# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  ICF house build in Adelaide

## Belair_Boy

G'day everyone.
I am an owner builder in Adelaide, building a large ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) house, using a system from Danish Constructions  Insulbrick
After seeing *sundancewfs* *ICF extension project* thread I thought I better start my own rather than hijack his.
I will start with a few pictures of the work to date and go from there.
If anyone has any comments or questions I will be happy to discuss them with you.
So here goes.    
The start of the first slab, sewer trench cut and mid level main beam (27/8/2007)  
Bottom level slab (2/10/2007)  
First two beams in place, formwork stripped off drop piers, first row of blocks started  
Walls up to row 5 ready to be poured (6/6/2008)  
Ready for pour to full height (2/10/2008)  
Veranda columns and beams up (3/11/2008)  
Dwarf walls, ready for Bondek between slab on ground and suspended slab.  
I am true owner builder and I am doing as much of the construction myself as I can. These are the braces I made (50 of them) to hold the ICF in place until the concrete has been poured and set.  They have already be hired out to 3 other jobs since my pour, so they are now paying for themselves.  The material cost to make them was less than the hire cost in the first place so I think the time was well spent.  
Lifting steel beams using a 2 tonne chain block and a gantry frame that will eventually be cut down into veranda columns.

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## jago

Good pics looks like another interesting build why ICF? 
I'm making an assumption due to the lack of service penertrations that it will be two storey, 3 levels? 
How did you go with council and explaining your build as you seem to be in the Adelaide hills and I  know some of their councils are OTT about fire, not that concrete is flammable but ...their (councils) lack of knowledge of your chosen building  method?

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## Gaza

love the ICF prop's. very pro, better than the ones i have seen guys in the USA use

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## Belair_Boy

G'day Jago
Thanks for looking and for your questions.
I chose ICF because it is a good system for an owner builder, the blocks are big and light so easy to handle and build with. No special skills needed and I can get as good a job as (if not better than) a professional ICF builder.  This probably would not be the case for a solid brick construction, although I guess I would have been a rather good bricklayer at the end of the project.
It is around the same cost as brick vernier but as it is load bearing it can support concrete slab suspended floors (read thermal mass). It has good insulation properties, so hopefully will result in an energy efficient house.
You are right, three levels but only two stories at any point.  The lower lever is my workshop (~128m2 of it) so only has a toilet which is a P trap through the wall. The middle level has a toilet, kitchen and laundry, so a few more penetrations there. Most of the plumbing will be in the upper level.
The council were more concerned with the number of trees I planned to cut down during the planning consent.  I used an independent certifier for the building rules consent and thus avoided some of the OTT attitudes of the council.  It did take two and a half years to finally get development approval though!!

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## Belair_Boy

> love the ICF prop's. very pro, better than the ones i have seen guys in the USA use

  Thanks Gaza,
I was never really happy with the "unistrut" style bracing where the scaffold support is cantilevered from the brace which introduces a bending moment.  On top of that the upright doesn't have much strength and difficult adjustment.
I have used 50 x 75 x 2.5 RHS for my upright and the load from the scaffold support is directed down the upright without any bending moment.  I have also used a differential screw arrangement on the brace rod to allow precise and easy adjustment.

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## Belair_Boy

This is the current state of play. Middle level slab on ground and suspended slab over the lower level.  The structural steel is ready to erect and then a start can me made on the ICF walls.  All the walls in the middle level will be ICF where as only the outer and a dividing wall will be ICF in the upper level.

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## sundancewfs

Your blocks look as yellow as mine  :Biggrin:  
Looks great. I too love the braces :2thumbsup:

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## Gaza

> This is the current state of play. Middle level slab on ground and suspended slab over the lower level. The structural steel is ready to erect and then a start can me made on the ICF walls. All the walls in the middle level will be ICF where as only the outer and a dividing wall will be ICF in the upper level.

  did you DIY the formwork for the suspened slab? 
there is a lot of step downs on that slab, there has been a lot of thinking going into this project.

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## Belair_Boy

> did you DIY the formwork for the suspened slab? 
> there is a lot of step downs on that slab, there has been a lot of thinking going into this project.

  Yes Gaza, I did all the formwork for the suspended slab and there was a lot of work to get the 100mm overhang with drip groove around the edge.  
This is the formwork for the key joint between the slab on ground and the suspended slab. It sat on top of the ICF wall and formed the male tongue of the slab on ground.  The slots are for the starter bars that come from the wall below into the wall above.  
Setdown formwork for the toilet, slab on ground pour. Note, this is on the Bondek that spans the gap between the ground and the wall.  It was dropped in place once the concrete for the setdown had been poured and the surrounding concrete poured the extra 30mm.  The reinforcing has been dropped by the same amount at this place also.  
Slab on ground pour showing edgeform and setdown for the veranda.  
Edgeform along the parallel flanged channel beam of the veranda balcony, held on by numerous F and G clamps.  I bought 80 acro props from Sydney on eBay and drove a hired truck over to get them. Again cheaper than hiring and I can sell them after I am finished and recover all my costs.  
Yours truly fixing a half round strip to the top of the overhang edgeform to form the drip groove.  Stubs for fixing the veranda columns to have been bolted to the top of the wall ready to be encased in concrete.  So many sheets of formply reduced to strips but all reused multiple times before they eventually become too small.

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## pb02

Wow! This looks amazing. The location looks spectacular too. Can't wait to see the progression of this.  :2thumbsup:

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## jago

I've  a feeling that only freaks like you and Sundance do ICF projects....lol

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## sundancewfs

jago, your just jealous! There is still time, you could knock over all those bricks and replace them with ICF.  :Biggrin:

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## jago

> jago, your just jealous! There is still time, you could knock over all those bricks and replace them with ICF.

  
The problem with iphones fat fingers and being blind and this wensite is typos galore I meant to say  NEAT FREAKS my apologies!  
I will build an ICF project in the furture I am sure ...I was captivated by a round building on Grand designs, you can probably tell I dont like normal. 
Nice work Belair_boy especially making and renting out your own profiles. :Wink 1:

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## Belair_Boy

Jago, 
I seem to recall you "had to move 6 thousand bricks down stairs (6 meters drop) and the other 4 thousand you carried out on to  scaffold"
I bet at the end of that lot you wished you were building in ICF  :Biggrin:  
Beginners ICF - straight walls right angle corners and intersections
Advanced ICF - straight walls variable angles and intersections
Master ICF - curved walls and round buildings (easier if you had special curved blocks)

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## jago

> Jago, 
> I seem to recall you "had to move 6 thousand bricks down stairs (6 meters drop) and the other 4 thousand you carried out on to  scaffold"
> I bet at the end of that lot you wished you were building in ICF  
> Beginners ICF - straight walls right angle corners and intersections
> Advanced ICF - straight walls variable angles and intersections
> Master ICF - curved walls and round buildings (easier if you had special curved blocks)

  Too true ....I wished I was a kid again using Leggo!  
Could ICF be used to build a large retaining wall 18 metres wide by 2 metres high to hold the garden back ? It would  save my back...and quick to erect.

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## sundancewfs

Yes it can be used as a retaining wall. Normal rules of drainage, waterproofing  and footings apply. It has even been used to build below ground swimming pools.

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## Belair_Boy

> Too true ....I wished I was a kid again using Leggo!  
> Could ICF be used to build a large retaining wall 18 metres wide by 2 metres high to hold the garden back ? It would  save my back...and quick to erect.

  ICF is good for a retaining wall. The South wall of my lower level is a retaining wall 10.7m long  x 3 m high.
As for all retaining walls over 1m in height, engineering design would be needed and there would be a fair sized footing required. 
My bracing was hired out on a job where a ICF swimming pool was being built OVER an ICF basement room!!  Expert waterproofing required here.

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## Belair_Boy

Well I have been busy working away on the house but don't appear to be getting anywhere fast.  I am itching to get on with the middle level walls but have been trying to tie up some loose ends before getting too carried away.
The main project this year has been the laying in of the services (power, water, sewer and phone) and what appeared to be a relatively quick job on paper has taken months to get near completion. 
With 165m from the fence line at the street to the house site, it was a long trench to dig plus there was additional trenching for the sewer run on the middle level to the laundry and kitchen.  I opted to jack hammer the mid level trench by hand as it relatively close to the house slab and I wanted to keep it as neat and narrow as possible.  The excavator with rock breaker is not a precision tool and after a depth of about 600 mm the trench needs to be widened out to accommodate the head of the rock breaker.
The excavator made short work (two days) of the main trench, bedding sand laid and the sewer pipes, power conduit and blue line placed. 
Murphy then stepped in and we had a record amount of rain!!  All the bedding sand in the trench was washed down hill and most ended up down on the street and round the corner. :Doh:   A morning was spent with the bobcat and shovels recovering what sand was left from the road and cleaning up the mess.
All the pipes were now sitting on rock and the trench had partly collapsed in numerous places.  Many days were spent manually replacing the bedding sand and repositioning the pipes.
I was very happy to eventually backfill the trench and finally have access up the drive again.  
Sewer pipe laid and power conduit ready to go in (prior to the rain)  
Trench down slope  
Trench on lower level adjacent to the house. Note how wide the trench is at the top to permit the rock breaker to get down the ~ 1.6m at the deepest point.  
100 tonne of Bitumate (recycled bitumen) to re surface the drive.  
After spreading out and a good roll, the drive has never looked so good.

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## Belair_Boy

It has been nearly 3 months since my last update so I thought I better make it look like I have been doing some work on the house.
After the Christmas festivities, having the power connected was number one priority. On the 25th of January the switch was thrown, the generator could be retired and a fridge was bought!  The first big mile stone of the year.  
Stand alone meter box down at the shed. 
Now I had power, some proper running water and a toilet made the top of the list.  
Some brackets were welded up and sent off for hot dip galvanizing. More of them later. 
As part of the plumbing, a fire hose reel was to be mounted to the side of the house. Here is one of the ways I have got around fixing things to the ICF walls.  
The black dots indicate the position of the bracket to be fixed to the wall.  Under the 35mm of polystyrene hides reinforced concrete.  
The bracket for securing the fire hose pipe, to be fixed to the wall.  I was not happy with the bent bit of metal supplied so I made my own.  
The tools: A 16mm spade bit, not your best one, any blunt bit of metal will do. 6.5mm masonry bit. Two Power Fasteners "Vertigo" fixings, 4 x M10 stainless steel nuts and 2 x M10 stainless steel studs (cut from a length of all thread).  
6.5 mm holes drilled through the foam into the concrete.  
The hole in the foam opened out to 16 mm with the spade bit.  
The resulting hole.  
Installing the Vertigo fixing. OK a socket wrench is also a required tool (or an impact driver)  
The Vertigo secured to the concrete core of the ICF wall.  
A stud is screwed in and a backing nut put on.  
The bracket in place waiting for the wall to be rendered.  A small amount of expanding foam will fill the small void behind the backing nuts before the render is applied.

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## sundancewfs

Very nice Belair.
An excellent way of attaching things to the wall!
I also love your steel work, very slick.

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## jago

I love the meter box actually sculptural ... 
I wondered how you were going when I was driving through Blackwood 2 weeks ago, beautiful part of the world you've got yourself there looking forward to seeing the finished article.

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks Sundance, probably overkill with most of what I do but it brings me satisfaction in doing a job well. 
Jago, I am still thinking about putting a small roof over the meter box to "finish it off".
You should have messaged me while you were in the area and I could have give you a personal tour of the site.

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## boyracer

> Thanks Sundance, probably overkill with most of what I do but it brings me satisfaction in doing a job well. 
> Jago, I am still thinking about putting a small roof over the meter box to "finish it off".
> You should have messaged me while you were in the area and I could have give you a personal tour of the site.

  G'day!I'm a  newbie here but love your work...I can never remember to stop mid process and document! Kudos.
I'm in Belair quite often and would love a site tour.

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## ringtail

Awesome work mate, really first class.

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## Belair_Boy

> I'm in Belair quite often and would love a site tour.

  Thanks for the Kudos
I am contagious with bronchitis, so probably not a good idea for a site visit at the moment but would be happy to show you the work in progress in a couple of weeks or so. Send me a message and we can arrange something.

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## Belair_Boy

> Awesome work mate, really first class.

  Thanks for the complement, it is good to know that I must be doing something right.

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## Belair_Boy

Well I have been busy preparing the workshop toilet for lining with fiber cement sheet and will be doing my first lot of direct stick next week.  
The vanity basin requires hot and cold water connections so I fixed the Rehau lugged elbows to a steel plate to give a solid mounting to the concrete core.  I like things being solid and secure, especially when they are fixed inside a wall and covered over.  
The water connections mounted in position and the pipes chased into the foam.  
I made my own hot wire cutter for chasing the foam.  It is a variable safety extra low voltage supply and a block for mounting the cutting wire.  Not ready for sale in Bunnings but quite usable for a MK:1 proof of concept.  If I get the time (read not likely) I will make a better cutting head but will probably fit a handle to this one for now.  
The mounting block is a couple of brass terminal blocks fixed to a piece of tufnol insulation. The cutting wire itself is a piece of old wire coat hanger.  It is ridged enough to keep it's shape when hot and provides enough resistance for my power supply.  I bent up different shapes for the various size pipes and cutouts.  
The pipes push firmly into the chase and don't require any other fixing.  I ended up using three horizontal battens recessed into the foam to allow some screw fixings as well as the adhesive.  The battens are screwed directly to the concrete so should provide a positive fixing for the sheets while the adhesive sets.
I can sympathise with Sundance, the truing of the walls ready for direct stick took some doing and my walls were not as bad as his.  Luckily these walls were the worst in terms of out of level so the next lot should be faster.   
The position for the light switch mounting box.  I have settled for 1350 mm above the floor as it felt right when reaching for the switch.  
The hole for the mounting box was only a moments work with the hot wire cutter.  
For those wondering why there are two holes in the timber batten, I hit a reo bar with the first one. :Doh:   
Switch mounting box in position and the conduit chased up to the ceiling.  A little expanding foam will hold it all in position (although it is quite firm without it)

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## ringtail

Dude, your a freak ( in a good way ) :Biggrin: . Funny how there is always reo in the way :Ohcrap:

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## JohnnyD

Came across this post by accident. I really enjoyed reading it. Excellent work and well documented. Looking forward to further installments.

