February 25th, 2010
Deck and rear porch on Garland, WY house
Rear porch of Garland, WY house
Rear porch Garland, WY house
Rear porch of Garland, WY house
Floor system attachment on ICF wall
Pouring concrete in Wyoming winters
Blue 80 has been busy this past winter constructing a 5000+ sq. ft. home for a family in Garland, WY. The above photos show the house with the ICF complete and concrete poured. The wrap around porch and rear two story deck structure are complete. The home will have a simple 4/12 hip roof over the main house and the garage.
Some of the challenges on this project were keeping the ground warm in the winter so concrete slabs could be poured and the project could continue without interruption.
The home will have radiant concrete floor heating in the basement and a Geothermal HVAC system. The inside of the roof will have spray foam installed for maximum efficiency.
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July 6th, 2009
Partially finished view of an ICF home
Partially finished view of an ICF home
Partially finished view of an ICF home
While travelling through North Dakota, we checked in with a past client whose ICF walls we erected last winter. Looking great! Many neighbours and friends of his are amazed that ICF has tremendous benefits above grade. According to him, this is a “new” option they have never considered. Until recently.
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July 6th, 2009
Basement of ICF for home in Minot, ND
View of the garage for home in Minot, ND
2 Story ICF home in Minot, ND
2 Story ICF home in Minot, ND
Garage Door Buck
Notches beside garage doors are poured an inch low, the garage door bucks are left wild and cut to height to set the garage door beams to perfect elevation. Embedded metal straps attach the beam and non shrink grout will be added under the beam later on. Wood attachments for the garage door tracks are also poured directly into the walls.
2 story home in minot, nd. We poured the garage and breezeway from footing to top of wall in one pour to facilitate a quick schedule and save a pump charge. The homeowner/GC originally wanted an ICF quote for the basement only, however they were supplied with an alternate quote for excavation, footings, stem walls, above grade ICF walls, floor framing and roof trusses installed as a package deal. This is called “shell erect” construction, the option they ended up choosing.
A basement with ADA handicap access and elevator, the cut was over 8 ft. for basement excavation to allow wheechair access. A few brickledge forms turned into the garage will allow the garage slab some extra support.
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June 30th, 2009
Gifford Ranch Dirt Work
More Gifford Ranch Dirt WorkGifford Ranch Dirt Work
Gifford Ranch Dirt Work
We had a dam blowout again this week, and were called to do some remediation work on a local ranch. Wyoming is rich in history, and we have been priveledged to get to know our neighbours partially because of opportunities to use our excavating equipment for agricultural purposes. A high percentage of Wyoming agriculture is based on irrigation through a variety of methods. Almost a century ago, a plethera (I love that word) of canals were carved out of desert to bring agriculture to Wyoming. Within a short amount of time, comprehensive drainage systems had to be instituted to control salinity and sodicity issues, allowing flood irrigated ground to remain feasible for agriculture. Most of the flood irrigation uses water from snow melt from the high ranges.
On the Gifford Ranch west of Lovell, about 600 acres of land has been engineered (without engineers) to irrigate and drain in a largely sustainable fashion; Irrigate cropland, control runoff and sedimentation, sustain and promote wildlife. and make continue to make improvements to promote a viable farming enterprise as opportunities arise. But when a “cloudburst” hits in the Big Horn mountain range above, a wall of water can eliminate what man has instituted as flood control…..
So we relocated fill in the ranch, compacted the earthen dam and used “bentomat” as a remediation tool to control erosion of spillways and saturation of the dams in the future. Bentomat is a product made with bentonite. Think of carpet, with a layer of bentonite clay in it. The interesting thing is, benonite is clay that will expand up to 16 times its size when saturated with water, making an excellent sealant for ponds, drilling rig bore holes, and yes, kitty litter. As a side note, be advised, bentonite soil is not great to build on due to its highly expansive properties and specially engineered foundations may be neccessary…
For many years after it was cleared in the 1940’s this fast flowing creek has eroded the surrounding land, to chasms with depths of 20 ft. By installing earthen dams in sensible areas, the 2nd generation rancher is reclaming land. Cottonwoods are beginning to grow in the creek bottoms again. Turkeys, ducks, deer and elk are returning. We are very excited to be a part of this remediation, a symbitotic relationship between rancher and the surrounding environment.
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June 12th, 2009
Nick in the Mud
Footings in the mud
Starting to stack the walls
A glimmer of light...
We have settled in Minot to work on an ICF home and garage. North Dakota, where it seems people speak of global warming with hopeful cheer.
This week we poured some spread footings on unstable soil with high water table, poured the basement slab and started stacking some walls. We are going to pour the garage and breezeway areas with frost and above grade walls at the same time, total wall heights will be 14-16ft.
Conditions this week were “muddy” The project commenced at best possible speed largely due to the fact the GC owns excavating equipment which facilitates getting concrete and materials to the job location whenever they are needed.
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June 12th, 2009
A view of the home from an overlook, Tetons behind
Closeup of the Master Suite with ICF complete
Another view of completed ICF stucture
ICF Complete!
Midway through the sixth calendar week, the ICF portion of the Jackson Hole project has been completed. It has been a step by step process, literally. Multiple plate heights, beam pockets, attachments, penetration, embeds and gables kept us on our toes. Over 200 yds of concrete was placed in the ICF walls, with over 15000 ln ft. of #5 rebar installed with seismic specifications.
Excellent preparation and support by the GC were paramount in the ability to keep this project on time and budget. It has been a wonderful opportunity for us to work with the GC, Kurt Wimberg Construction of Jackson Hole, WY and we are encouraged by their ambitions to use ICF’ more often in the future.
Off to North Dakota…
(Photos courtesy Kurt Wimberg Construction)
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June 2nd, 2009
Finishing up in Jackson - Stacking the Gables
Another view of the home
The guys are working hard in the rain hoping to complete the final pour this Wednesday. These pictures show the main reason a reversible block was used on this job. With this many gables, the waste with a non-reversible block would be significantly more.
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May 25th, 2009
View of the corner
View of the steel in place for the corner
The opening for the main room window
Nick loving his job
A corner/pilaster between some large window bucks
Some large structural window/door bucks that will be surrounded with concrete early next week.
We are patiently waiting for backfill. Waterproofing is an air gap membrane with geotextile filter fabric. Nick loves his job; and Chuck Norris.
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May 25th, 2009
View of the jobsite starting week 3
Opening for the master bedroom window
Corner Rebar
Week 3
Upon commencement of the project, we all decided to “split” the project into two separate projects. This has allowed coordination of excavator, masons, waterproofing, plumber, floor framing, and even the ICF guys for a seamless build to date. Except for the weather, that is. It seems about wherever we travel, the locals say, “well the thing about the weather in ______ just wait 15 minutes, it’ll change.” Well in Jackson, the saying is 5 minutes. Some snow, rain, sun, wind, calm, snow, sunburn; All the same day. But it sure is beautiful.
To date, the master bedroom ICF is complete on one side of the home. The master is attached to the home by a slender walkway “loggia”. 12 ft. walls were poured with 19 ft. gables the same day. We also poured the garage located on the opposite end of the home to give the onsite carpenters plenty of work to get the wood ceiling/floor system installed above so that later we could pour some more gables on top. In the meantime, we are off to work on the center of the home where the masons have finished their massive concrete formwork for fireplaces and interior stone, and the carpenters have installed the wood subfloor.
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