Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

ICFs provide cost-effective ease of construction, energy efficiency, quiet, and long-term sustainability for any location (mountain, coast, valley, flood plain, frequent tornadoes, cold and hot, arid and humid). The use of steel studs on interior walls provides strong structure and reduces thermal breaks. ICFs work for basements and multistory structures. They are insect-proof.

Anything you can design and build with typical "boards and sticks" construction you can do much better with ICFs. ICFs can be used for floors, ceilings, walls and roofs or SIPs (structural insulated panels) can be used. ICFs are suitable for the tropics or high elevation snowy mountains. Want a house that will still be there after a severe tornado? Look into ICFs.

How do you introduce a contractor to ICFs who has been building the same way for 25 years with the motto, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" (resistant to changing methods of construction) - give your contractor a copy of this book. Spend one 24 hour in an ICF house - feel the ambient temperature, listen to the sound, look at the natural and artificial lights, then demand high quality, sustainable ICF construction for yourself, your business, schools and church.

Houses are expensive and costly to operate, regardless of climate. ICFs require good thorough thinking in advance (you're not going to move a window or door easily later on). Want sustainable cost-effective construction in and above ground? Build ICFs.

This book is written for the general public and provides an excellent and thorough introduction to icfs (insulating concrete forms). This book would be useful to any person considering building a home with them. I think all contractors, builders, architects, and engineers should also be aware of this framing system and would benefit from the book.

The book is extemely easy to understand. The author assumes you are starting from zero. Although at times you may be reading some very basic stuff that you know already, overall this is an effective strategy in that the author ensures that everyone can understand everything in the book, even those who have no previous knowledge of standard construction. This is done through clear writing and also very good illustrations.

I am considering building a new home with icfs and this has given me an excellent foundation. Although this book provides a lot of useful information, it is not a substitute for a structural engineer or an experienced icf contractor. It is also not a "how to" guide with step by step instructions for building yourself with icfs.

The book is not boring at all and has been a huge help to me as I decide how to frame my new house. A great investment.

Like the others said. This book annoyed me. The author is pompous and tells the audience to just go along with the contractor. Not good for people like me who are actually interested in the nuts and bolts of ICF construction. There is little technical data for the engineer in me. The Q&A was terrible formatting and presentation. Go take a course from the ICF form suppliers. You'll probably learn more.

This is one of the well written books by the author, whom I believe the well known expertise in the field. Targeting on the American ( North America) market, the author provided a step by step in depth, but clearly plain language in introduction on the major aspects of the ICF house.It is a good guideline and reference for the people who are interested in this type of construction. wheather you're a contractor, architect or a homeowner. It is a must have and must read if you want to touch this filed of ICF building.

My wife and I are in the process of designing our own home. During this process we have been researching the various construction methods and were looking for a technical text on composite concrete. This book provides virtually zero technical information but instead suggests that you simply trust your contractor. Like those "... for Dummies" books if you are interested in topic in the least you already know more than the text can teach you.

Also the Question and Answer format is annoying.