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## Belair_Boy

G'day all 
It has been a while since I posted here and about the same time since any real work was done on the house.
My father lost his battle with cancer mid May and my time has been spent on family matters for the last couple of months. 
It is amazing how much stuff a 20 month old can accumulate and as space where we are currently living is at a premium something had to give.  One room has been used as a store room since we bought the place and the decision was made to reclaim it as living space.  The only question was where to put a room full of stuff? 
I thought about a 15 square metre shed but it required time to erect and a concrete floor placed, not to mention the permanency of such a structure on a block we hope to develop in the future.  
The solution came in the form of a 20 foot shipping container. It is sealed much better than a steel shed, it comes on a truck and is ready to fill straight away and can be moved to the new house when required (will make a good wood store).
It cost about the same as the shed would have and is much more secure (probably more than the house in fact).   
Delivery was on the back of a 6m tilt tray truck, $150 
It just fitted between the house and the fence so a good use of space.  I had a bobcat come round for half a day to level the site and place a bed of road base, 11.5 tonnes disappears very quickly.  Just the process of leveling resulted in 3 small trucks of dirt to be removed.  Luckily I have plenty of space at the new house to dump it.  
I built some shelving down one side to help organise the boxes before starting to fill it.  $250 in materials in contrast to $600 for steel shelving (I couldn't find any at auction at a good price in the short time available) 
The container is nearly full and the room just about empty so hopefully it will be back to house soon. :Smilie:

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## bricks

"I fixed the Rehau lugged elbows to a steel plate" 
Hey mate, awesome build.
Working in Adelaide construction I see some pretty messy work - especially when it comes to hidden items like reo and sub structures. 
One tip I'd like to give is on the fixing of the Rehau fittings to steel plates. The fittings are DZR brass, meaning that given the right circumstances you could have de-zincification of the fitting leading to leaks at a later date. This is due to dissimilar metals and all that jazz.
It is the industry standard to mount the brass fittings on timber to provide an insulator between the fitting and and metal or concrete items. 
Could you not fix the w45's to a timber batten?

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## Belair_Boy

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: We are expecting our second child late January. 
Not so good is that between my wife's morning sickness and her staring a new job, my child minding duties have taken even more construction time away. 
There has been a little progress however and I hope to start the big push with the middle level very soon.  
The Rehau plumbing and electrical conduit were foamed in plus some holes and gaps filled.  
The foam cut back and walls ready for the direct stick of fibre cement sheet. 
Thanks for the comments Bricks, much appreciated.  In regard to the fixing of the Rehau fittings to steel plates, there are rubber gaskets provided to insulate the brass fitting from the fixing surface to combat the very problem you spoke about.  I used brass screws as well, so hopefully there will be no problems with de-zincification. 
The workshop toilet has been lined with fibre cement sheet and flushing started. Unfortunately I have been unable to have the floor tiles laid yet as rain keeps working its way onto the toilet floor and flooding the setdown.  This is one of the biggest problems with trying to jump ahead with the lower level construction before the main house and roof is in place.  
Here is one of the brackets seen earlier fixed to the "outside" of the toilet wall.  The Rehau fitting is fixed to the bracket and a length of running nipple passed through the wall for the connection to the cistern.  
This is the other bracket for the hot and cold supply to the sink in the workshop.  This wall is set away (approx 1m) from the rock bank and so I have permanent access to the plumbing and other services located here.  
We had a couple of dry days recently, so the foam gun out came again and all the gaps and holes in the retaining wall were filled.  Probably overkill (again) but as I only get the one chance to waterproof this wall I want it to be perfect.  On a friends ICF job the paint on waterproofing membrane had a tendency to draw into gaps and form cracks which required reinforcing tape to fix.  I am hoping to avoid this issue although I will reinforce all the joints with tape to be sure.  
I have cut back and sanded about half of the wall so far and hopefully we will get a few more dry days this week to allow me to finish and start waterproofing.  I am using an air powered Shinano 8" angled head polisher with a sanding disc to even out the foam blocks.

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## sundancewfs

Looking good Belair! I'm glad I don't have to do any waterproofing like yours, on my walls ( other than the rendering)
Congratulations of the coming addition, and the increased child minding duties.Cue the lilting strains of Jim Reeves......Welcome to my world.....  
At least our youngest is nearly 3  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

I started to apply the waterproofing to the retaining wall last week but only managed to apply 70% of the priming coat before the rain came.  :Frown:  
Sunday saw the delivery of the remaining ICF blocks for the middle and upper level of the house, 275 square metres (752 blocks) plus 42 metres of lintel block.  
Had to unload the trailer at the road as we can't get it up the drive but this is the third delivery and we have the process finely tuned.  Thanks to Tim and Preben from *Insulbrick*. 
All I need now is some dry days and there is no excuse for some serious progress.  :Smilie:

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## Belair_Boy

Time for another update.
Since my last posting my daughters childcare days have been changed to coincide with the days my wife works so I now have five days a week to work on the house.
Coupled with better weather in September and things are staring to move forward again.  
35 litres of the Gripset 51 waterproof membrane has been applied to the retaining wall.  The foam filling of the gaps has done its job and there has been no need to tape the joints between the blocks.  The joint between the wall and the slab, plus the corner joints have been taped however.  There is still another 15 litres to be applied to give the required 1.5 litres per square metre. 
The workshop toilet has been tiled, grouted and hopefully the toilet will be installed this week, plumber pending.  
Nearly all of the 150 starter bars have been drilled and "hammered" into place.  The Ozito rotary hammer has made light work of the drilling and surprisingly few reinforcing bars in the slab have been hit.  Holes cleared with the air duster and a 10lb sledge hammer used to persuade the reinforcing starter bar into place.  
When I bought my 10hp 3 phase air compressor at auction the air filters were missing.  After finding out 2 new filters from the manufacturer would cost me near to $160 I had to come up with a cheaper solution.  Two pod filters from an auto store at $13 each and a collection of pvc pipe fittings to make a couple of adapters and I had myself a solution. 
After a few more starter bars and a bit of precise laying out of the wall positions, the structural steel will be erected ........ stay tuned.

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## sundancewfs

Ha! Love the filters Belair. My stationary compressor has an oil bath filter off a VW on it. 
The job is looking good and the extra time you have to put into will be great.
Where did you get the switch boxes for the electrical that you showed a few posts back? They look like a much better idea than insulation shrouds and metal plasterboard plates.

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## Pulse

Love this thread, especially the photos in exactly the same spot. 
Not sure where you find the time to post us the updates!! 
A real demonstration of a skilled and resourceful DIYer at work 
Cheers
Pulse

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## Belair_Boy

> Where did you get the switch boxes for the electrical that you showed a few posts back? They look like a much better idea than insulation shrouds and metal plasterboard plates.

  G'day Sundance
The plastic wall boxes are Clipsal 157/1P bought from the local P&R electrical.  Most electrical wholesalers should carry them although I couldn't find them on Sparkydirect.  They are designed for mounting into solid masonry walls so may need some ingenuity to use them in a stud wall.

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## Belair_Boy

> Love this thread, A real demonstration of a skilled and resourceful DIYer at work

  Thanks Pulse, the complements are much appreciated.  :Smilie:  
I am going to go one further with the "photos in exactly the same spot" and have made a time delay remote trigger for my digital camera.  The idea is to take a time lapse 'video' of the next stage of construction.  I just have to decide on the camera placement and construct a permanent mount, and I will be ready for a test run.

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## Draffa

> 

  Is that a 1-tonner they're using?  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

> Is that a 1-tonner they're using?

  It's a Ford F250. A trailer load of blocks only weighs about 800 kg so it is more volume than weight.

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## sundancewfs

come on Belair...... you've had those blocks  since the beginning of September....  :Biggrin: 
Where are the pics of the second story?

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## shauck

> come on Belair...... you've had those blocks  since the beginning of September.... 
> Where are the pics of the second story?

  Yeah. Where are all the Go To Whoa-ers these days??? Been quiet in here lately.

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## SlowMick

Given the size of this project I can't see the bring any whoa for some time yet. 
An awesome project though, the attention to detail is amazing.  looking forward to more pictures.

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## jase

Hi, I randomly found this & found it very interesting. thank you! Do u mind if I ask why you chose insulbrick over the various other similar products available? 
also whilst I was hunting around I found this link which looks like they are taking credit for your work: Danish Constructions

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## Belair_Boy

> come on Belair...... you've had those blocks  since the beginning of September.... 
> Where are the pics of the second story?

  Hey Sundance, who do you think you are, my wife. :Smilie:  
As usual there have been many things getting in the way of exciting progress but we have just achieved another milestone, we have a flushing toilet!! 
With the start of the bushfire season approaching, I have been brush cutting my boundaries and burning off to clear things up a bit. 
All the starter bars are in and all the vertical reo bars cut to length (over 150 of them). I am all but ready to start erecting the structural steel and laying block again but I want to back fill some sewer trenches first.  We have already had one sewer pipe damaged before the hole was filled so I want to avoid a repeat performance.
I have added another 20 shore frames and extensions to my inventory of scaffolding so I now have all I need for the rest of the project without having to resort to hiring anything.   
Now to buy that mini excavator !

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks for the comments SlowMick and Jase.
Is there really any end to building or renovations or is there always a new project to be started? 
I started the owner builder journey many years ago and when Insulbrick (Danish Constructions) came to a home show in Adelaide and I met Tim and Preben, I was very interested in the system.  It met all of the criteria I was looking for, and as there were only a couple of companies selling ICF in Australia, I was happy with Insulbrick, the rest they say, is history. 
I have got along well with Tim and Preben over the years and have become a bit of an "Insulbrick ambassador" in Adelaide.  I am happy for Insulbrick to use photos of my build on their web site but I will have to get "owner builder" in there on the next update as I can't have people thinking it is a Danish Constructions project.  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

I think it is time for a few more pictures.  :Smilie:    
We had a sewer connection open in preparation for connecting an overflow relief gully but due to rain and the plumbers other commitments, it was an open hole for a while.  As Murphy would have it, a vehicle drove over the temporary riser and smashed the pipe.  Fortunately when I dug down to inspect the damage it was only the 45 deg elbow that had been broken and the main sewer run was still OK.  I cut the pipe off at the Y junction branch and using a slab repair fitting was able to get a socket again.  The blue line at the top of the picture is the 40mm main water supply while the 32mm at the bottom is a run down the hill again to a tap by the shed.  I can isolate all outside "garden" taps from the water supply with a ball valve.   
The new plumbing in place ready to backfill and protect the sewer for good.  The 2 blue line pipes on the left are the outside tap in and then out, while the one on the right is a 40mm supply to a wall mounted fire hose.   
The polly to brass connections are bought to just under the surface making them easy to get to in case there is ever a leak.   
The reinforcing rods for the walls have been sitting out in the weather for a long time now and have developed a layer of rust.  Some rust is good to help the bar bond to the concrete but a lot or flaky rust is bad, so I needed to give the bars a bit of a clean.  I made a jig to hold an angle grinder with a twisted wire cup brush over the rod.  The grinder pivots on a support arm and some tube guides the reo rod under the brush.  The four rods in the foreground have had the treatment while the four behind are yet to be cleaned.   
I did a trial standing of the garage door mullions on Friday to work out the hole positions for the fixing studs and the reo bars to be chemset into the slab.  It was good to see something finally going up on the middle level slab at last.  On the next dry day I will chemset the reo bars for the fireplace, front door walls and the garage door mullions.

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## sundancewfs

Speaking as your wife.... "well done! Take a week off, go to the beach and relax." :2thumbsup:

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## Gaza

any pics of the reo / wire brush thing in use?

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## Belair_Boy

> "well done! Take a week off, go to the beach and relax."

  After my "week off"  :Wink:  things have started to go up on the middle level slab.  All the column positions have been marked out and the studs put in.  
Due to the close proximity to the edge of the slab, chemical anchoring is used as it avoids the expansive force of dynabolts.
A 18 mm diameter hole was drilled using the Ozito rotary hammer, brushed out and blown clean with the air duster.   
The Ramset CHEMSET MAXIMA SPIN CAPSULE was placed into the hole and the Anchor Stud driven down using the drill and adapter supplied.
The Spin Capsules contain acrylic resin and peroxide initiator that mix and cure when the Anchor Stud breaks the glass capsule and mixes the contents.
Spin Capsules are readily obtainable (even Bunnings have them) and are easy to use with no wastage.  One thing to check is that the honey coloured resin and 
quartz aggregate is still fluid (moves like honey) as they have a shelf life and if buying a box that none of the glass capsules have been cracked.   
I decided to move the fixing hole positions on one column as the original holes lined up with the expansion joint. New 18 mm diameter holes were drilled in the 12 mm thick base plate using a magnetic 'rotabroach' and annular cutter.  This is another tool bought cheaply at auction and has made steel fabrication so much easier. 
I have erected the gantry again for lifting the beams onto the columns and tried out my time lapse camera while doing so.  As soon as I have the video in a format for posting here I will upload it.

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## Belair_Boy

> any pics of the reo / wire brush thing in use?

  G'day Gaza
I will take some video of the reo cleaner in use next time and post it here.

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## turnstiles

Cool - magnetic 'rotabroach' + CHEMSET MAXIMA SPIN CAPSULE - 2 items I never knew existed in the one post!! 
Good stuff! I'm taking notes....

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## Belair_Boy

Here is a video of two days compressed down to 30 seconds.  I have mounted a digital camera to a pole and used an electronic circuit to take a photo every 60 seconds.  It is the start of the middle level structural steel. The video is 52.6 MB so may take some time to download depending on the speed of your broadband connection.  I hope to reduce the file size down once I work out the best way to compress the video without loosing too much quality. Vimeo has done a heavy compression on the video and it is only 2.3MB now. very fast to download but the quality has suffered a bit as a result but you will get the idea.  http://vimeo.com/belairboy/time-lapse

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## sundancewfs

I wish I could work that fast.....

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## Belair_Boy

Today saw the lifting of 3 main steel beams and three smaller ones.
The gantry came into its own again and made lifting the ~ 300 kg beam a simple job.   
The remaining beams bear directly onto the walls at each end and so will have to wait a while longer.
The columns are on temporary packers at the moment and will be adjusted for correct height and packed with non-shrinking grout.  
Here is a time lapse video of the days proceedings.   http://vimeo.com/belairboy/timelapse2

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## Draffa

That A-Frame is worth its weight in gold.

