I am looking to do a 3 level building with vertical insul-deck walls. The basement would be on slab, the first floor to e insul-deck, second floor to be standard wood truss, and then an insul-deck roof. The monolithic pour of the insul-deck roof in continuity with the outer concrete of the Insul-deck walls with the similarly contiguous insulation on the inside of the roof and walls is an attractive feature. However, how does one mitigate against the thermal leak of the concrete first floor in continuity with the outer concrete of the Insul-deck wall? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

You will have a problem here, the roof wick the heat out of the walls if not insulated.
An icf roof will not do this and it can be done.

Dino,

I'm curious why you are building the wall w/ vertical Insul-Deck?  Is your procedure similar to tiltwall, where you pour on the ground and then lift into place?  Unless you are wanting a specific exterior finish (such as exposed aggregate) that is difficult to achieve w/ a block, I would think it would be quicker to build with the block in the first place.  Also, the greatest stress on a wall during tiltwall construction is when it is lifted into place (which generally requires a crane) and, consequently, more rebar is needed to strenthen the wall to withstand said stress.

jeff 

Dino, I understand your quest for a "strong" and well insulated house. If all things were equal why would anything else make any sense?! Insuldeck is a great product, so is Litedeck, Amdeck, Isorast and other foam forming decks. The caveat here is the price of a finished product - $14-$16 per square foot, depending on where you are located. You are on the right track though wanting to have a totally insulated interior environment such as an igloo basket (cooler). Going with your suggestions, you then could eliminate the Insuldeck between the basement and the first floor and replace with a wooden truss system. Do you have an overhang on the roof system or are you flush with exterior walls? If not, provide a monolithic pour to the roof with a cold joint where the roof meets the walls. The tie into the walls would be rebar coming out of the walls that need to be bend in place over top of the insuldeck roof system. For added insulationat the meeting point of rood and wall I would spray some polyurethane foam in a cornice fashion. Hope this helps.

THe wicking effect definitely concerns me. I wanted a super-sturdy concrete stained and etched floor that would extend out onto the back deck. A wooden truss would help mitigate the wicking effect. Jeff, the insul-deck forms would be set verticallly with an outer form that would strip away followed by stucco. The cost of this is looking to be significantly lower than the ICF equivalent and stucco. When the vertical Insul-deck is combined with the Insul-Deck floor, I am wondering if placing a foam block between the monolithic beam/ribs would be reasonable

Your best bet is ICFs and IFFs (Insulated Floor Forms, such as Lite-deck and Insul-deck). They work very well together, and are poured together. Versus any tilt up and your structural cast in place floor would not be poured monolithically. Also if your design includes a concrete floor system that is continuous interior to exterior deck only the beam pockets are continuous, so there more insulation than not. You can even cantilever a small deck.