Customer Reviews

Insulating Concrete Forms Construction : Demand, Evaluation, & Technical Practice

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I am having a house designed to use ICF construction, but I wanted to come up to speed on the construction methods used. This book was a good source to get that knowledge. I covers many specifics about ICF as well as general concrete construction methods.

This book is not a how-to of ICF construction. It is an introduction to ICF terms and practices geared primarily toward building contractors interested in expanding their business into ICF construction.

There is quite a bit of text on the topic of marketing ICF to homebuyers and justifying the costs of ICF construction, which as a DIY owner/builder I found mostly uninteresting.

A lot of text is spent describing the benefits of ICF construction against wind damage, but almost no mention of the benefits of reinforced concrete against seismic damage.

There is also a lot of repetition of content between chapters - advice and anecdotes found in the early introductory chapters are repeated verbatim in later chapters. This makes it feel like the authors were trying to bulk up their page count without actually adding any content.

This book deals only with generalities. For specific details on things like wall thicknesses required or rebar placement this book always redirects you to the ICF manufacturer's documentation or other ICF books by the same author.

Overall, this book is a reasonable introduction to the lingo and general practices of ICF construction. It might be useful for a building contractor who is clueless about concrete or to keep this book on hand to loan out to prospective clients, but as it does not contain any specific information it is not a reference that a builder or designer will return to again and again.

Read the entire book because I'm thinking of using ICF for construction of my house one day. I've added it to my library at my structural engineering office. This is not an engineering text but should equip the reader in the ICF construction process and available options.