Anyone out there have actual building experience or performance experience from living in a home built with Durisol ICFs? I will soon be building in N.E. Wyoming which is great for solar heating. From what I have seen on their website, this ICF places the insulation on the outside so as to maximize the exposure of the concrete mass to the heated space which is desired in passive solar heating applications. Other ICFs isolate the mass from the heated space, reducing the usefullness of the mass. Thanks to anyone who shares info you have on this topic. Dave

You are correct. If you will be using passive solar, this sounds like a good product. If you will be using active solar(and radiant floor for instance), I would insulate from the inside.

So, I think that you have the right idea.

You should look at Thermomax, Endurablock, or just drystacking surface-bonded CMU with outer XPS insulation ala www.thenaturalhome.com at:

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/drystackblock.htm

I think high thermal mass exposed to the inside is better in every application.   Less thermal mass in your floor makes it more responsive if you use radiant heat.

The problem with ICF for any southfacing room in the winter is that they can be prone to overheating unless you have adequate thermal mass that can soak up that heat.  The wall cement is insulated from this solar gain with ICF.  I know of several ICF homes that have south-sided rooms that get a little too warm during summer winter days.  A cement floor will help ameliorate this problem.

Tyler

Sorry, the first reference should have been Thermomass:

http://thermomass.com/overview/index.html

Tyler

Dave(dmoravek1),

Look again at my post. I am in N.E. Wyoming. Just two miles outside the small town of Sundance. Right on I-90, 20 minutes from the SD border.

Dave

jc,

I will be designing the home with large amounts of mass including a trombe wall, other interior mass walls, and a concrete slab floor in the earth bermed main level and possibly putting extra insulation around this main level. I plan to use hydronic radiant floor heat to supply the extra heat that is needed.

Do you have any experience with the Durisol product? They make claims about being able to pour with wet mud(7-9" slump) and say it is a good humidity regulator for the interior of the house. Any company can make claims. I am trying to verify the performance of this one.

Thanks for any info you know of.

Dave

I asked about Durisol on this thread in the past.  Do a search.  The feedback I got was that it was difficult to work with.  I will be building with one of the three wall systems I mentioned above because I also want a HTM home with good insulation on the outside to aid with a passive/active solar design.  You should look into Thermomax or Veissmann vacuum tube solar collectors to aid with solar heating your radiant system.

There is an excellent website that discusses ASU's investigation into HTM homes:

http://www.design.asu.edu/radiant/02_caseStudies/carefree/latest/concl_obs_01.html

Why reinvent the wheel?

Tyler

Tyler
There are times when as you say, some rooms get a little too warm. In the future I suggest you plan on a small fan and a duct which could move very slowly warm air in that room to another portion of the home. This way instead of one room being overly warm, you can use the extra warmth in another room!

I used to do this when we used woodstoves and gas stoves, and the room would get so warm that all you did was fall asleep, so we placed small fans, such as a Panasonic 80 cfm of an inline duct fan to move the air elsewhere.

Hi all:

I am new to this website, but have done 20+ durisol projects over the past few years and found that it does work well. I have also done some EPS systems and find they are similar overall. There is a learning curve as well as construction / performance pros and cons of Durisol vs EPS or anything else. Depending on what you are looking for, I find that it does have a great role to play as an option for high performance building. I can understand why the homeowner might choose it over EPS from a longterm performance perspective (flame spread, exterior position of insulation, impact resistant, "breathable" wall, etc) . I can also see why builders might prefer the EPS (lighter, cheaper).

Anyway - just thought I would add my 2 cents.

Jim