James02- Sorry, I missed your last question. The roof is regular truss construction. I had them bump up the wind rating, and had raised heel trusses built so that I could fully insulate all the way out to the edges. Sheathing is 5/8 OSB, nailed to FL standards, even though our wind loads in upstate SC are much lower. I used Galvalume 5V for an old-time look. I've questioned whether I should have gone steel SIP's for the roof, but we're on a very tight budget, and I think my roof is adequate for our climate. I used the biggest hurricane clips they make to secure the trusses, which the local building inspector found amusing. but they're still only a buck a piece.

I use the HGMA 10 on every truss all the way around.


http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/fliers/F-ICFVL10.pdf

what are the courses that you took as my husband wants to do the DYI of the new ICF homes that we plan to built within the year. how long it took you to built your house in how many square feet? Is the $6 per sq ft including materials & labor or just the materials? Some ICF Homes I saw - the roof was use too -but others are using regular wood on the roof. Which one you use on your roof? Sorry I ask too many questions, but maybe you will be able to help up plan better to cut cost. There will be an event this coming weekend - a home show who does the ICF construction and trying to plan on our cost in building it any help will highly appreciated! THANK YOU! FROM Purple - Charleston,SC

I didn't take any courses in ICF, but worked closely with a local ICF contractor who was very generous with information. Stacking up the blocks is simple; creating the openings and reinforcing them is more complicated, but not difficult with appropriate instruction. I paid the contractor to actually fill the forms with concrete, as this has to be done right. Bear in mind that $6 per square foot, is per square foot of wall area, not floor area. That price would be materials only, and I'm not sure if that is a valid price anymore, as costs keep going up.

Our house is about 1400 square feet, plus a 1400 square foor basement, and I'll have about 3 years in it by the time I'm done. I'm one old man, working alone, which is very slow. In many cases, I should have hired a laborer to help me. For example, it took me 5 days to sheathe the roof alone. If I just had someone hauling the sheathing up to me, I could have done it in a day.

I used regular wood trusses on my house, but did a raised heel so I could run insulation all the way out to the edges. It didn't add much to the cost.

That is good to know. I saw a video at youtube, they use the icf on the roof which I think it is best for better insulation on the roof too and less maintenance to how I see it and since we live here in Charleston that has a chance of Hurricane, the ICf roof will be our best option. Thank you for all the help and I might bother you again when we started building it :-) I I saw FOXBLOCKs, apex block, quadlock ...will look for more info before we build it. Thank you again