One thing has lead to another. My wife and I are still working on the details of how we would like our next home built. We are hopeful that this will be the only/ last house we have built. Thus far we are completely sold on ICF construction but have a couple of questions for the professionals and other ICF homeowners here. One of the ideas was to use Lite-Decking for the main floor, second floor and roof. We were thinking the extra piece of mind would be worth the added cost since we seem to be seeing more and more tornadoes recently. Another idea was to have the concrete floors stamped with wood and stone designs, and then stained and sealed rather than using hardwood and tile. The reasoning behind this was in hopes of additional durability for the floor and also we would like to have radiant heat installed as well. Our question is basically what are everyones thoughts on the use of Lite-Decking as your flooring and roofing. Thanks Bob

I just used Insuldeck for the main floor (basement under) and I love it. It's ridiculously easy. The only problem was that it happened so fast. Luckily we were able to corral all the services at the same time to come in and designate their penetrations and chases so work could move forward.

I did radiant in a 3" overslab. We used wire ties to anchor the PEX to the #4 rebar grid and big plastic staples punched into the Insuldeck foam where there was no grid. Simple and fast.

Will the concrete stamper be able to do an entire floor after it gets poured for the day?

ICFHybrid, I am not sure if a crew could stamp the whole area in one day. The other concern was if they could even stamp it out accurately without walls in place first. I was thinking that they could probably pour the floors and then erect the interior walls. Once that was done the crew would install another thin layer of concrete to use to stamp the designs in. Does that sound like an accurate assumption? The one nice thing is that they will be using only two designs and we already have those picked out.

Once that was done the crew would install another thin layer of concrete to use to stamp the designs in

I'm sure that would work, but it sounds like a whole lot of extra cost - an entire operation added. When the ICF contractor sets forms in the first place, it seems like he could place pins for the layout of the interior walls and then use those to snap lines off of for the stamper. It might even be worth it to have the carpenter come out and take a look at that time to get agreement. Then, he would be certain to make the walls agree.

If you got to areas in which you felt the uncertainty was just too great, you could go for a pattern that didn't need to line up so perfectly, or even go for a polished concrete instead of a stamp.

Posted By Dreamn2build on 16 Oct 2011 08:58 AM
ICFHybrid, I am not sure if a crew could stamp the whole area in one day. The other concern was if they could even stamp it out accurately without walls in place first. I was thinking that they could probably pour the floors and then erect the interior walls. Once that was done the crew would install another thin layer of concrete to use to stamp the designs in. Does that sound like an accurate assumption? The one nice thing is that they will be using only two designs and we already have those picked out.

Take a look at acid staining. I saw a floor done that way. It really looks nice. The crew makes saw cuts in the top of the concrete and then stains it various colors as you want. It can be done after the walls are in place, even near the end of the construction project. You don't get the texture surface like stamping, but it can be a good way to go.