Design consideration for ICF and wall/roof holes for vents/electrical/etc
Slushy
| Posted in Plans Review on
Greetings.
I will be building an ICF house, and am shocked at the typical number of holes in the exterior walls of houses and on the roof for vents, electrical, plumbing etc. The point of an ICF house is nice solid walls of concrete and insulation. So is there any design tips or tricks to limit the number of times I have to run a hole thru my exterior walls or on the (ICF) roof? I am looking to build a basic 2 story rectangle, fairly low angle/flat roof. And I just want to know how to design it and build it with the fewest number of holes as can be done.
thanks for your time.
Michael.
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Replies
ICF's are not as elegant a solution for a whole house as some would have you believe. Limiting penetrations requires some of the same strategies employed with other airtightness strategies like furring out service cavities and chases and keeping plumbing fixtures close to tie into one common vent. Go all electric -- no intake/exhaust needed for sealed combustion.
Thank you for your reply Jason. Where/how would I educate myself on those strategies?