ICF Foundation Walls

The last couple of weeks have been really really cold - like -30 C in the morning and -20 C through the day so we lost several days to weather.  Luckily the cold spell broke and at a balmy -15C the guys have been able to get back at it.

Bramel is  using a product called Polycrete, which has steel bands embedded in the rigid insulation with metal ties between the panels.  The corners are plumbed and reinforced with steel angles for the pour.  Once the concrete is set, the corners come off, but the insulation remains. The other benefit is that the insulation will slow the cooling of the concrete and give us good strength dispute the cold temperatures.  Polycrete have been very supportive and have sent a technical rep. to show the crew the system and will review the bracing before the concrete is placed.

It took some time just to open the large bundles and sort the various heights and wall width panels, making it hard to move around this compact site, but as the forms are assembled there is more space.

Winter Construction

Construction in cold weather can be slow, or some days impossible. Temperatures have been too cold for the guys to possibly work this week, until Friday.  It was a balmy -15C and more pieces of the ICF (insulated concrete form) product arrived for the foundation walls.  Luckily this work can be done with gloves on. These foundations are complicated.  There are different wall widths on each side of the same building and the reinforcing bar size and spacing changes with height.  There also are several heights of ICF panels and a step for the masonry ledge, so sorting out the pieces is a task in its own right.  By afternoon, the crew was into a rhythm and progressing well.

The wood form in the foreground is a shear wall which will support the rear of the buildings over the carport.  This form is made of differing thicknesses of horizontal plywood 'boards' so as to leave a textured pattern on the exposed walls, rather than flat planes of concrete, like a bridge or civil structure.