block + labour would come in over block + sand + cement + insulation + labour? Maybe a QS could help out here?

fatty pang

Amira Slimy Ballerina wrote: »

Looking for an engineer with ICF experience. thx

Apart from an Engineer with ICF experience you should also get an architectural technician that is competent with detailing window and door interfaces in ICF constructions. The vogue for closing the reveals with EPS makes these junctions ‘challenging’ for fixing window & doors. In my experience the ICF suppliers are definitely not the people to rely on for advice with this particular detailing.

Nuala Riordan

I did a Thermohouse build, fraught with issues and problems, would not recommend it.

davegilly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118828624#Comment_118828624

Hi Nuala. Apologies for opening an old thread - I'm looking at an ICF build in Kerry and would like to hear what kind of issues you ran into? We're they Thermohouse or builder/engineer related etc? Hard to find anyone around where I am that has heard of ICF, never mind a builder familiar. Any feedback appreciated, PM me if not comfortable putting on here. Thanks

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122501802#Comment_122501802

We built with Thermohouse and I wouldn't recommend them at all - the product itself is great but we had a query from the council in relation to a technical detail and the Thermohouse guys were slow to respond and very unhelpful when they did. It costs us about 6-8 weeks and ~7k to resolve.

There are plenty of other ICF suppliers to choose from though (e.g. Amvic) so I'd say it might be worth ringing another supplier and ask if there are builders that they've worked with in your general area