Chris, I cannot find your definition. But regardless cinder block is not what is meant here, CMUs are. Oh, and they are heavy and weak with limited practical applications.

Posted By ICFconstruction on 01 Mar 2014 09:05 PM
Chris, I cannot find your definition. But regardless cinder block is not what is meant here, CMUs are. Oh, and they are heavy and weak with limited practical applications.

ICF, yes I am in agreement, just trying to offer an explanation for those who do not know the difference, I beleive that the term "cinder block" is loosely used to describe concrete blocks depending on what part of the country you live in.I have built many buildings with concrete block, yes they are heavy.
I prefer an easier life now using SIPs

Easier and affordable is what I'm after. That's why I started the post. I see no practical, realistic use of SIPs in a BASEMENT.

That's exactly what I'd like to see; but no material presents itself as a system where basements are concerned.

How big is the house? The main reason you can't find passive designs with basements is: A basement is conditioned space and part of the heat loss calculations! What R value will you need? Consider a Permanent Wood Foundation, PWF for the basement. Using wood basement lumber, 3/4"Plywood, 2x8 16" OC insulated with Roxul comfort bats gets close to r26. whole wall. About equivalent to an 8" CMU wall with 5" of foam at far lower cost. The downside of PWF is it doesn't tolerate poor design or execution, especially of drainage.

Thanks, Liebler.

I don't have ANY plans yet; but I am paying down my land. I have 30x30 feet in mind; but everything's to be determined.

Makes sense that it's conditioning the space that's at issue with a passive design. Maybe I should start looking more 'net-zero'.

How well established is wood designed for basements? Sounds indeed like a lot could go catastrophically wrong with them.

PWF is very well established technology. I did a quick google search and this link has lots of facts about PWF.
http://woodfoundations.com/
There are well established design rules that, if followed, ALWAYS result in trouble free warm and dry PWF basements!
All the issues are due to NOT FOLLOWING these rules. For example gravel is REQUIRED for certain parts of the back-fill, when the builder uses plain dirt frost heave and failed walls can result. Proper drainage should be part of every basement but with PWF it's even more important. There is a post in the SIPS forum here about this very issue.
FWIW I will be building a double wall house, including the basement. My outer basement wall sits over gravel, no concrete footings and the basement's floor slab is poured against it. For structural reasons the outer wall is 2x8 @ 16"oc and sheathed with 3/4" plywood with the face grain horizontal. The outer wall is insulated with r 30 Roxul with a deliberate void in the bottom 2" ( this is required by the "design rules when using air permeable insulation). The slab sits upon insulation over gravel at the same level as that under the outer wall. The inner wall is 2x6 24" OC sheathed on it's outer face with 7/16 OSB (sealed as the "air barrier") and sits on the slab My main floor framing sits on the inner wall with the rim joist inside the outer wall (the top of the outer wall is 3"higher than the inner wall). The material cost for the double walls I've described is less than the cost of concrete to pour an 8" wall!