The Concrete House: Building Solid, Safe & Efficient with Insulating Concrete Forms [Hardcover]

Pieter A. VanderWerf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Prospective homeowners will welcome this introduction to a durable, energy-efficient new building technology: insulating concrete forms (ICFs). Written by a top expert in the field, and organized in an accessible question-and-answer form, it will help homebuyers decide whether an ICF is right for them and how to get the most for their money. Every aspect of planning and construction is covered, from exactly what an ICF is to the intricacies of building a concrete house, from choosing a contractor to selecting a suitable design for the system. There’s crucial advice on how to make sure construction goes smoothly, diagrams and photos to illustrate every point, beautiful ICF homes on display, and explanations of how these homes differ from conventional ones and why they cost less to maintain.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402736290
• ISBN-13: 978-1402736292
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, September 13, 2008

By 

Andrew (Naperville, Il United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Concrete House: Building Solid, Safe & Efficient with Insulating Concrete Forms (Hardcover)

The Concrete House, by Pieter A. VanderWerf. It is an interesting book to read if you are considering building in this manner. It is witten from an American perspective, for the American market (I'm Australian), but as it doesn't get too technically involved, it translates quite well. This is not a "how to build" book. It is written in question and answer format, and is aimed more at those who have heard of the ICF style of building but want to know more about the features and benefits, and basic construction details of it.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So so..., February 26, 2009

By 

Sven E. Anderson (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Concrete House: Building Solid, Safe & Efficient with Insulating Concrete Forms (Hardcover)

The author is a great fan of himself, and while I had high hopes that this book would delve more into the hands-on design and construction aspects of building a concrete structure, it was more about how a prospective homeowner seeks out qualified contractors and what to look for / avoid in business dealings with a contractor. By the way, I am a contractor looking to do a concrete place-for myself, so I'm well aware of the nuances and headaches of building. This book could have been about conventional stick built or Lego blocks, it's a thin look at actual concrete building.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wish I had read Sven Anderson's review before I bought this book, March 20, 2009

By 

C. Palmer "Mr. CP" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Concrete House: Building Solid, Safe & Efficient with Insulating Concrete Forms (Hardcover)

After the fist few pages in this book, I felt I was reading something written by Bobby Jindal. The author's style would be great for teaching the subject of concrete home construction to 8 year olds. His simplistic and self-inflating style is annoying and distracting, but worst of all, it gives the impression that there is not going to be any real informational meat (i.e. real world engineering or design info) that an adult reader would be interested in, and would have expected from a technical manual. This author is quickly losing my interest in investing any more of my time digging deeper into this book, and I haven't even got to page 15 yet. Disappointing.