Not ideal, but neither is it an insurmountable obstacle. The ICF builder/distributor I used is about 3 hrs away from me. I visited him on one of his jobs, reviewed my plans with him at his office afterward, studied the BuildBlock manual from cover to cover, relied on a local competent concrete contractor, had a helper with rebar experience and good carpenter skills, and ended up with a very good ICF wall. He visited my project 3 times and rented, and delivered to me, alignment bracing.

The only significant ICF problem I encountered was oversize corner blocks, a problem the ICF dealer had unknowingly encountered earlier but did not recognize so didn't have a lot of help to offer.

CW, Not the first time this has been discussed on GBT.
I think the application of thermal mass in your climate can be achieved with thoughtful passive solar design (window placement, orientation, interior floor/wall materials, etc.). The exterior walls should serve to insulate the interior and not serve as a heat storage to dampen temperature swings.
Maybe we can learn from the Eskimos, who built igloos of snow that kept the interior at some constant temp (not as warm as I would like) and reduced air infiltration.
Therefore, if I were building in your area, I would strongly consider all SIP walls and roof, unvented attic, sub slab insulation, a properly sized heating and ventilation system and the best windows/doors I could afford. By the way, I live in Kansas and will be building with ICF 'cause we face tornados and prairie fires and we don't face as exteme temperatures as you do.
Construction. Since you don't have contractors nearby, sounds like you'll have to import a crew to construct either way. SIP walls/roof can be delivered to your site with windows/doors precut. A competent crew can then get the house erected in a week or so ready for roof and windows. Sounds like I'm a SIP proponent, but actually I see SIP and ICF as reasonable alternatives to stick; just evaluate which meets your needs better. FWIW! Dave

Short answer?  Yes! (it would be wrong!)

All I can say that if a ICF peddler or contractor use the words "ICF" and "R50" in the same sentence, we won't be doing business.

Bruce

THere are people, of course, as in any trade, group or assembly, that shout from the roofs without thinking!

There are so many ICF brands, is there any reasonably quantifiable method to to determine the "best"??

M Shepard Spear

Do you have a builder lined up for a job? If so, ask him what he prefers.  Choose your builder carefully. Let the builder choose the block.

I have worked with five or six different ICF products over the past 13 years. From the point of view of the builder, there are plusses and minusses to all of them which will make a difference to the installation process. None are perfect. None are really bad (except for Lite form).

But, once they have been filled with concrete, they are pretty much all the same.

rgb

rgb,

I was curious as to what experience you had with Lite-Form to form that opinion?

Alan

bloke,

I would price both ICF and Steel SIPS and make an informed decision as to you believe is best for you. I would personally go with ICF. Much of the ICF industry was started in Canada. Plus it may be that there is an ICF installer near you in Ottawa and not a Steel SIP installer (maybe not)...or you may find that they are similar in price. My personal opinion from a performance perspective, I believe that ICF will provide you with the best overall experience if done correctly.

renangle

Thanks renangle. You make a very valid point about installers in my area for either option. I'm still very early in the planning phase (educating myself), so I haven't gone down that road yet.

Both seems like great systems for cold climate - maybe it will come down to price, available contractors, and what the designer thinks is a better option (I still need to find a designer that knows about this stuff - which may be a task in itself).