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## Belair_Boy

> That A-Frame is worth its weight in gold.

  Yes, it was well worth the time to weld up.
It is a pity I will have to cut it up to get my veranda columns back!

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## Belair_Boy

Time for another update. 
The last couple of weeks have seen all the steelwork previously erected, leveled, plumbed and grouted into position.
The concrete blockwork for the chimney has also been started. 
The worst part of the concrete slab as far as level goes is at the edge with the garage door openings.
When measured with the laser level it is 17mm low at its worst point compared to my temporary bench mark mid slab.
As  the garage door openings don't really need to relate to anything  other  than the garage slab floor, I decided to create a new reference  at the  Eastern mullion and set the lintel height from that.  Three of the  five  other mullions were within 4mm of the new reference so were set  direct  on the slab as was intended.  The remaining two were at the  lowest point  (as Murphy would have it) and so there was enough of a gap  to use grout  and bring the top of the mullions to lintel beam height.  
The slab was ground level where the mullions sit directly on the concrete to keep the columns plumb.
The other four holes are for N12 vertical reinforcing rod that form a cage between the two C channel mullions.  This will be filled with concrete and form a reinforced concrete column.  
The vertical reo between the mullions and the bars either side of the front door were fixed in position using Ramset UltraFix, a two part polyester chemical anchor.  I used a chemical anchor rather than driving in starter bars with a hammer as the door opening is over a suspended slab and I didn't like the idea of bursting out a large chunk of concrete in the ceiling below. Nearly all of the other starter bars sit directly over walls below and so this was not a problem.  
While I had a tube of UltraFix open I decided to use M16 studs (cut from threaded rod) instead of Dynabolts as originally planed.  Using studs enabled me to use a nut under the columns base plate and jack the column up and down to get the height correct.  As there is a nominal 30mm gap for the grout, there was plenty of space for the nuts.  The grout space is to allow for correction due to variation in the slab height and to give the base plate a solid foundation.  Welding induces some distortion in the plate and they never end up flat.  After using Dynabolts on the lower level columns and studs this time I would use studs from now on.  
The laser level was used to set the top of the beams at the correct height.  
The columns for the garage access door required the use of a couple of steel wedges when plumbing them as the bolt holes are only on one side of the plate.
After grouting the wedges are removed.  The concrete slab is saturate with water for approximately 6 hours prior to applying the Grout.  
A column after grouting with a non-shrink Class A cement grout.  
The first two rows of mortarless form blocks placed and filled with concrete.  The blocks where the fireplace insert is to go were left unfilled but put in place to locate the other blocks.  Plastic bridges are used to hold the dry fit blocks in position until they are filled with concrete.  
The chimney after the blocks in the gap for the fireplace have been removed and the blocks on the edges cut back.
I wonder how much of a chimney you need before Santa comes to visit?  :Smilie:

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## sundancewfs

> I wonder how much of a chimney you need before Santa comes to visit?

  I reckon if you put some reindeer food and a tasty beverage in front of that chimney, Santa would find his way to it no problem!  :Wink 1:  
Looking good Belair.  :2thumbsup:

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## Gaza

is all this steel to support timber framed roof or another level

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## Belair_Boy

> is all this steel to support timber framed roof or another level

  G'day Gaza, 
The steelwork is to support another reinforced concrete slab floor for the level above.  
The suspended slab to the right of the garage is 150mm thick on Bondek while the slab over the garage is 300mm thick off form.
The position of the walls can be made out by the starter bars, with a stud wall between the kitchen and laundry.
There is a raked exposed timber beam ceiling above the lounge but no second story above the lounge, av room and entry.
The end of the beam temporarily supported by the scaffolding will sit on the outside wall.

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## thegableman

Hi Belair Boy
Have been watching both you and Sundancewfs progress with your ICF projects. Thanks for your detailed postings.
I am building my ICF house at Jervis Bay NSW  and have 2/3rds of the walls up. I printed out your DIY hot wire tool
along with a diagram and parts list from the net and went in to Dick Smiths but they said that they no longer carry that sort of equipment. Where did you get your diagram for the workings and the parts from. thanks

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## Belair_Boy

> Have been watching both you and Sundancewfs progress with your ICF projects. Thanks for your detailed postings.

  G'day Thegableman, welcome to the forum, it is always great to meet another ICF builder. Both Sundance and myself are easy to get along with so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away.   

> I am building my ICF house at Jervis Bay NSW  and have 2/3rds of the walls up.

  Any chance of some photos, it is always great to see what other people are doing?   

> I printed out your DIY hot wire tool along with a diagram and parts list from the net and went in to Dick Smiths but they said that they no longer carry that sort of equipment. Where did you get your diagram for the workings and the parts from. thanks

   I have a background in electrical engineering so my hot wire cutter was just thrown together out of parts I have in my workshop (I have collected a huge amount of parts over the years).
Dick Smith is just the electronic retail arm of Woolworths now and you will be lucky to find anything useful there.  Jaycar is a much better bet Jaycar Electronics - Better. More Technical. There are plenty of other suppliers of components and I would just let my keyboard do the walking.
Which URL did you get your circuit design from?  I would be happy to look it over and let you know what I think.
There was a bit of a discussion on hot wire cutters just recently in http://www.renovateforum.com/f195/ad...68/#post864754. 
Not knowing your background, I would suggest that if you have any doubt about your knowledge and ability to work with mains voltages, that you get the help of someone who knows what they are doing. (end of disclaimer)  :Smilie:  
Good luck and I look forward to some progress reports on your build.

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## Bedford

Would the Hot Wire Cutter be suitable for removing a mirror that's been stuck on with silastic ? 
As in this thread,  http://www.renovateforum.com/f205/re...lastic-101506/

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## Belair_Boy

I don't think it would work too well as silicon sealer is stable at high temperatures (usually good for a few hundred degrees).
I can get my "hot wire" to glow orange (900 deg C) but a mirror/tiles would be a large heatsink and it would be slow going.
I will however try to cut some silicon and let you know how it works

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## Bedford

Thanks BB, it was just a thought.  :Smilie:

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## thegableman

Thanks re info on hotwire tool. Had a look at the thread and didn't know what you are talking about, ie I know insufficient to dable with 240v (ya dead for too long).Here are a couple of photos of our ICF project. 1. the foundations the day after the inspector inspected the steel. 2 It took my wife and I two and a half days to remove the water and the stick clay mud, note the condition of the sides of the trenches. 3. Outer blocks laid and inner crusher dust and internal trenches. 3. Slab down and blocks going up, ordered trusses because we hope to get the walls finished before the truss factory opens again after the holidays. We are doing the blocks 2 of 3 rows at a time and filling them with carefully measured mixes in our cement mixer. Have lost 10kg in the process and feeling quite fit for over 60.

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks for the photos thegableman, it looks a very interesting project. 
I know how you must have felt when your foundation trenches filled with water, it would have been so disheartening especially at the start of the project.
I don't think I have dug a trench yet that hasn't filled with water.   We canceled our middle level slab on ground pour twice because of rain and it still rained the day of the concrete pour.  And we are supposed to be the driest state in the driest inhabited continent!
At least I didn't have the mud and collapsing trenches to contend with, what a painful, backbreaking job cleaning that lot out would have been. 
Mixing and filling your blocks by hand is serious DIY and I take my hat off to you. 
From what I can see in the photo, you are not using much in the way of bracing for the blocks.  Is that because you are only filling as you lay them?  Do you have any problems with the blocks lifting? 
The house looks an interesting H shape, how about starting a 'Go to Whoa' of your project, I am sure there are many others with questions.  :Smilie:

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## sundancewfs

I did see a foam cutter that Silicon Chip magazine did a while ago..... Its a good mag to reference electronics projects and there are a lot of suppliers that advertise in it too. That might be worth looking at Silicon Chip Online - Build A Hot Wire Cutter

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## Belair_Boy

I agree with Sundance that Silicon chip is a good magazine for electronic projects and other interesting articles.
Silicon chip also published a hot wire cutter project much more recently : Silicon Chip Online - A Hot-Wire Cutter With Inbuilt Heat Controller
I don't think any of the electronic parts suppliers sell it as a kit but you can always "roll your own"  :Smilie:

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## thegableman

Belair Boy,  I got bored waiting for Council approval so I learnt Google Sketchup. Everyone who is considering building or renovating should learn how to use it , its very simple and the results are amazing. Here are just 3 snapshots of what are 3D models of my ICF house under construction.
The current project is the very last of 4 DIY house builds. Yes it is a H shape, one being 24.6m the other 18.8m long and 2.7 high, both are 6.4 wide connected via a link 7m long by 2.4 wide which also has the front door and portico, the wall facing the inner courtyard is all glass. The garage is separate 10.8 x 7.8 and 3m high. The block work on the house was started on the 14 Dec and I expect to have hand filled all the block work by 10 Jan. There is no bracing for the block work as we are only filling 2 or 3 rows high as we go. I use a string line and a straight edge with my 1.2m level to check the walls as we go. There is no problem with "floating" blocks as the Thermacell blocks lock in very tight, the only problem has been a couple of breakages of the block if the last fill in piece is too short. Fairly obvious why after you have done it a couple of times. The only "bracing" is the window and door "form work" which we have done out of timber which will later be reused to construct shelving and benches in the garage.I found a "Hot wire loop / Hot knife cutter" on eBay that looks like it is made from plastic tubing for $99 that might suit my needs. At least its better than me trying to build one. As for doing a 'Go to Woa' on my ICF build I had thought of doing it before I started but I'm not sure I have the energy now, just put in a 12 1/2 hour day. The wife said now that its hot you should go and start work early, so now instead of getting up at 5am I get up at 4am and arrive on site at 5.45 at first light. Maybe a post build review could be possible.

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## Belair_Boy

G'day thegableman
Thanks for the extra info and the pictures, it look a great project.
I had a look at the ebay hot wire cutter and it does indeed look like it is made from a piece of PVC pipe.  Personally I would be very cautious about buying a piece of electrical equipment made by someone I didn't know and have no way of knowing the quality. I would ask the seller if it complies with AS 3100 and see what the reply is.  If he is overly dismissive of safety requirements and the minimum safety standards, I would give it a miss.  After many years working in electrical testing and safety I have seen some very dangerous equipment.

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## thegableman

Thanks Belair Boy
I take your concern about electrical safety seriously and now am looking at a basic factory made foam cutter.

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## thegableman

> G'day thegableman
> Thanks for the extra info and the pictures, it look a great project.
> I had a look at the ebay hot wire cutter and it does indeed look like it is made from a piece of PVC pipe.  Personally I would be very cautious about buying a piece of electrical equipment made by someone I didn't know and have no way of knowing the quality. I would ask the seller if it complies with AS 3100 and see what the reply is.  If he is overly dismissive of safety requirements and the minimum safety standards, I would give it a miss.  After many years working in electrical testing and safety I have seen some very dangerous equipment.

   Thanks Belair-Boy for pushing the safety issue. It prompted me to continue searching on the net till I found a CE approved tool with the attachments that I needed at a price that was cheaper than from the USA. I have sourced this Hot knife with the attachments and extra wires and cutting knife blades. Also after much searching I have sourced a Tungsten carbide Dura Rasp from NZ. I was amazed that none of this was available in Australia. Thanks again for pushing the electrical safety issue. :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

No worries, 
There is nothing like having the right tool for the job :Smilie: 
Electricity is such an everyday part of our lives that people tend to become complacent when it comes to safety, I wish everyone was as sensible as you.
ICF is still in the minority when it comes to building methods in Australia and as a result the specialised tools are harder to come by. 
Good luck with your build.

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## Belair_Boy

*It's  a girl !!!  
Announcing the safe arrival of our beautiful baby girl Chloe  Louise.
She was born at 9:20am 20/1/12, weighing in at  3.75kg (8 pounds 3 ounces) and measuring 52 cm.  
We're all doing well  and actually getting some sleep.  *

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## sundancewfs

Congratulations Belair and Mrs Belair! 
She is a good size!   :2thumbsup:  
We are just past 20 weeks on our way to number three.....

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## shauck

Wonderful! Wishing you all plenty more sleep.

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## Belair_Boy

Mother and baby are dong well so I managed to get in a few days work at the house.  :Smilie:  
All the vertical reo bars have now been cleaned up and enough for the first course of horizontals.
The only thing left to do before I can start laying the blocks is to make some door sub frames.  By using timber sub frames at door openings I am able to close off the end of the walls, they can act as bracing and I have some timber to easily fix the door frames and wall lining to. 
As I don't have a stand for my compound sliding mitre saw and always striving for greater accuracy, I decided to make up a saw bench out of several timber saw horses I had lying about.   
The door sub frames are made from a piece of recycled oregon and a couple of pieces of pine fixed to each edge.  The oregon although well seasoned is not perfectly straight so I needed to plane the edges to give me a true edge to fix the pine to.  After hand planing the first one and with half a dozen more to do I made up a planing jig for my router to speed up the process and give me a much more accurate result.   
Two steel saw horses support a pair of 2.5m long 200mm universal column.  The timber to be planed is placed between the steel and the router with a planing bit  Planing Bit : CARBA-TEC run along the straight edges.  The result was very good and I am sure the jig will get plenty of use.

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## shauck

Clever stuff.

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## Belair_Boy

Another reasonably productive week.
The timber sub frames for the door openings have all been finishes and given a coat of primer, as have the timber "studs" to bring the steel columns out to wall thickness. The studs have been attached to the columns, all the wall positions marked out and the first of the sub frames erected.  
Eagle eyed viewers of my posts may have noticed the grey outlines where the walls are to go.  This is the Xypex concentrate damp proof course for the walls sitting on the slab on ground.  I am also using the Xypex Admix in the first course of block fill concrete as an extra precaution against rising damp in the walls. Xypex - Concrete Waterproofing, Repairs, Protection & Durability Enhancement. Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth - Xypex Product Range   
The 12 timber studs to be attached to the steel columns where they form the end of a wall.  The white is just a general purpose primer to try and reduce the water absorption of the studs while they are exposed to the rain and the black is a waterproofing compound where the timber is in contact with the steel.  
My Hitachi impact driver and the fixing screws used to attach the studs to the steel columns.  Note the long drill portion of the screw, required for drilling through the 5 mm wall thickness of the steel column.  Fasteners with a shorter "drill" do not get all the way through the steel before they start to try and cut thread. This ruins the thread cutting action and the result is a jammed or broken fixing. The "drill" end was remarkably good and was able to drill through the 5 mm steel six times before it became too blunt. (I did a series of experiments with various steel fasteners to see which ones worked best)  
The two steel columns for the doorway to the garage with their timber studs attached  
The resulting width is 240mm the same as the polystyrene blocks used in this wall. 
The next couple of days should have the remaining door sub frames fixed in position and I can finally start laying out blocks again. :Smilie:

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## Gaza

key with xyprex is to ensure you vibrate all voids or its useless,

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## stevoh741

hey BB, I notice your chemsets look pretty plumb. Do you have a trick for getting the holes in the concrete straight? I freehand mine and they go ok but not as good as the ones you have look.

