Scraping Sky

It's been two weeks again, and it seems like all I've been writing about is this Regina Street project.

(I swear we have more on the go than this one. Although, we are pretty excited to get this one going)

I've create another panaromic image of the site, I may even include a google street view of what the site looked like before the demo started. Until then, you can have a gander at this one. Try to point out all the differences you see. My favourite is the yellow tower, that's when I know things are underway.

We're still set for an end of September, and there will be more pictures to share before then. You can follow the progress at our flickr page, as well as on twitter. The contact info for the twitter account is in the margin next to this post.

The project is a 18,000 sq ft, 17 storey student residence and will be ready for September 2012 occupency. There are nearly 500 rooms in apartment style living. There will be shared living area, but each bed with have its own bath.

We have had a few lengthy meetings about some adjustments to the window details. We have to design a way to have concrete flow to the outside of wall so as to break the connection between ICF, meeting a new fire regulation. We have a solution, because as we've said before, anything can be done with our ICF. When we have the design finialized I'll share it with you, until then I'll leave you in suspense.

Enjoy this image and I'll talk to you again soon.

Cheers,

Brad

(again, the image isn't the greatest here but a simple click will get you to a better version. If anyone has some tips to make my flickr account get along better with my blogger account please, by all means, share them)

Sky's The Limit, week 2

It's two (and a bit) weeks later and I have another photo to share. The job site in Waterloo is slowly taking shape; changing from a hole in the ground to an organized footing site.

I compliled another stitched panoramic shot, this time Darrel posed for it while he surveyed the changed site.

We're set now to start at the end of September, but there will be more pictures to share before then. You can follow the progress at our flickr page as well.

The project is a 18,000 sq ft, 17 storey student residence and will be ready for September 2012 occupency. There are nearly 500 rooms in apartment style living. There will be shared living area, but each bed with have its own bath.

Again, we are very excited to get started on this project and I look forward to sharing the experience with you.

All the best, and happy thursday!

 

(Clicking on the image will get a better version for you to see)

Wasteless Wednesday

In the spirit of my discovering the hashtag #WastelessWed, not to mention the twitter handle @WastlessWed, I wanted to share something that we've done in the past with some of our left over material.

The block we work with needs to be shaped to fit the projects we work with. Since a wall is never easily divisible by 4 feet, nor is the height divisible by 16 3/4", we have to cut away the parts that don't need to be in the wall. It can result in quite a bit of waste, waste that we don't like because for 1), we've already paid for it and 2) it ends up in a landfill, not contributing productively to society ... unlike the energy efficient buildings we so proudly erect.

So, we started bagging it up. And bagging and bagging and bagging. It took up a lot of space, but we wanted to do something with it ... we just hadn't figured it out.

Then we did.

While touring around at a homeshow in Toronto a couple of years ago we found a company who made beanbag chairs. As it turns out it wasn't going to work to supply them with pellets to stuff their chairs, but we could start making our own. A lot of time and a few trials later we had a couple of prototypes to play with.

We rented a bail grinder and started separating the leftover block from the plastic webs (which are completely recycable when not part of the block). The beads that came out the machine the first time around weren't quite small enough, and thus took a couple of trys. Once we were happy, we created a funnel to get the beads into our bag shell and voila: Recylced BeanBag Chair.

They aren't designer by any means, but they are homemade with tons of love. Now we have a few chairs to give away at homeshows that we attend, or to families who's houses we build.

The chairs are colourful, comfy and a friend re-use of otherwise useless material.

Sky's the limit

... but you have to start somewhere.

Here's where we're starting in Waterloo. Eventually it will be a student residence 17 storeys high, for now it's simply a hole in the ground. We expect to be setting block come October, but until then here's a panoramic shot of the footings being dug for the building.

The job site is being run by Melloul-Blamey and we're excited to be working with them on this project.

Getting Your Footing Right

We are now three weeks into our project in Sudbury, ONT. The guys have been working hard to get the building set on the right path and getting themselves up and out of the mud. We are putting up a three story, 90 unit seniors residence. There are a lot of ICF walls going up; a couple of thousand linear feet. With all these ICF walls going up, it is so very important for our footings to be level before we begin to set our block.

Well constructed footings are important regardless of the type of wall you build and are absolutely essential for ICF construction.

ICF contractors know that a quality footing will save them headaches later on, and are willing to put the time in to make them as perfect as possible. We like to pour our own footings, because we know that the extra attention will be worth it when we set the wall.

Any deviance in the footing from straight, level or plum will cause significant problems later.
 
If the footing isn't absolutely level, the wall will be out of plumb. Absolutely. An out of plumb wall is no good as a wall.

If the footing dips in the middle than at the corners, when the ICF blocks are set they will be tight as they go up. They'll bind and twist and make getting the wall straight difficult, and could increase the chance of a blow out during a pour. Contrariwise, ff the footing humps, the corners will be pushed out of plumb.

Out of square layouts are just as bad. We have cursed an inaccurate footing with out-of-place rebar. We make absolute certain that our vertical bars come out of the concrete straight, and are on the surveyed centre of wall line.

It doesn't have to be difficult, and it's possible to easily pour accurate, level footings every time.

Here's a link to some more images of the footings. We expect to be done the footings and on to walls before the end of this week. The linked photo-set will be updated as the building goes up and we have more to brag about.

Which we will, cause we're pretty proud of our work.

Cheers, and happy Friday!

Make your house Green!

Building your home using ICF products is a green choice for you, your family and the environment.

You and your family get the benefit of improved indoor air quality, less exposure to outdoor pollutants and allergens, and no volatile organic compounds. ICF walls and foundations are also mold- and mildew-resistant, decreasing risk from those irritants.

As well, your home will use less energy, reducing your carbon footprint – less fuel will be used to heat and cool it, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Your green choice will have an additional positive impact on your wallet. Your ICF energy-efficient home may be able to be LEED-certified, or receive a higher ‘HERS’ score or EnerGuide rating – and either of these (along with your lower utility bills) will improve your home’s resale value.

Joplin, MO

After the storms hit Joplin, MO, a co-worker and I went to survey the damage, and to speak with local builders, architects and concrete suppliers to see what could be done for the community when they rebuild.

As seen in the attached news report, it seems that at least one local builder has taken steps to ensure his family is safe if a tornado like the one that Joplin in May.

To read more about how an ICF house can keep you safe visit this link.

As well, here is a link to the photos we took while in MO.



To be even more safe, I would suggest constructing your basement foundation, even the entire house (right to the rafters) out of ICF block. Not only will your family be safe, but your house will remain intact after a powerful storm passes through.

Houses constructed out of ICF have remained after storms went through New Orleans, and other major storm centres.

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