Energy-saving, storm proof, bulletproof home construction (also, geothermal)

[Lilburner]

It's called ICF or Insulated Concrete Form Construction.

I found out about this completely by accident while I was searching for home plans, and one of the homes I was interested in listed ICF as the construction method. I'd never heard of it before, and now I've got probably 50 hours into researching it. It's often described as 'hollow Legos" that you fill with concrete once your structure is up. Here's one list of benefits detailed in the description of a YouTube video.

Benefits of building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)

• UP TO 70% OF ENERGY COST
• 10% LOWER INSURANCE PREMIUMS
• BULLET PROOF
• INCREASED SECURITY
• 75% LESS OUTSIDE AIR INFILTRATION
• UP TO R-40 WALL INSULATION VALUE
• 10 TIMES STRONGER THAN WOOD
• 3 TIMES QUIETER THAN WOOD
• 4-HOUR FIRE RATING

Here's a representative picture of a block, but there are over a dozen manufacturers of systems.


It's said to cost "5-10% more than traditional framing", but 1) has an amazing return on investment and 2) is much easier for the owner to lend sweat equity to if they're not an experienced framer, so you can actually come out lower.

Needless to say, I'm excited about it - starting with the energy savings of designing an off-grid home.

There is copious information online and thousands of hours of video, including people shooting rifles at houses, but I'm including the smallest, simplest one I've seen - a small tornado shelter, to give a quick overview. Most ICF structures have traditional roofs, but this one adds a poured roof and they poured the foundation/floor, walls, and roof all at the same time. An ICF shed, shelter or root cellar would be trivial for a DIY project.

[RWS]

I like the ever Logs for building.  And I like the Lake cabin for a BOL or perimeter cabin on a compound.  The fire proof design is what caught my attention.

https://www.everlogs.com/portfolio_page/the-lake-cabin/

[Lilburner]

As an aside, some of y'all might remember I talked about having a 700 foot failed well and wanted to utilize it. It happens to be on the corner of the property adjacent to my desired building site. AND the building site has its own 500 foot failed well.

I'm starting to gather that these are perfect for geothermal systems and represent a large part of the expense - either boring deep holes or digging up an acre of land to 6 feet or so.

I have my fingers crossed - just wrote off to a geothermal company to see if I'm significantly ahead of the curve with getting geothermal in. The rest of it's just engineering and installation - cake walk.

With the insulated concrete construction and geothermal heat, air, and hot water, it should go a long way toward off grid-level energy consumption numbers.

[Lilburner]

Got this answer back today

"Those wells would be perfect for some closed loop U-bend coils. Usually you would pump grout into the holes to give good heat transfer"

Who knew? Expensive, useless holes in the ground could save me tens of thousands of dollars putting in the most energy efficient heating and cooling there is - bringing it on par with traditional heat pumps.

Not expensive to ME of course. I got them for free. Two different people drilled failed wells on two different pieces of property at the time, and they're like 50 feet apart, and not probably 50 yards from my planned foundation.

It's like the universe is making a suggestion.

[John Galt 1]

A 700 foot deep well with no water would be super expensive.      I'd considered using my 390' well for thermal heat and cooling but haven't really looked into the practicality of it.       It would defiantly be an energy saver.