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## Belair_Boy

> Do you have a trick for getting the holes in the concrete straight?

  G'day stevoh 
I also drill my holes freehand but it helps having a longer drill bit (~300mm) as it enables you to get a better view of how pumb it is.
With the chemset you have a 18mm hole for a 16mm stud so there is also a little bit of leeway to make a small adjustment. 
Getting the hole in the correct position is more difficult.  I mark out the hole position and mark a circle the diameter of the hole. I then drill a pilot hole (say 6mm) starting off slow and watch for any wander, correcting as necessary.  Once the pilot hole is drilled the larger drill follows without too much trouble.

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## stevoh741

Cheers for the reply BB. I drill mine the same but on occasion ive been known to get the sledgie out to make small adjustments. One day I plan to build something to drill them spot on. Good work...

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## Belair_Boy

All the door sub-frames are now in place.  Fixed in position using a galvanised metal bracket and expanding anchor in the slab. The timber spacers between the sub-frames will be removed after the concrete walls are poured.  These sub-frames give me something to fix the timber door frames and plasterboard to and act as shutters for the ends of the walls.  
Door from the entry to the lounge and lounge to AV room.  
One of my differential screw brace poles holding this sub-frame plumb.  This was originally going to be a doorway but is now going to be sheeted over.  The new opening is between the columns to the left.  This is one of the only design changes made so far but I have put the sub-frame in to allow either option in future.  
The openings for the North facing lounge and dining room doors and the meals window require temporary shutters to seal off the ends of the walls.
I have made the shutters from some 50x75 RHS with form ply screwed to the front.  The clamps in the photo are to hold the RHS against 240mm spacers while the form ply is attached.  A steel angle is fixed to the bottom edge to facilitate securing the shutter to the slab.  
At long last I have started to lay blocks again.  As the slab is low along this wall (referenced to my temporary bench mark) I am packing the blocks up to give me a uniform wall height all the way around, (laser leveled).  The steel UB is being used as a straight edge to keep the blocks in line and will eventually end up supporting the roof of the master bedroom balcony.  I am filling the first course of blocks by hand to make sure everything stays where is should and to allow me to add xypex admix to the concrete.    
The blocks have been held in place and the gap sealed using polyurethane gun foam, the ICF builders best friend.  Polyurethane gun foam range   
Where blocks intersect with each other, foam need to be removed to give a continuity of concrete.  I am using the hot wire cutter now as it makes very little mess.  The second row of blocks holds the first row in place as they lock together with the notches.  
I have built a version of a hot wire "drop saw" to enable me to cut blocks to the correct length without all the "snow" produced when using a hand saw.  It is much more precise and will result in less block wastage.  
Vertical reinforcing bars have been wired onto the starter bars and a reinforcing bar placed in the horizontal beam between the first and  second course.  This is the view between the first and second course with the horizontal bar in place.   
The first two rows of blocks are nearly complete for the garage and ready for some concrete.  Time to get the mates around.  :Smilie:

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## tunagirll

First of all this is an amazing build and a real credit to you! You should be proud of your work  :Biggrin:  Also congrats on the new arrival! 
I was curious about something and thought you might know; what is the go with the foam blocks and fire? I realise the concrete will stay put, but is the block system fire rated, or what do you do if a fire comes through and melts all the foam? How do you fix the cavities or would you need to fix them at all?

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks Tunagirll,
It is a huge undertaking for one person and a balancing act between spending time with the family and getting on with the house but I will get there in the end and have something I can genuinely say I built and be proud of. 
In terms of fire, the polystyrene itself has a flame retardant so it wont continue to burn on its own.  The foam is not structural, the reinforced concrete is doing all the work with the blocks providing formwork for the wet concrete and insulation after.  The external surface of the foam is rendered giving it sufficient protection to comply with fire regulations.   If the worst happened and a bushfire came through and melted the foam you could re-render the exposed concrete and loose some of the insulating properties of the wall or cover the wall in some form of insulating cladding.  Lets hope I never have to look for a solution to this problem.

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## sundancewfs

How is the block work coming along Belair? Do you think you will have it all up before winter gets wound up? Do you have any projected time line for getting the roof on? I love your foam-cutter dropsaw that was one of the things that bugged me....all the snow that cutting the foam with a saw created. 
It's nice to see how neat and precise you are with your work too. Well done  :2thumbsup:

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## Belair_Boy

> How is the block work coming along Belair?

  Things are coming along well, I will post some pictures shortly.   

> Do you think you will have it all up before winter gets wound up?

  Middle level walls - Yes, upper level suspended slab - hopefully, upper level walls - not likely, roof - ....well     

> Do you have any projected time line for getting the roof on?

  I have a critical path time line but things started to slip more or less straight away.  My goal at the moment is to be at lockup by the end of the year but with so much major work still to be done there is plenty of opportunity for Murphy to step in.  It is daunting to look too far ahead so I focus on the task at hand and keep things moving along.   

> I love your foam-cutter dropsaw that was one of the things that bugged me....all the snow that cutting the foam with a saw created.

  Thanks, I started to make it while building the lower level walls but the priority was to get walls up not make tools so it was never finished in time.  I made sure I finished it before starting walls again.  
This is what I wanted to avoid  :Smilie:     

> It's nice to see how neat and precise you are with your work too. Well done

  Thanks again, I try and strive for perfection, never achieve it but the result is something I am happy with (most of the time)  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

Progress has been going well with the middle level wall block layout and first course filling.
All but one small wall is in place and 75% of the first course filled with concrete.  
Before the walls over the suspended slab were placed, any penetrations for services in the wall needed to be drilled.
As ducted vacuuming is planned, a 50mm diameter pipe needed to be dropped through the slab and set into the wall.
A diamond core drill was used to cut through the 150mm thick slab.  (diamond core drill set - another auction purchase at a great price)  
The pipe for the ducted vacuum along with a small conduit for the control circuit were chased into the foam block and directed onto the opposite face where required.  I try to keep conduits and pipes in the foam wherever possible so not to reduce the area of the void for the concrete and permit easier access if it is ever needed in future.  
Here a power conduit is bought up through the slab and across to the opposite face of the block to a wall box.
The conduit can then be chased up the wall once it is finished.  The reason I am bringing the services up from the opposite side of the block and not straight up is that there is a wall directly below this one and the services originate on the opposite side to that needed above.  A 26mm masonry drill is used for the 25mm conduit, much quicker than a core drill.  
This is one of the reasons I retired the Commodore and bought the Colorado, 800kg of cement in the tray. :Smilie:   
The first two courses of blocks set out and vertical reinforcing bars being wired on.   
 Where the slab is low I uses spacers to bring the blocks to a uniform height, laser level again.  Here the wall is between two stacker sliding doors and the shutters I made earlier enclose the ends of the walls.  
Timber spacers keep the shutters the correct distance apart at the top while the first courses of concrete are poured and threaded rod hold them together against the opposing force of the wet concrete.  
Expanding foam is used to fill the gap under the blocks and to stick them down, preventing them floating up as the concrete is placed.
First two courses filled with 32MPa concrete with Xypex addmix as waterproofing in the first course.  
Where the block had to fit around a column a web needed to be removed.  Temporary clamping prevents the concrete bulging or bursting the block while being placed. 
To date 1260 kg of cement, 2000 kg of sand and 2560 kg of 7-10mm aggregate have been used.  A big thanks to my mates who have kept up a steady supply of concrete to me.

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## Bloss

An odd question since you are so far in (and a great project it is too!). I have been involved with a couple of these (but in Canberra - so cool temperate zone) and I was curious to know why you seem not to have insulated under the ground slab or for that matter (unless the pics just don't show it) haven't done edge insulation as an alternative. My guess is that as you are in Adelaide (where summer cooling is the biggest issue not winter heating so you (or your designer/ architect if not you) wanted that thermal connection to add the ground mass capacity to moderate the house temperatures?

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## Belair_Boy

> I was curious to know why you seem not to have insulated under the ground slab or for that matter haven't done edge insulation as an alternative. My guess is that as you are in Adelaide where summer cooling is the biggest issue not winter heating ?

  G'day Bloss, 
Yes your guess is correct.  
From my understanding slab edges should be insulated in cool and cold climates where the whole slab should be insulated from earth contact in cold climates for best use of thermal mass.  Where I am building the ground mass is more useful in keeping the house cool in summer (where, as you said, summer cooling is the biggest issue) and is not too much of a thermal sink in winter.  
The suspended slab between the middle and upper levels is insulated on its edges, thus totally enclosed in the building envelope and should hopefully go a long way to regulate the internal temperature.  I lived in a house a couple of blocks from where I am building which had a slab on ground in a similar configuration to what I am building and was cool in summer and required minimal heating in winter.  With my much better insulated walls and passive solar design (the other house was double brick with no wall insulation) I feel my house will perform much better.

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## Bloss

Yep your understanding is generally correct for a temperate zone. 
I'm more of a fan of using thermal mass inside the building envelope (including the floor slab insulated from the Earth) to give greater control all year round - funny how we call this 'passive heating and cooling' when we really want the occupants to be active participants in managing their own thermal comfort (eg: by opening and closing windows, curtains, external shades etc, or 'shock horror' wearing appropriate clothes, rather than simply flicking a switch for space heating or cooling - now that's what I call passive!). 
Adelaide winters are not so troublesome. Melbourne is temperate too, but much cooler winters so I'd do slab edge at least there and full insulation in ACT (which is very unusual here!! - I think it should be mandated).

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## Belair_Boy

After a fourth day of having a mate round to mix concrete all but a couple of metres of 170 wall have been filled.  I am using three different width blocks on this level, 240mm 200mm and 170mm with the 170's taking half the concrete of the 240's  
The start of a 200mm wide wall between a column and a door sub frame.  The full height N12 reinforcing rods have been wired onto the starter bars corresponding to every third cell (600mm)  
Where bars from the wall below don't correspond to the cell spacing of the wall above, the bars are cogged over.
The short N16 bar is from the wall below but is not required for a vertical bar in this wall.  
The first course of ICF blocks placed over the bars and the N12 horizontal bar wired onto the vertical bars to position it in the center of the horizontal cavity.
There are 4 rows of horizontal reinforcing, one in the first, fourth, seventh and tenth course.  
The second course of blocks in place and the wall stuck down.  The concrete blocks are there to hold the foam blocks in place and stop the wind blowing them out of position while I set them up.  A strip of form ply is screwed to the timber attached to the column to help keep the end of the wall in place and will be removed after the wall is filled.  
 I fabricated a steel lintel for the fire place opening and had it galvanised.  
 The rear of the fireplace with the ICF walls either side.  A horizontal reinforcing bar in the third course of core fill concrete blocks will continue into the second course of the ICF blocks.  
 Power conduit bought up from the room below and two GPO mounting boxes held in place with some more polyurethane foam.  
 The small section of wall adjacent to the front door.  I have made up a couple more shutters to seal off the ends of the wall.  
Ready for laying blocks to the full 3m wall height (10 courses in total).

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## Belair_Boy

Unfortunately rain has set in and turned the middle level rooms into ponds.  To make matters worse, the holes drilled in the suspended slab are now letting water leak through into the rooms below.  After a big cleanup Monday and careful positioning of buckets I have hopefully reduced the impact of the leaks, but with the penetrating holes in line with the edge of the walls it is hard to catch all the water coming in.  It looks like the wet and dry vacuum cleaner will be getting a workout for some time to come.  :Frown:

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## thegableman

> An odd question since you are so far in (and a great project it is too!). I have been involved with a couple of these (but in Canberra - so cool temperate zone) and I was curious to know why you seem not to have insulated under the ground slab or for that matter (unless the pics just don't show it) haven't done edge insulation as an alternative. My guess is that as you are in Adelaide (where summer cooling is the biggest issue not winter heating so you (or your designer/ architect if not you) wanted that thermal connection to add the ground mass capacity to moderate the house temperatures?

  Hi I missed your posting because I am also flat out on my ICF build down at Jervis Bay. My previous house in sunny Coffs Harbour was a slab on the ground and it didn't have slab edge insulation. It took me years to figure out why the slab at the edge especially the laundry which had 300 high slab edge exposure was so cold winter.
The new build does have slab edge insulation plus R4.1 ceiling and R1.4 under roof and double glazed argon filled windows. 
The gyprockers have just finished sheeting approx 900m/2 walls and ceiling and they had never came across with an ICF house but that didn't bother them. To achieve an "almost instant" adhesion they not only used stud adhesive but also dabbed on some cornice adhesive to hold the sheets in place whilst the cornice adhesive set over several days. I was very apprehensive beforehand and worried that the sheets might fall off the wall with out being nailed or screwed. This is a tip I would recommend to other ICF builders. Cheers Fred

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## Belair_Boy

> To achieve an "almost instant" adhesion they not only used stud adhesive but also dabbed on some cornice adhesive to hold the sheets in place whilst the cornice adhesive set over several days <I take it you mean stud adhesive here>

  G'day Fred
Great to hear you are up to fixing the plaster board, that is a big milestone.  I will be very happy to get to that stage in my build. 
I believe the use of cornice adhesive for its "fast grab" while the stud adhesive dries is common practice when fixing plasterboard to ICF.

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## Belair_Boy

Well the weather has not been too kind for building outside in the last month, but I have made some progress in between the showers.  
The [S]home theater[/S] Pool. This will be a constant problem until I am able to get the roof on.  Wet feet for a while yet.  
"Mr H Potter The Cupboard under the stairs"  Access door to the area under the first flight of stairs.  I am hand filling these 170 blocks, along with the other 170's between the laundry and passage.   
 Start of the wall braces going in.  The wind has been a problem in the last couple of weeks so getting the bracing up is a priority now.  The blocks are not able to blow away due the the vertical reinforcing rods but the wind buffets them about and can damage them if left unchecked.  
The shutter around the front door opening.  The first couple of courses have been filled by hand here to keep everything in place.   
 Shutters around the meals window and dining room door opening braced together.  The section of wall to the right of the picture and the 170 wall at right angles to it are filled to course four now.  
All walls stacked to course four, ready for bracing and the second row of horizontal reinforcing.  The short wall in front of the scaffolding has been filled to course seven.

