Hi all, first time visitor here. I'm a graduating Senior at Colorado School of Mines, completing a project to design a Passive Solar, Earth Sheltered home for a private client in the region. ICF construction was discovered as a structural option fairly late in our design process, so I'm trying to get up to speed. The main advantages for this project are high insulating value, weather/earth resistance, and ease of construction by the homeowner (if necessary).

The quandry (probably not uncommon), is picking the specific ICF system best for this application.

In particular, I'm looking for advice on which systems are suited best for earth sheltered and underground construction (any related literature would be great), which have been used successfully in Colorado, and any resources on structural design of ICF systems.

Thanks!
Ian

Try Felix Marti (970) 626-4169 or (970) 209-5455. Felix is the most knowledgeable ICF person I know in that part of the country. Don't believe he ever visits the forum but he's built ICF and other in Colorodo for a great many years. Welcome to the forum.

The contractors here give the best advice for methods, cost, etc. You can get a lot of information from web sites and their technical divisions. If you get to the point of needing some engineering design assistance or explanation, feel free to give me a call. I'm licensed in CO, though I'm not sure that's of any importance.

Hi Ian,

A great resource for you in the Colorado area is John Hatfield of Energywise Sustainable Products in Littleton, CO.  He can be reached by phone at 303-877-0594 or by email at [email protected].  He has done several earth sheltered projects and has some great resources and contacts that I'm sure will help you a lot. 

Check out the project profile for an earth sheltered home at http://www.quadlock.com/concrete/forms/Earth_Sheltered_ICF_Home.pdf. 

If there is any additional information about ICF, I would be happy to help. 

Feel free to contact me by phone or email at 1-888-711-5625 ext. 204 or [email protected].

Lisa Little
Quad-Lock Building Systems
Customer Service