Project Showcase: Louis Saekow Estate Part II
September 29th, 2009 | Project Showcase | ICF Construction, P and P Construction, privacy wall, Project Showcase, Residential, Saekow, WA
Hopefully you’ve been following along from the previous post on the Saekow Estate. It’s clear the builders and the architect knew what they wanted when they designed this house.
Privacy Wall with Insulating Concrete Forms
This home also used insulating concrete forms in a way the installers and builder have not done before. The challenge was to provide the customer with over 600 linear feet of privacy wall 200 feet of which was “S” shaped, so as to adapt to the natural surroundings, without showing grout lines in hot and cold weather. The solution was ICFs. Since ICFs are insulating, they used them along with ready mixed concrete to build the walls, even the “S” shaped wall, and then simply applied stucco over the ICFs. The result was fantastic and a success.
Green Attributes
Energy efficiency is the most obvious priority when building with ICFs. You can spend a little more up front with materials cost, to save a lot in the future, especially when costs can be reduced along the construction cycle. With energy costs being uncontrollable, ICFs help customers control those costs by simply using less energy.
ICFs were chosen to meet the sustainable construction goals because of their durability, their resistance to the elements, i.e. bugs, water, wind, etc. The goal of this project was to create an Estate. The goal of an estate is to have longevity and durability as cornerstones, for the building to be around for generations to come. This home, also installed 3,800 sq. ft. of bamboo flooring…the fasted growing grass on the planet.
After one year of living in this house, Louis’s average monthly electric bill is $135 and his average monthly propane bill is $145. More specifically, his total one-year usage of electricity is 19,433 kilowatt-hours and his total one-year propane usage was 1,188 gallons (since cost of electricity and propane differs everywhere). His neighbors, who live in stick-built homes that are around 2,500 to 3,500 sq. ft. — way less than half his home — pay almost exactly what he pays for electricity and propane. And if you consider cubic-footage instead of just square footage, it’s even more impressive because his ceiling height downstairs is 12′ 4″ and upstairs is 10′ 7″ (There is no neighbor whose house has ceilings over 9′).
Since P&P has been building with ICFs for more than 10 years they have found a method to build an ICF home for the same cost as a traditionally built home. Over time they have been able to cut down on construction time which cuts down on construction costs. They have also been able to use materials such as zip ties and the Reward bracing and scaffolding in one piece to cut down on time. P&P strongly believes that efficiency on the job and in the office are the best ways to save time and money for both the customer and the company. They also believe that other builders who overprice ICF structures haven’t been able to realize the efficiencies, P & P have come to learn. Good planning and not over-ordering materials, as well as demanding quality materials from suppliers, helps with cutting down on costs. This was part of the decision to use ICFs; the enormous benefits both long and short term sealed the deal.