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## sundancewfs

> The home theater Pool.

  At least you know the Xypex Admix is working...... just..... in reverse.... :Cry:  
Geat work Belair! I love your bracing and window/door bucks. Really neat and tidy. I had so much cleaning up to do with the grinder after ours came off...

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## Belair_Boy

The weather has been kind (although cold) the last couple of weeks and I have managed to get some more done while it hasn't been raining.  
This section of wall between the dining room and meals room has now been hand filled to row seven.
I now need to fill the small section of wall on the other side of the meals window ready for the lintel to be placed.  
Originally there was going to be an ICF lintel between this wall and the perpendicular wall (over a doorway) but because there is a steel column at the end of the perpendicular wall it was easier to use a steel beam instead.  The external wall will be filled to embed two 16mm dia threaded rods attached to the angle on the end of the beam and once leveled, the angle grouted in.  
The lintel for the dining room stacker doorway.  Using a trolly* I was able to moved it into place between the two wall end shutters.  
*A must have when working by yourself.  :Smilie:   
The gantry moved into position and the mobile scaffold erected underneath to enable the chain block to be set up.
I am using the one tonne chain block this time as it is lighter to put up and the beam is only about 200kg.  
Lintel half way up.  Pulling centrally to the opening with the lintel either side of the walls.  The lintel can then be swung round over the shutters without needing to move the gantry. (2 x 2 tonne soft slings)  
Lintel swung round and lowered onto the shutters.  Holes were drilled into the lintel prior to lifting for more threaded rod to be cast into the concrete cores.  
Lintel in position with the gantry removed.
It is higher than the finial position but once the shutters have been removed it can be leveled and grouted into position.  
I fabricated an attachment for the bar bender I previously made to facilitate the neat bending of reinforcing bars.
Clamping it to a piece of universal column keeps everything in place while bending.   
A N12 reo bar bent to a nice 45 deg bend.  It will bend N16 bars just as easily.  
The reinforcing bar cropper I have for chopping the bars to length.  Bought very cheep from an auction at a hire store that had gone into liquidation. 
All the forth row horizontal reinforcing is now in place and just needs to be wired onto the vertical bars and the next three rows of blocks stacked.

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## Belair_Boy

The weather has been cold, wet and windy for a while now but I have managed to get a few things done before winter sets in.  
The horizontal reinforcing has been welded on where meets a steel column.  
I am hand filling this section of 170 block wall. Row 7 horizontal reo is welded on to the column and to a steel plate which is screwed to the timber sub frame.
Formply and threaded rod are used to support the blocks where webs have been cut out to allow the block to pass the column.  This section of wall is now filled to row 8 and ready for the ICF lintel above the doorway.  
Section of 240 block wall where it intersects with a 200 block wall.  The foam of the 240 blocks has been cut out to allow a continuity of concrete.
As this section of wall is not an exact multiple of block cells, there is a vertical joint here.  Extra bracing and the use of gun foam will keep it all in place for the concrete pour.  
80% of the bracing is now fixed in place.  
Gale force winds were forecast so securing the blocks to the braces was top priority.  Timber battens and threaded rod are used to hold the blocks against the bracing, keeping them plumb and secure.  All the timber and threaded rods are being reused from the lower level walls.  Thankfully I managed to get everything tied down before the bad weather hit and nothing blew away.  
I have managed to pour a little more concrete in the last week and raise the lounge room lintel beam. (sorry for the dark photo but the light was failing at the end of the day)
Next job is to pour some concrete around the threaded rod securing the lintels and to bring the North East corner up to lintel height allowing the meals room lintel to be lifted.  I can also lay blocks up to row 7 so hopefully there are some dry days ahead.

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## thegableman

> The weather has been cold, wet and windy for a while now but I have managed to get a few things done before winter sets in.  
> The horizontal reinforcing has been welded on where meets a steel column.  
> I am hand filling this section of 170 block wall. Row 7 horizontal reo is welded on to the column and to a steel plate which is screwed to the timber sub frame.
> Formply and threaded rod are used to support the blocks where webs have been cut out to allow the block to pass the column.  This section of wall is now filled to row 8 and ready for the ICF lintel above the doorway.  
> Section of 240 block wall where it intersects with a 200 block wall.  The foam of the 240 blocks has been cut out to allow a continuity of concrete.
> As this section of wall is not an exact multiple of block cells, there is a vertical joint here.  Extra bracing and the use of gun foam will keep it all in place for the concrete pour.  
> 80% of the bracing is now fixed in place.  
> Gale force winds were forecast so securing the blocks to the braces was top priority.  Timber battens and threaded rod are used to hold the blocks against the bracing, keeping them plumb and secure.  All the timber and threaded rods are being reused from the lower level walls.  Thankfully I managed to get everything tied down before the bad weather hit and nothing blew away.  
> I have managed to pour a little more concrete in the last week and raise the lounge room lintel beam. (sorry for the dark photo but the light was failing at the end of the day)
> Next job is to pour some concrete around the threaded rod securing the lintels and to bring the North East corner up to lintel height allowing the meals room lintel to be lifted.  I can also lay blocks up to row 7 so hopefully there are some dry days ahead.

  
Blair boy
Love your attention to detail. Wish I had taken more care when forming up door ways, would have made it easier to fit timber jams. Painting done on my project and was about to start on floor tiling but will "dress" exterior walls and fit eaves framing in preparation for rendering. Have spent less than expected and will indulge myself and get in a team to do the job.
On these cold days you can look forward to a warm house. When I open my front door at 6.30am on these cold mornings I am amazed how warm it is inside.
cheers the Gableman

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## sundancewfs

I love that gantry Belair, It has come in real handy by the looks of things. Did you build it to be de-mountable? Do you still have enough area to manoeuvre it with the walls going up now?
Are you going with ICF for the internal walls on this floor or stud partition? 
Looking good  :2thumbsup:

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## Belair_Boy

> I love that gantry Belair, It has come in real  handy by the looks of things. Did you build it to be de-mountable? Do  you still have enough area to manoeuvre it with the walls going up now?
> Are you going with ICF for the internal walls on this floor or stud partition?

  G'day Sundance 
Building  the gantry was well worth the small amount of effort, although I did  need to hire a larger generator when I welded it up as mine was not big  enough to power the arc welder.  The main A frames are my 100 x 100 SHS  veranda posts (5 in each frame) and the cross beam was bought for scrap  value from a metal recyclers.  The A frames are welded together and will  eventually need to be cut down to give my posts back.  The cross beam  is bolted to the frames and so the gantry can be broken down into three  main pieces, plus the wheels are detachable (using an inverted saddle  arrangement so no unwanted holes in the steel). 
The issue, as you  spotted, is a growing lack of space now the walls are going up.  I  lifted the beams in a sequence that would end up with the gantry in the  lounge room.  The remaining big task is to lift the main exposed timber  ridge beam for the cathedral ceiling (~1000kg).  To allow the gantry to  be removed once the beam is lifted (without cutting it up) I have made a  cantilever extension to the cross beam allowing a lift on the outside  of the gantry and not straddle the lifted beam.  
At the moment the  gantry is positioned over the lounge lintel and is "trapped", but once I  have embedded the threaded rods in the walls I will remove the lintel  and free the gantry for the main timber beam lift.  I will then (using  the cantilever extension) re-lift the lintel so the gantry will end up  on the balcony where there is enough room to disassemble it.  
I can see another pair of A frames (somewhat smaller thought) being made in the future as it has been a very useful piece of kit. 
All the walls on this middle level are ICF except the wall between the laundry/kitchen and the two walls forming the powder room WC, which will be timber stud.
The  upper level will only have ICF external walls and a dividing wall  between the kids and adult ends of the house, with the rest being non  load bearing timber stud partitions.

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## Belair_Boy

Well it has been a while since the last overall photo and 3 weeks since my last update so I thought I better pull my finger out and post something.   
Most of the walls are now up to course 7 with the third row of horizontal reinforcing in place.  The last of the steel lintels on the North side is ready to lift so it is now time to free the gantry from the lounge.  I am in the process of placing the ICF blocks for the laundry and garage doorway lintels and hope to have them filled by the end of this week if the rain holds off.

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## jatt

What is the conc in your walls like to drill? 
Boss had a look at an ICF house to do external blinds on.  Was concerned so (with permission of course) did a test hole.  Stuff was like mortar.  Felt unsure if wall anchors would hold.  Dunno if the cement on this particular joint wasnt up to scratch or if this is normal. 
A blind can be a bit like a sail, so one wants to be confident that the bugger is gunna stay there under normal conditions. 
Job wound up being supply only.  
Having thoughts about building a shed with these and running exposed conduits inside for power.  Winter is a bit fresh inside a tin shed here.  Summer well of course its the opposite.  Tryin to sus out whether I would need to run some kind of reinforcement when constructing around where I would want to fix something to the wall.

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## Belair_Boy

> What is the conc in your walls like to drill?

  G'day Jatt 
The concrete used in my walls is minimum 32MPa and as the ICF promotes good curing of the concrete it is generally even harder.  The concrete I mix myself is probably better again as I want to error on the side of caution with my mix.   
A good hammer drill and quality bit will make short work of most concrete but I have no doubt about the strength of fixings into my concrete.  Too much torque will break a 6mm x 50mm AnkaScrew rather than strip out the hole in the concrete.
If you use the correct strength concrete, you shouldn't need any additional reinforcement to fix things too, provided you keep to the center of the concrete beams and columns the ICF makes.
Depending on the size of ICF block you use, the resultant cores can be as small as 100 mm wide and so I would be cautious with a large expansion type fixing but a screw type or chem set would be fine for greater loads. 
ICF would make a well insulated shed, great for all climates.  :Smilie:

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## jatt

Thanks Belair_Boy.
Nuthin like asking someone who is actually building it
I take it there is no need for expansion joints in the walls.  Ie around some windows. 
Any issues with doing your walls in several separate pours?  What I am getting at is if this was conc blocks/bricks there would be mortar in between cured/fired bricks/blocks.

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## Belair_Boy

> I take it there is no need for expansion joints in the walls.  Ie around some windows. 
> Any issues with doing your walls in several separate pours?

  You are quite correct about not needing expansion joints.  Concrete's strength lies in compression, it is quite weak in tension but this is where the steel reinforcing comes in.  With four rows of horizontal reinforcing in the walls and extra bars in window sills and lintels the opportunity for movement is severely limited.  Blockwork/brickwork  lacks this reinforcing and thus expansion joints are required to control where any movement will take place. 
I am generally pouring individual sections of wall (separated by some opening) at a time and thus the joints between pours are mostly horizontal.  These joints are in compression and at their strongest.  The only time one of these joints between pours would be in tension would be while the wall was under construction and free standing.  Wind loading for example would try and blow the wall over (and put the joint in tension) but the vertical steel reinforcing takes care of this.  The starter bars into the slab are all important here, without which the wall could fall over like an unsupported tilt-up.  A free standing brick or block wall would not fare so well, as anyone  who has cut a doorway through a brick wall and pushed the wall out of  the opening can attest to.
In the instances where I have created a vertical joint, the horizontal reinforcing holds everything together. 
I hope this answers your question  :Smilie:

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## jatt

Yes it does. 
Cool thanks. 
My building experience thus far is timber framed construction and weatherboard cladding. 
Jatt

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## Belair_Boy

Well it is official, it has been the wettest winter in seven years and amongst the four coldest winters in the last 23 years.  :Frown:  
Despite this, continual progress has been made over the last couple of months and I am only a couple of weeks away from the middle level main wall concrete pour. 
I have been slack with posts on the forum but hope to have some picture up very soon.  :Smilie:

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## Belair_Boy

Last Friday saw the filling of the middle level walls with concrete!!  :Smilie:  
With this milestone being reached, I though I better get an update on the forum. 
The story left off with the gantry over the lounge lintel.  
The lounge lintel back on the ground and the kitchen/meals lintel lifted into place.
The gantry cantilever extension in place to enable lifting on the outside of the gantry frame.   
The last of the 170 block walls to fill by hand included the ICF lintel over the laundry door.
ICF lintel block with N12 reinforcing top and N16 bottom plus R6 ties at 225 centers  
Lintel and shutters in place for fireplace insert opening.  
170 block wall filled to stair landing height.  The intersecting 200 block wall partially filled to course 5.  
Row 7 horizontal reinforcing in 200 blocks.  To tie the doorway timber sub-frames to the concrete core I welded plates to the end of some reinforcing and screwed them to the sub-frame.  
Chimney filled to 3 metres.  N12 reinforcing bars coged to tie into suspended concrete slab floor.  
Lintel reinforcing for the two doorways in 200 blocks (course 9)  
To make sure I had enough blocks left (and to see how it would look) I temporarily stacked the lounge wall gable.  
Support for the lintel and lintel reinforcing prior to placing an ICF lintel block.   
Three doorway lintels with the tenth row blocks stuck in place.  
Overall view with walls stacked to 10th course.

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## Belair_Boy

The story continues .....  
Modification to the hot wire cutter to enable 150mm to be cut away from the top course of the 240 blocks around the garage.
The concrete slab for the garage is 150 mm thicker than the rest of the suspended slab.  
Short lengths of reinforcing welded to the ends of M16 threaded rod.   When cast into the concrete walls they will definitely not pull out.  
The M16 threaded rods hung in the center of the ICF cells.  This section  of wall is 115mm lower to meet up with the roof line from the upper  level.
I plan on fixing a unequal steel angle to the top of this wall to accept  the roof trusses and the veranda on the western balcony.  
The bond beam reinforcing, 10th course of 200 block wall.  The webs have  been reduced to allow a greater cover of concrete over the reinforcing.  
Extra support was put on the 4 external corners of the 240 block walls prior to the concrete pour.  These corners can be a weak spot and prone to blowouts.  In addition, the two walls which end in a steel mullion needed to be tied together (more M12 threaded rod) to prevent the pressure of the concrete trying to push the wall and the mullion apart.    
The couple of days prior to the wall pour were very busy placing all the shutters and extra support needed to hold unsupported sections of ICF together.
Lintel blocks especially require extra support due to the lack of webs and so form ply covers were fixed into place.  Neatness starts to go out the window as the day of the concrete pour gets closer, they are temporary support after all and are only needed for one day.  
Day of the concrete pour.  All there was left to do is wait for the first concrete truck ..... which was an hour late ..... as usual.

