Since I first read and learned about ICF blocks I’ve been fascinated by their simplistic engineered form to provide top performance insulation and protection from the elements I’m surprised it’s not the more popular choice for home builders. My own personal home plans are to construct an underground home with the north and south facing walls exposed for light. To reinforce strength to endure the load of the weight of its green roof, I intend to use steel beam reinforcement. My husband loves this plan but is also interested in the idea of using a shipping container for his office. My question is this: Simce shipping time containers come in all sizes already made of reinforced steel could I blend the 2 ideas as one for our home? To use the shipping containers as the skeleton with ICF blocks as the exterior wall?

Because you wont be building under the standard building code for the structure, your building department will likely force you to get an architect to sign off on the plans. So talking with/finding an architect that is willing to work with you might be hard.

I had a hard time finding one to work with me doing IFC which is in the code book. My house was just slightly to big and they wanted an architect to sign off on it. All because I had a diagonal dimension greater then 90 feet. crazy...

Green roofs have been tried many times and there are lots of reports on them if you search.

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck and keep us up to date...

The main problem with building below ground is condensation and moisture. If this isn’t considered and aggressively dealt with, the place will soon be mold infested and unlivable. The best side to keep above ground level is the south facing side assuming you want day-lighting and passive solar heat gain. You can design a window overhang such that you only get heat gain during the colder months and have full shade during the hotter months. Personally, I prefer to spend my days above ground for as long as possible...but to each their own.

As noted, condensation and moisture (aka DRAINAGE) are going to be your main issues with a below-grade build.
Given sufficient changes in elevation across your property, and a decent investment in drainage fill, it becomes a virtual non-issue.
Also look into fluid-applied-aided peel and stick for below-grade applications. Polywall's a good place to start.

I don't know that mixing ICF and shipping container construction types is necessarily a good idea.
Containers require a lot of work to render waterproof if you don't buy them that way new.
Also, there's MASSIVE amounts of welding required.
And, in the end, you're artificially limiting your interior spaces with the dimensional constraints of said containers. Something you don't have working strictly with ICF.

And before you commit to steel beam construction, look into ICF flooring/roofing for green roof purposes.
Likely you'll need to make some upgrades in rebar schedule, and/or add something like steel fiber/helix.
Or, worst case, you simply bury a couple pylons in an ICF pillar.

How I'd likely do it.

4-6" crushed/washed fill as a base. Bury your sub-slab drainage in this layer.

4-6" of EPS (possibly a higher-than-base strength rating), fully insulated raft slab.

Minimum 8" ICF core.
On north/south exposed walls, stay with 8" core forms. But go with 6" of concrete and additional 2" insulation panels.

For the roof, go with ICF flooring, 10" forms (12.5" if you need clear spans above 20').

Talk with your structural engineer/architect about upgrading your rebar schedule in the walls and ceiling.
Walls are normally #4 and #5. Look at going to #5 and #6 at least.
For the ceiling, you're looking at dual #7 in the beam and #6 up top in the slab.
Slab should be minimum 4"

Also look at possibly substitution/flat addition of steel fiber for additional strength/crack resistance.

Basically wrap the entire structure in the peel & stick system.

Consider adding some form of protective layer outside the P&S.
Run the drainage fill right up the side of the wall with possible additional tiers of drainpipe to catch bulk water sheds.
Do it in 2' layers with geotextile for fill control.
Cover the roof in 4" of crushed fill as well, wrapped in geotextile.

Also with drainage, MAKE SURE ALL THIS WATER HAS SOMEPLACE TO GO!

Make sure to be a PARANOIAC about sealing penetrations through the ICF wall. And preplan ALL of them if humanly possible.

Yes, drainage and waterproofing are critically important. But I was actually referring to condensation forming on the interior wall surfaces because they will be below the dew point temp unless you do some combination of heating the walls and providing living space dehumidification. Finding the right balance that keeps the mold from forming while still keeping the humidty level within human comfort range can be very challenging for this kind of project.

https://dengarden.com/misc/The-Pitfalls-of-an-Underground-House

Posted By sailawayrb on 04 Apr 2020 05:53 PM
https://dengarden.com/misc/The-Pitfalls-of-an-Underground-House

I dunno.  I'd call this article "The Pitfalls Of A Badly Designed, Executed and Detailed Underground House."

The home in question here was designed with a mediocre grasp of the dynamics that was over a decade out of date when the home was built (during or after 1980).

Insufficient drainage.  Fouled up site drainage implementation.

"Permanent" systems installs buried in the concrete walls.

Bituminous coating (normally used in basements) to water-seal a non-vertical surface, insuring that it'd eventually wash/scrub off.

Also, they're basically spitting distance of the New Madrid Fault and I suspect concrete domes aren't really thick enough for sub-surface application.

Looked at TerraDome's site.  They have engineering docs.  The crown of the dome is tapering in thickness a whopping 6", with nothing but #5 and #6 rebar supports.

On a 24-28' span.

I can see that cracking EASILY.  Especially if you have 4-6 feet of fill on top of that.

Then, on some of them, they're chopping out the center and going with a skylight fixture...

I'm sure the 14' high ceilings are all well and good.  But you now have to heat and cool the whole damn space.  And it's all bare-faced concrete, inside and out!

I am NOT an engineer/architect by trade.  Yet I can rattle off strategies to avoid these pitfalls without much effort.

As for remediation of the home in the article?  It'd probably be cheaper to just implode the structure, excavate and start fresh.  Thought there ARE possible remediation strategies.  They're going to cost...

Thank you for all your input and suggestions! After reviewing your responses and rethinking it over, I would agree that using a shipping container with ICF would be much more work and hassle than it’s worth. Right now these plans are still in dream mode but I love planning, designing, and learning about new ways to improve strength, stability, safety, and being as green as possible. I absolutely love everything about ICF building! To give you an idea of where my partial underground plans are coming from I’ve included these links.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1163073/rupe-house

https://newport-international-group.com/stunning-modern-container-house-design-ideas-for-comfortable-life-every-day.html/%E2%9C%94-38-stunning-modern-container-house-design-ideas-for-comfortable-life-every-day-10#main

https://www.archdaily.com/927562/fm-house-alarciaferrer-arquitectos/5dba248b3312fd7c7e00048e-fm-house-alarciaferrer-arquitectos-photo