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## SlowMick

Belair, your attention to detail blows me away every time i come back to this thread. Awesome work. :2thumbsup:  
Arround my way it seems to be a race. Knock down the old house, scrape the block including the garden, pour slabs for 4 units, frame, tiles, bricks to lock up in under 4 weeks. 6 - 8 months later the painter fishes and the punters move in and hang sheets up for curtains.  Plasma box goes on the nature strip. Job done. 
This is far more interesting  :Biggrin:

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## aussieslr

I agree with SlowMick Belair. I really appreciate the power of work and head space your putting into your build. I have no doubt it will be all worth it down the track. good luck and keep up the good work. :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

Final pictures from the day of the pour. 
I am fortunate to have some good mates who I can call on for help with  concrete pours and the like, without whom I would be struggling.  
Concrete truck and pump.  One of the five trucks that had to back up the drive from the road.  About 21 cubic metres in total, which was less than calculated (22.9m3).  Unfortunately I ordered a bit extra to play it safe and had to send the last truck away with the surplus as I had nowhere prepared to put it to use.  
The block filling didn't start well, with two blowouts in the first 6m of 240 wall.  The second one was quite dramatic, the external wall of two cells blew out like an explosion when the concrete hit the bottom of the wall.  I was prepared with boards and threaded rods for such a situation but by the time I had patched the hole two more bulges requiring blocking had occurred.    
The cause of all the problems was pump operators not being familiar with the ICF system and, despite my repeated request for them to go slowly, filling too fast.  The concrete falling 2.7m was putting too much load on the 240 blocks, it was the impact not the hydraulic pressure.  At this point yours truly took control of the pump and the fill hose, cutting the flow rate right back and from then on things went smoothly.  The first three courses were filled all the way around, then the next three and finally the last three.  By the second and third lap the first fill had a chance to settle and start to go off allowing the flow rate to be increased. 
I didn't have any blowouts where I had taken precautions to add support to the blocks.  It is always an insurance that may be a little overkill in some places but experience has shown where problems can occur and it is easier to stop the problem from occurring in the first place than trying to fix a blowout on the day of the pour.  
The 200 block with their thicker walls and better design proved to be a big success an no problems with these what so ever.  I am glad I am using them on the upper level.  
 At the end of a long day all the walls that were due to be filled had concrete in them and where they were at final height, floated off.  A final height check with the laser and a skim with the diamond cup wheel should be all that is required.  
The 240 block wall around the garage is not finished off so neatly as there will be a 300mm slab poured on top of it.
The horizontal reinforcing bar above the finished wall is only temporary and there to hold every second vertical bar in place.  These are short 600mm long bars that sit in between the full height vertical bars, all of which will be bent over into the suspended slab.   
The wall with the threaded rods.  Should not take too much to clean this one up.   
Walls after the pour and clean up.  Much the same as before only a lot more solid. :Biggrin:  
There is still some more block filling to be done on this level.  The lintels for the kitchen/meals and dining rooms have to be finished and poured, along with the lounge gable and additional wall height in the home theater.  It shouldn't take long to prepare these but grass slashing has a priority for the coming week.
That is providing the rain and SNOW stops.  .......  Yes snow in October  :Annoyed:

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## Belair_Boy

> Belair, your attention to detail blows me away every time i come back to this thread. Awesome work.

   

> good luck and keep up the good work.

  Thanks guys, I really appreciate the positive feedback.  It can be a bit isolated working by myself for so long and having to deal with the "so is the house finished yet" comment from people who have never attempted a project of any size in their life.  :Wink:

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## boyracer

G'day BB.
I did about 20metres of replacing fascias and gutters today....was feeling like i'd done a bit... proud of my efforts, as i cleaned up for dinner. Then i saw your update. 
Seriously though, i still want to check out your site first hand. Over holidays sometime? 
Can you give a brief run down of your experience before hand, ie. reno's , etc. Where did you start on the road to megalomania.

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## shauck

Just awesome, blows my head off

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## sundancewfs

Well done Belair.  :2thumbsup:  Gotta love a blow out! I like your way of dealing with them. Very inventive.

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## ringtail

Just awesome BB.  :2thumbsup:

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## goldie1

Top job! I keep going over it trying to get my head around it. :2thumbsup:

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## Belair_Boy

> I still want to check out your site first hand. Over holidays sometime?

  Any time, just send me a message and we can arrange a site visit.   

> Can you give a brief run down of your experience before hand, ie. reno's , etc. Where did you start on the road to megalomania.

  My father was a weekend builder and renovator and so I grew up around building and construction.  From a young age my father fostered in me a love for building by teaching me how to use tools and letting me have a go at helping him with all of his projects.   Invaluable lessons like measure twice and cut once became my mantra.  I grew up believing that there was no job too big and there was nothing you couldn't do yourself.  The inevitable outcome was me deciding to build my own house.  I have an engineering background and have model engineering as a hobby so standards, attention to detail and technical  issues are second nature to me.  Although I have built numerous small items and been involved in many building projects, the Belair house is my first real project of any substance.

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## Belair_Boy

G'day All 
To those regular visitors to my postings and first time readers, I have to apologise for the sudden lack of photos on my Go to Whoa.
It looks like there is some malicious code in place somewhere redirecting the links to my pictures. 
I am currently working to correct this and restore the links.
I will post an update as soon as things have been fixed but in the meantime I would like to wish all the forum members a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  
May Santa bring you that tool you have always wanted  :Smilie:  
Regards
Belair_boy

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## shauck

Sorry to see you having such a problem. Hope it all gets sorted. Merry Xmas

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## Belair_Boy

Quick update .... my pictures are back  :Biggrin:  
After a bit more investigation I discovered the location of the rogue script and things are back to normal.
I will post a proper update soon. 
HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone :Party Smiley:

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## Belair_Boy

Now I have the pictures back in order it it time for another update.
Although things slowed down over Christmas, I have been finishing off  the few sections of the middle level ICF walls that were not filled by  pump.  
After stripping of all the shutters and extra temporary support for the  blocks I discovered a corner where the two lowest blocks had split.
I was not even aware of this during the day of the pour as my additional  corner support had done exactly what it was supposed to do.
This would have been the least accessible part of the wall at the time  of the pour and being 3m off the ground would have been a nightmare to  repair in a hurry.  The time and effort to support the corners was worth  its weight in gold in this instance. 
The East wall of the laundry, kitchen and meals required the most  attention as this section was only filled to window sill height.  
In this instance the ICF wall between windows extends a short way past the steel column supporting the kitchen window lintel.
As I was concerned about a slender column of concrete against the steel  column remaining in place, I welded a vertical reinforcing bar to the  steel column.
Same on the other side of the window opening. 
With the two sections of wall between the windows filled by hand, the lintels could be tackled.  The meals lintel is ICF where as the kitchen and laundry are steel T.
The kitchen lintel sits on the two steel columns where as the laundry one sits on the concrete wall.  
The lintel over the meals window is an ICF one with 2 x N16 bottom, 2 x N12 top and R6 ligs @ 185 centers.
The photo is of the reinforcing cage before it is lowered in to the ICF lintel block.  
The gable end of the AV room is formed from 170 blocks sitting on top of the 240 block wall below.
Vertical bars were chemset into the wall below as the cell spacing of the 170 blocks does not correspond to that of the 240 blocks and hence the 240 block vertical bars could not continue into the 170 blocks.  All the 170 blocks that do not require the roof slope to be cut into them have been placed and filled with concrete.
The East wall of the AV room has also been continued up another 6 courses, with the end where the 240 blocks meet the 170s and the transition between the 240 blocks and the 200 blocks filled with concrete.  This just leaves two straight sections of wall with no complications to be filled.  
The laundry lintel has 2 x M16 threaded rods at each end cast into the wall below.  Once in place the lintel height was set with the laser and grouted into position
The vertical web of the lintel splits the concrete above down the center and not one to do things by half, I welded some left over SL92 mesh down each side to reinforce these sections of concrete.  This lintel has had the blocks placed and filled.  The kitchen lintel has had the same reinforcing treatment and is due for filling on Monday.  
As well as finishing the middle level walls I am preparing for the lounge room exposed timber beam.  The beam will sit on the chimney at one end of the room and on the gable end wall at the other.  I have fabricated two brackets to support the beam and anchor it to the walls.  Both are welded from 10 mm plate steel and galvanised.  The holes in the vertical plates are to take M16 threaded rod through the timber beam and into the concrete of the wall.  The hole in the base plate are for M16 vertical rods which will be cast into the concrete and once the brackets set for height, grouted in place.  
This is the current state of play.  The next few tasks are to hand fill the kitchen lintel, add two more course to the chimney and cast in the threaded rod for the bracket.  Place the ICF blocks on the two north lintels and the western gable.    
I will shutter the two garage door mullions and arrange a pump to pour the remaining ICF blocks (about the 11th Feb if I keep to scheduled)
Next big pour will be the upper level suspended slab ... stay tuned.  :Smilie:

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## Belair_Boy

Spoke too soon
In trying to be clever I have lost two photos and the time to edit has expired :Doh: 
Here they are ..... again    

> After stripping of all the shutters and extra temporary support for the  blocks I discovered a corner where the two lowest blocks had split.

    

> I welded a vertical reinforcing bar to the  steel column.

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## Gaza

getting closer to the finsh, amazing job whats your ETA till you finsh the house,

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks Gaza
My wife wants to have Christmas (2013) in the new house  :Shock: 
I have been working on a new build scheduled for this year and it is looking feasible to have the roof on by September!
Having ceilings for Christmas remains to be seen but we will be eating Christmas dinner at Belair house one way or another.   :Wink 1:

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## jatt

> It can be a bit isolated working by myself for so long and having to deal with the "so is the house finished yet" comment from people who have never attempted a project of any size in their life.

  Yeah can relate to that.  We all get them.  For some a small chookhouse in the backyard is a major building project... ooh I picked up a power drill today :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):      Get the odd visit from a couple of mates who do a few small tasks on the way thru.  Always have an awkward 2 person job set aside and supplies at the ready for when they show.

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## Acrowman

> Thanks Gaza
> My wife wants to have Christmas (2013) in the new house 
> I have been working on a new build scheduled for this year and it is looking feasible to have the roof on by September!
> Having ceilings for Christmas remains to be seen but we will be eating Christmas dinner at Belair house one way or another.

  
Hi there: 
Its nice to see someone who knows how to build properly. Maybe you could run a course for some of these monkey house builders. 
Sorry to get off track but... 
Have you got 30 X 2 to 2.5 metre Acrow Props you want to sell cheap or hire cheap. 
I need to pour a concrete slab at home and have noticed that there does not seem to be an abundance of these things laying about. 
It may take me a few months to set it up and pour it with work commitments etc.  
If i rent them for this time it will cost more than buying them at $60.00 a prop. 
I remembered reading in one of your early postings, that you went to Melbourne to get them at the right price. 
I assume you will not be pouring your roof on this level and probably won't be using them. 
I suppose that is a big assumption. :Confused:

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## Belair_Boy

> Its nice to see someone who knows how to build properly.

  G'day Acrowman, thank for the big complement, I do things the way I think they should be done and to a level of quality I am happy with.
Probably overkill for most but it is my work and I have some pride and a lot of satisfaction in doing a good job.  :Smilie:    

> I assume you will not be pouring your roof on this level and probably won't be using them. I suppose that is a big assumption.

  Sorry but your assumption is incorrect.  My next step is a suspended concrete slab over the half of the middle level for the upper level floor.
It is 168m2 with about 70m2 off form and the rest on Bondek, all of which needs propping and thus the acrow props are still needed for a while yet. 
The big plan is to have the slab poured in May so giving time for curing the props should be available in July.
Not sure if this fits in with your plans but I would be open to a good hire rate for anyone needing them after this. 
My neighbor is using about half at the moment and I have started using the other half so none free at the moment. 
I agree that it doesn't take long to pay for the props at a weekly hire rate (hence buying my own). 
Pm me if you want to discuss this further.

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## Acrowman

Belair boy: 
Thanks for your prompt reply. 
I found your thread when I was Googling for Props. 
After I sent the request I was looking at your photos and I noticed some starter bars on top of your "I" Beams and thought,  :Cry:  you will be needing your Props. 
Props are a bit of a hot item that maintain their value and no one wants to sell them once they have them. 
It seems that second hand props are only available in ones and twos at a higher price than what they are new. 
Keep up the good work. 
The way you keep your work-site is a credit to you. 
Most people don't realize the difference it makes to work on a clean site without tripping over piles of rubbish on uneven ground. 
I built my house in the same meticulous manner as you. 
I wouldn't let any of those monkey building companies within 100 metres of my place. 
I'll keep an eye on your thread and wait until you are finished with your Props. 
Then I will contact you if I still haven't found any at a reasonable price. 
I will not need them anymore once I have completed this slab. 
That's why its so hard to bring myself to buy them. 
Good luck with it all. 
If you are putting in a Pool / Firefighting Water Tank and you need any advice please contact me anytime.

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## shauck

> If you are putting in a Pool / Firefighting Water Tank and you need any advice please contact me anytime.

  I was told recently (as I thought of using fire fighting tank as a pool) that chlorinated water or salt water will damage the fire brigades equipment and so is not allowed to be used as one, where planning permission requires a tank on site. Is this true?

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## Acrowman

> I was told recently (as I thought of using fire fighting tank as a pool) that chlorinated water or salt water will damage the fire brigades equipment and so is not allowed to be used as one, where planning permission requires a tank on site. Is this true?

  
Shauck: 
I am a pool expert, not an expert on water storage for the use of the MFS or the CFS. 
I was actually referring to water for your own use with your own firefighting equipment and sprinkler system. 
If you run an ozone pool that is balanced correctly there would be no detrimental effects to any pumping system whatsoever. 
In actual fact, i'm pretty sure that the CFS don't care where water comes from when it comes to saving their own and other peoples lives and property. 
They would be happy to use dam water if they needed it. 
The MFS would probably be a bit funny about it especially if it was salt water. 
I figured that being in the hills, Belair Boy would be more concerned with bush fires and would be more likely to be supplying the CFS with water or using his own Firefighting Pump.

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## shauck

Also sorry for the hijack. I figured you were meaning for self use. In some cases around here, you are required by planning/building permit to put in a water tank specifically for CFA (kept full all the time) to use if ever needed and I wondered if there was a way around the issues described.

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## Belair_Boy

Well it has been far too long since I posted here so I better remedy the situation. 
First of all, Yes I am still alive, for any of you who were wondering. :Biggrin: 
Secondly, progress is still being made on the Belair house, although I am not quite at the projected progress point I predicted earlier. 
The upper level suspended slab pour (scheduled for May) has not been done, however it is close. 
Before the progress report, a little comment on the discussion about water tanks and pools etc. 
I am required to have an independent water supply for bush fire fighting purpose, and have a 22000 litre tank specifically for this purpose.
In reality, the chance of ever seeing a CFS fire appliance on the property in a bush fire is close to zero.  The large number of houses compared to the small number of fire appliances means they will be allocated to high priority buildings such as the local nursing home / retirement village etc and so I will be on my own.
In such circumstances any water is valuable and pool water will help put out a fire just as well as tank water.  I believe that the BCA allows a pool to be used as the source of water in Tasmania at least, so potentially it could be argued in other states/councils.  The local fire fighting supply shop sells a pump and hose reel on a trolly specifically for using with a swimming pool.

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## Belair_Boy

OK, to resume the story, before the upper level suspended slab could be started there were some lintels to be hand poured and the sections of wall above 3m to be prepared for filling.  
The chimney had another couple of courses filled and the threaded rod for the beam bracket set in.  The vertical reinforcing had the next few metres added on making the placing of more blocks too difficult until the upper level floor is poured and the scaffolding can be moved up a level (as each corner block needs to be threaded over the top of the reo rod). 
The laundry and kitchen lintel were hand filled as there were only a couple of courses to fill and there were reinforcing cages to get the concrete around.  Things can get a bit hectic during a pump pour and the last thing I wanted was voids in the lintels.  
Similar reinforcing was welded to the dining room and North meals lintels.  Due to the amount of concrete needed for these two lintels, it was decided to pump these, along with the Garage columns, West gable and AV room wall extension.  
Threaded rods were set in place to be cast into the AV room wall to fix the top plate and associated roof member brackets to.  Again small pieces or reo rod were welded to the ends of the threaded rod to make sure they never come out.  
Shutters were placed around the two garage columns and held in place with blocks and threaded rod to resist the hydraulic pressure of the concrete.  I used a vibrator when filling the columns so no shortcuts here.

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## Belair_Boy

Some extra photos prior to the final middle level wall pour.  
North lintels shuttered  
Scaffolding for AV room extension  
Scaffolding for lounge gable

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## Belair_Boy

The pumping of the extra bits on the middle level went with problems. 
It was only one concrete truck and was all done in quick time.  
With a couple of mates to help with the final leveling, some family to assist with the pumping and yours truly on the hose it was time for beer and pizza before you knew it.  
After the pour with all walls on this level filled.  
Top of the AV room wall, filled and nicely troweled off.  
The AV room wall after the scaffolding had been removed, 4800 to the top.  
The lounge beam bracket in place and grouted onto the gable wall.  
The 7 metre long ~800 kg narrow leaf red iron bark ridge beam for the cathedral roof in the lounge room ready for the final carpentry.
The pockets for the exposed rafters have been roughed in with a router, ready for the final fitting for each corresponding rafter.  
The gantry and chain block are a must for working on this big stick. :Smilie:   
The start of the edgeform for the upper level suspended slab and associated temporary safety balustrade (the bracing uprights are being used again) prior to the Bondek being placed.

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## SlowMick

Good to see you posting photo again Belair - I really enjoy your work and attention to detail. :2thumbsup:

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## woodbe

> Good to see you posting photo again Belair - I really enjoy your work and attention to detail.

  +1 
Your AV room is going to be awesome, 4800 high wall !! 
woodbe.

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## Armers

Good to see you're alive and pumping.,... What i would do to have an av room like that  :Biggrin:  
Cheers

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## sundancewfs

Spectacular!!!   :2thumbsup:

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## Belair_Boy

> Your AV room is going to be awesome, 4800 high wall !!

  I am going to have to disappoint everyone. As much as I wish the AV room was going to end up 4800 high, 1800 is in the roof space so the ceiling height will be just under 3000.

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## Belair_Boy

One of my auction purchases was about 100 screwjacks for the shore frames but they had been left in the weather and had gone rather rusty.
After cleaning a few with a wire brush in the angle grinder, which was effective but a little time consuming I experimented with some rust removal techniques.  
The one on the right is straight from the stillage, with the one on the left after a few days in a citric acid solution.  Citric acid can be bought in the supermarket baking section and one canister was dissolved in about 20 litres of water.  The result is good but there is some etching of the metal.  
I then tried a new technique, the jacks are immersed in a molasses and water solution for a couple of weeks.  The results are amazing.
The rust is completely removed with no damage to the base metal.  The dark patch in the center was where the nut had been sitting.  The nut was moved and the jack re-immersed to remove the residual rust.  The molasses is mixed with water in a 1:9 ratio and after the couple of week soaking the part is given a blast with a pressure washer to remove the resulting sludge.  I now have a wheely bin full of molasses, water and screwjacks.

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## Belair_Boy

Shore frames in place with steel RHS bearers to support the off form slab formwork.    
The shore frames in the kitchen and meals area supporting temporary intermediate beams.  
All the "Bondek" in place.  It is not actually Bondek (except for the galv coloured bits) but Fielders KingFlor RF55, as I was able to get it at a better price.  It is very similar to Bondek but in this case is two pans wide 400 mm rather than the three pans of Bondek.  The blue coating is to cut down reflection and prevent sunburn in painful places (if you are wearing shorts)  :Eek:

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## Belair_Boy

Unfortunately the local joinery business closed down recently but it resulted in some very heavily discounted machines.
I am now the proud owner of a sliding table panel saw (above), a 600mm thicknesser and spindle moulder.  I just need to clear the shed of building materials to give me somewhere to use them.  I moved the saw to the workshop area under the house (not an easy task as it weighs close to 900kg) as I need to use it to rip the oregon timber joists for the off form slab formwork.

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## Gaza

That's seriously nice saw

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## jatt

oregan -one doesnt see much of that being used these days.  have used once before when I didnt want to add intermediate post and where TP would have sagged thru the span. 
Nice pickup on the workshop gear.  Bit of shed envy here cause I only have a 300 mm thicknessor and the closest thing I have to a tablesaw is the portable rail saw. :Smilie:

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## sundancewfs

> Unfortunately the local joinery business closed down recently but it resulted in some very heavily discounted machines.
> I am now the proud owner of a sliding table panel saw (above), a 600mm thicknesser and spindle moulder.  I just need to clear the shed of building materials to give me somewhere to use them.  I moved the saw to the workshop area under the house (not an easy task as it weighs close to 900kg) as I need to use it to rip the oregon timber joists for the off form slab formwork.

  That's it! I'm buying a bigger welder!  :Wink:

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## Belair_Boy

Some more pictures before too much time passes without another update.  
 All the parts for the off form slab and garage lintel formwork ready for some serious time with the impact driver.  
 The reinforcing for the upper level slab and walls, all 3700kg of it.  The truck that delivered the reo was too long to get off the road so he dumped it all at the foot of the drive.  A quick call to Dominic (a crane truck driver I have used before) and in a couple of hours it had been reloaded, driven the 175m up to the house and craned onto the middle level slab.  
 The oregon joists being set out over the steel bearers.  
 With a bit of help from a couple of my mates, all the reinforcing was lifted up onto the Bondek.  The SL92 sheets were laid out first and the bars for the off form slab stacked ready to be dragged across.  
 The inside shutters for the cast concrete lintel being started. The shutters were made up in sections on the ground then fixed into position.   
 The formwork for the bottom of the lintel and associated support timbers positioned between the garage door columns.  
 Struts fixed to the inside shutters to strengthen the assembly and resist the forces of the wet concrete.  
 The formply formwork floor being laid out.  Only a few nails along the front edge are being used to hold the formply in position.  The weight of the reinforcing and then concrete will keep the formply firmly against the joists.  Stripping the formwork will be a lot easier without a lot of fasteners to contend with.  
 Laying out the N20 rods at 200 mm centers.  
 The bottom grid of reinforcing in position. N20 at 200 centers in one direction and N16 at 200 centers the other, 30 mm off the formply.
N12 bars in the long direction have been laid out ready for the top grid. N12 bars in the short direction extend onto the Bondek section 1 m past the first steel beam so are in fact 9 m long (not so short)  
 The lintel cage reinforcing, 2 x N20 bars top and bottom with a pair of N12 in the middle, W8 ligatures at 200 centers. SL82 mesh will be fixed to the outside face. 50mm spacer block were used to hold the cage in position while it was being tied together and removed once the cage had become a ridged structure.  
The view between the top and bottom reinforcing layers. Some SL82 mesh has been used (as well as chairs) to separate the top and bottom layers.

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## ringtail

My God Man ! What a mission  :Biggrin: . Looks awesome though. No way in the world would I attempt it ( read, put myself through such agony  :Tongue: ). I would have made a tilt slab area and craned the finished panels into position. Champion effort BB  :2thumbsup:

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## sundancewfs

Amazing work Belair! 
I must admit.... if I was going to do another ICF build from scratch, I would be going the suspended slab option for the upper storeys. Floor trusses are all good and well, but no matter how much sound insulation you have( and we have a lot!) The sounds of footfalls on the floor above are still quite noticeable.
Well Done  :2thumbsup:

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## Gaza

Is the reason for the off form finish to gargage vs bondek cause it will be seen as there is no ceiling? Wouldn't it been cheaper to just put ceiling in than do off form finish ?

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## Moondog55

OMG
I've seen bomb shelters and nuclear fortifications with less concrete and  steel reinforcing in them LOL
But "Do it Right" the first time and it will last almost forever

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## Belair_Boy

> I would have made a tilt slab area and craned the finished panels into position.

  Thanks for the thumbs up Ringtail. 
Not easy getting a crane big enough for the job onto site.  I have very difficult access and am limited to the size of vehicle I can get to the house.  I did consider offsite precast floor panels but I could not get them onsite.  Casting onsite would be possible but the panels would have to be small enough to lift with the size of crane I could use.  It would end up being a lot of work and pouring off form worked out the easiest and most straight forward path.  Everything I have used for the off form slab I can lift by myself, a lot of bits but relatively easy to manage.  I did need my DIY hoist to lift the steel bearers but could still do it alone.
Most things can be done one way or another but there is always the tradeoff between ease, cost and time. :Smilie:

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## Belair_Boy

> Is the reason for the off form finish to gargage vs bondek cause it will be seen as there is no ceiling? Wouldn't it been cheaper to just put ceiling in than do off form finish ?

  G'day Gaza
I would have been happy with either Bondek or off form concrete as the ceiling finish so it was not part of the decision process.
The reason for the off form slab rather than using Bondek is not for the finish but rather from an engineering perspective.  It is a 6.5m x 10m slab with no beams, columns or other supports apart from the perimeter walls.  Bondek would not support a slab over about 170mm think for a 6.5m span and at this thickness the deflection and 'spring' would be unacceptable.  To reduce deflection and spring a thicker slab is needed and exceeds the capacity of bondek, thus off form was the way to go.
This is my first off form slab of any real size so it is a good learning exercise and something different to try.  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

The engineer has been, inspected the reo and has given me the tick of approval, so the final slab pour has been scheduled for Thursday 31st October.
Wish me luck and good weather. :Smilie: 
There is still the list of last minute things to be done and I will have the final rush up to the pour day but it will all come together one way or another.  Nothing like a deadline to put the pressure on!  
Photo from the camera mount showing the stairs I have put up to make accessing the upper level easy.
A lucky find on gumtree for $100 and two leftover shore frames.  The access is at the upper level balcony off the master bedroom and so will still be usable when the walls start to go up.  I can see these stairs being used for a good while to come.  
The boxing for the laundry chute and associated crack control reinforcing rods.  
I have put in conduit and junction boxes for the lights in the garage and power to the garage door openers.
Luckily there were no reo bars in the way of where I wanted to place them.  Murphy must have been on holiday that day.  
Another step closer to slab pour day.

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## JB1

Excellent work!! 
Looking forward to the next update and good luck on Thursday.  
Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

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## phild01

Great work, but I'm really interested in the styro cutter you made.  I would have thought coat hanger wire resistance would short out your power supply.  Can you give an update on this? thanks Phil

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## shauck

What you've done so far would probably break me, mind and spirit. Incredibly impressive! Hope your pour goes real well and the weather is awesome.

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## Smergen

> What you've done so far would probably break me, mind and spirit. Incredibly impressive! Hope your pour goes real well and the weather is awesome.

  What she said....

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## Belair_Boy

> I'm really interested in the styro cutter you made.  I would have thought coat hanger wire resistance would short out your power supply.  Can you give an update on this?

  G'day Phil, sure can.  Let me take some measurements and I will post an update.  I have never actually looked at what current the secondary is carrying so it will be interesting to find out.

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## Belair_Boy

> What you've done so far would probably break me

  This last pour nearly broke me, well the preparation anyway. 
Even though I had a week before the pour there is always a big list of things that still need to be done.  Luckily the pour was delayed by a day because I was not able to get the service I required from the concrete supplier on the Thursday so it all happened on the 1st, which gave me an extra day.  The girls barely saw me that week but I managed to get all the important things done.  Come the day of the pour I was totally exhausted due to long hours and sleepless nights, I must be getting old.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  
Fully recovered now, so time for some pictures.

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## Belair_Boy

I had been worrying about the stair balustrade posts, specifically the method of fixing them to the slab.  Originally I was going to have a balustrade of vertical steel rods with a timber rail but the design has changed and will now have glass infill panels.  This means the posts will be doing all the work of holding everything together and need to be solidly fixed.  My first thought was to fix steel posts to the wall and steel channel below and cast them into the slab but the risk of things not being exactly where I wanted them and not having any adjustment was a concern.  I opted to cast metal brackets into the slab giving me a plate to weld the columns onto.  
Four brackets for the stair balustrade posts to fix to plus three threaded rods for the balcony intermediate balustrade posts.  
The brackets in position giving a plate at the surface of the slab.  The top hat shaped ones bolt to the top of the wall below and straddle a reo bar cranked out of the wall.  Murphy was in fine form here.  Ideally it would have been much easier to put the brackets in before the reo and bondek went down but I managed to get in there with the small angle grinder and the multi function tool.  
The shutters in place on the front of the lintel with their associated bracing. 
A timber strip has been fixed along the bottom front edge forming a drip groove above each door opening (can be just seen in the photo).  
At this point I knew the concrete would stay on the formwork and not end up on the ground. :Smilie:   
One of the threaded rod (M24) brackets fixed to the wall below (12mm dia x 100mm ankascrews). Once cast in it wont be going anywhere.
A drip groove strip is still to be fixed to the timber forming the lip of the balcony.  
Timber was screwed to the top edge of the formply edge shutters to pull it into line and give me a firm straight edge.
Polystyrene strips (35mm thick) were glued (gun foam) into position around the outer edges of the slab giving me a continuous outer skin of polystyrene.
This insulates the thermal mass of the slab from the outside and also gives a uniform material to render. 
I still had setdown frames to make, penetrations to set out, formwork to clean and extra safety rails to put in but the pour was going to happen.

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## Belair_Boy

The morning of the pour, the first truck has arrived and the pump guys are getting the concrete into the pipes.  
The balcony and ensuite shower setdowns have already been poured and it is time to fill the lintel.  
The bathroom shower setdown formwork in place, lintel full and a good 200mm of concrete over the off form garage section.
The concrete is being placed for the bathroom setdown (-25mm)  
Setdown shutters in place for the ensuite shower (-50mm) and balcony (-25mm to -30mm on outer edge)
Placing concrete for the rest of the ensuite setdown.  
Bathroom setdown shutter in place and rest of the off form slab being filled.  
Off form section finished and nicely floated off.  
There is a section of slab 200mm wide at finished floor level around the outside edge of the setdowns for the wall blocks to sit on.  
Ensuite setdown in place and just waiting for the balance to arrive.  
By 1:30pm the setdown shutters had been removed and the troweling machine was in action.  
All the hard work payed off. :Biggrin:   Time for the beer and BBQ.  
All wrapped up and curing nicely.
The proof of the pudding will be when the shutters are stripped off but I am quietly confident that there was sufficient vibration and care in placement that I will end up with a good finish.

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## DuckCommander

Beautiful work Belair. I've been enjoying your handiwork and keeping us updated.
What's the slab span? 6m or so? Nearly 300mm deep?
20's @ 200 seems high unless you're throwing some good weight on it.

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## Belair_Boy

> What's the slab span?

  G'day DC, thanks for the positive comments 
The slab span is approximately 10 m in the long direction, 6.8 m in the short direction and 300 mm thick.
With no columns or beams underneath, the reinforced concrete is doing all the work.
There are only bedrooms, bathroom etc above but I wanted a firm feeling floor with little bounce.
After all the props have been stripped out I will let you know how successful it is.
Nothing is perfectly ridged but it will hopefully feel solid and not too lively.

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## sundancewfs

So..... moving in for Christmas?   :Biggrin:    
Great work Belair! It's looking spectacular!

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## Cecile

I just thought that you should have contacted Grand Designs Australia to follow your build!  Amazing stuff happening there.

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## Belair_Boy

> So..... moving in for Christmas?

  LOL ...... :Rotfl:  :Rotfl:  ....... Hang on .... you didn't specify which year .... so Yes, we will be moving in before Christmas  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Belair_Boy

> I just thought that you should have contacted Grand Designs Australia to follow your build!  Amazing stuff happening there.

  Thanks Cecile, actually we did apply to go on Grand Designs Australia when it started and got to the second round of selection but they decided not to go with our project.   I think it was because we had already started building.  We hadn't started on the actual "house" but most of the lower level was done.  Maybe they thought progress was going too slow and needed projects that could be shown in the first couple of seasons?  In hindsight I am glad we didn't get on the show.  I am sure the chance of things going wrong is proportional to the number of cameras and onlookers. :Smilie:

----------


## Belair_Boy

While waiting for the slab to strengthen I got on with the brush cutting of the block, tree trimming and associated summer cleanup.  While in the cleaning mindset I decided to back fill the middle level sewer trench that has been open for so long. 
Last weekend the 28 days for the slab curing were up so a promise of beer and lunch had a couple of my mates round to help strip the formwork.
I hired a Genie lift to make lowering the steel beams easier and less back breaking (no time to make one  :Rolleyes: )
All went well and after a full day of hard work all but a few small bits of formwork had been removed with no voids or exposed reinforcing showing.
Everything looks good and the only small fault I can see is where the guys on the vibrators let the ends touch the form ply and damaged the surface.
A quick touch with the grinder will take off the rough spots and I will be able to paint the under side of the slab with ceiling white. 
The off form slab feels nice and solid with very little detectable bounce so I am very happy with the outcome. :Biggrin: 
I now have about 70 sq m of clear space undercover and have to resist filling it with stuff and loosing a good work area. 
I will be spending the rest of the time before Christmas finishing off the trench and doing general clean up so I can start the upper level walls in the new year. 
I will post some photos soon so stay tuned. 
PS. I now have a lot of Acrow props and Shore frames sitting around and not earning their keep.
If there is anyone in Adelaide who needs some for a current or upcoming project I would be happy to hire them out at a good rate.
If you are interested just drop me a message and we can discuss details.

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## Belair_Boy

Photos after the [S]strippers[/S] [S]stripping[/S] the formwork had been removed.  
The reinforced concrete lintel over the garage openings, shutter removed but props still in place.
The daggy bits either end are just where the concrete seeped between the shutter and the end of the ICF block.  
View from the kitchen/meals towards the laundry.  
Passage, looking towards the kitchen.  The 25mm change in level of the Bondek (to allow for the bathroom set down above) can be seen.  
Garage looking North East.  
Garage looking North West.    
Underside of the off form slab with one of the cast in electrical junction boxs for the lights.
The rust marks are from where the reo was sitting on the form ply before being chaired and has transferred to the concrete.
Texta and pencil lines also transferred from the form ply to the concrete.  
Underside of lintel with the drip groove visible.
I am going to put a small chamfer on the inside and outside corners with the diamond cup disk to clean up the edge.  
I have filled the the end sewer trench on the middle level cut (where it meets the drop to the lower level cut) with no fines concrete to prevent all the backfill being washed out.
It should be permeable enough to stop the trench becoming waterlogged.

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## president_ltd

[posted to both ICF extension project & ICF house build in Adelaide] 
Hi sundancewfs & Belair_Boy:
I'm  sure I'm not the only one that really enjoys seeing progress on each of  these and would love to know how they are proceeding (no matter how  slow or more whoa than go.) 
Any updates or, pictures for us ICF tragics??
Would love to hear how well the build in Melbourne stood up in the last couple of weeks' hot weather.

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## Belair_Boy

G'day president_ltd, sundance and everyone else who looks forward to updates on the Belair house. 
With Christmas out of the way it has been a gradual return to work on the house.
Unfortunately I have only managed to put in 8 days work in the last month (due to family and other commitments) but with any luck this will improve. 
The middle level sewer trench is 60% backfilled but I need to do some more jack hammering to finish it off.  The recent very hot weather has put this down the priority list!
A day with Terry and his 1.8 tonne excavator saw a big improvement.  In the end, about 5 truck loads of waste concrete, rock and dirt were cleaned up from around the house site and made the place look a lot neater. 
With the place a lot neater it was time to crack on with the upper level.
As this level is rather straightforward with only one size of block (200 mm) being used and the walls being just the perimeter and one dividing it into two sections it will be a good indication of the speed (or otherwise) of ICF, or so I keep telling my wife.  :Rolleyes:  
After cleaning up a few rough / high spots on the slab with the diamond cup disk the wall positions were measured and marked out, diagonals checked and chalk lines snapped.
The position of the 100 vertical bars were marked out to coincide with the ICF block cavities (200mm spacing) and 16mm diameter holes 150mm deep were drilled into the slab.  It was [S]carefully measurement[/S] luck that I only hit reinforcing on about 5 occasions.  I decided to chemically anchor the vertical bars in this time rather than hammer in a short starter bar and then wire on the vertical bar.  This is a quicker method and although I went through 6.5 tubes of Kemfast chemical anchor resin, as luck would have it, Scrooz had a good deal on them before Christmas.  I also saved about 30m of N12 reo rod in the process. Buy Screws, Bolts, Fasteners, Fixings and Tools Online at Scrooz - Australia's Biggest Online Fasteners Store 
With the bars set and straightened, laying of the blocks commenced.  As previously, I am laying the first two courses of blocks, sticking them down and hand filling the first course with concrete.  Conduit for power to the upper level was placed in holes drilled through the slab in strategic places where they coincide with the ICF walls.  The rest of the cabling will be bought up in the timber stud walls and can be left until a later date. 
A veranda on the East side of the building will attach to the house at this level and brackets to accept the beams are needed.  I have started fabricating these and when galvanised will be bolted to the slab and set into the ICF walls. 
As of yesterday, the first two courses of blocks are ready to be stuck down once the veranda brackets are in place.    
Vertical bars in place.  
First two courses of blocks laid out.  There is nothing like nice clean new blocks to show the yellowing of the old ones.
The bars are at 800mm spacing, with two bars at window openings and the end of walls.  
View of the first two courses of blocks from the southeast side.  
Wall dividing the kids section of the house from ours.  One of the power risers can be seen here.  
Reverse side of the wall where the power conduit has been taken through the wall and a wall box positioned for the adjacent room. 
PS. I have started using photobucket for my photos so hopefully there won't be any problems.  Please let me know if there is.

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## old1955

Belair_Boy, 
Glad to see the thread kicking in again.

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## SlowMick

good to see you are still progressing belair_boy.  love this thread and the work in it.  :2thumbsup:

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## sundancewfs

I hope your all staying safe and well with all the fires Belair.....

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## Belair_Boy

> I hope your all staying safe and well with all the fires Belair.....

  Thanks Sundance.
It has been a wild week in terms of weather.  We had very strong winds Monday, which combined with the hot dry weeks previously, saw a lot of trees and large branches come down.  I lost two large trees on the block, but luckily they didn't hit anything (missed the 15 kl poly tank by about 1m).  My mother also had a large branch down in her back garden and we had one at the cottage.  I think all of my neighbors also lost a tree or two.  I spent 3 days of last week on the chainsaw so not too much house building done.
All the new upper level ICF blocks were blown about but as the vertical bar spacing is closer than the block length, they were contained and didn't end up in the creek. 
Yesterday saw the first Catastrophic bushfire danger day of this summer and we evacuated when a fire broke out in the Belair national park less than 8km from us.  Fortunately the CFS was able to get it under control and the winds didn't pick up in the evening.  It was a wake up call for everyone and a trial run of our bushfire survival plan. 
Hopefully next week will be less dramatic.

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## Belair_Boy

I did manage to weld up some brackets when I wasn't clearing up after the winds.  
The three brackets are for connecting the veranda beams to the house.  They fix to the upper level slab and will be cast into the wall.
The stack of "cubes" is to form a cable duct through the wall under the stair landing.  I have one more bracket for the water supply manifold to fabricate before I take the lot off to be hot dipped galvanised.

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## Belair_Boy

After flooding rains had been added to the extreme weather events and the resultant cleanups taken care of, work has been progressing steadily.  
Brackets returned from the galvanisers.  
The water manifold bracket with the supply valve and external (garden) taps isolation valve ready to be fixed to the wall and plumbed in.
I have a continuous 200m length of poly pipe from the meter on the boundary to the house and then separate runs to external garden taps.
The main isolation valve allows me to turn off the water without the hike down the drive to the meter and I can also isolate the garden taps at the house as required.  
One of the three veranda beam brackets being fixed to the slab.  Threaded rod chemically anchored into the slab.  
The three brackets in position to take the East side veranda rafters.  They will be cast into the concrete of the wall.  
Shutters in position for the cavity slider door opening between the two section of the upper level.    
The first two courses of blocks stuck down with polyurethane foam ready for the first course to be hand filled.  
 To avoid having to carry all the concrete up the stairs in a bucket I set up a winch system using the gantry, a couple of shore frames, the balcony beam for the master bedroom, a girder trolly and an electric winch.  A 70 liter laundry trough bought on eBay provided a "bucket" big enough to take a mixer load of concrete at a time.  
 The concrete was mixed, wheeled to the trough in the wheelbarrow, tipped in, winched up and pulled across to the waiting trolly. With the trough unhooked, it could be wheeled to the section of wall to be filled and shoveled out.  The process worked as well as I could have hoped for and in one day, with help from a couple of mates, 44 loads of concrete were mixed and placed.  
A bracket had to be fabricated to adapt the winch to the girder trolly but it will be very useful in the future so worth a coat of paint when time permits. 
Another 7 mixer loads of concrete will complete the filling of the first course (we ran out of cement) and then bracing and more block laying.
I used an electric concrete vibrator (another eBay special) this time and it made things a lot easier than repeated poking with a broom handle as I have done in the past.
I feel the ICF blocks need to be well stuck down to prevent the vibrator forcing concrete under the blocks and lifting them, but as I do this to keep the first course in place it worked a treat.

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## Moondog55

" I love your work"
"Magnifico" "Bravo" etc etc

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## ringtail

My God man ! What a mission. Love it.

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## sundancewfs

Nice winch ;-)

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## Belair_Boy

> Nice winch ;-)

  After your vote of confidence and months of eBay bidding I managed to score one for myself at a bargain price.  :Smilie: 
It does the concrete lifting well and lifted the steel beams (temporary upper level concrete support), back last year, easily without the use of the additional pulley.  I will take some photos of the "crane" I built to hang the winch off when I use it to lift my timber rafters.
Time will tell how long it lasts but it has already paid for itself saving me lugging buckets of concrete up the stairs.

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## Belair_Boy

Reasonable progress has been made in the last month.
The 3rd course of blocks were placed on the upper level walls and some bracing fitted around the larger window positions.
Temporary power was run to the middle and upper level which should save a bit of time from constantly feeding an extension cord down 3 levels.
My nephew had a free day from school so I jumped at the chance of some extra help to fill the remaining first course blocks and up to course 3 (sill height) on the west window, 12 mixes saw this completed.
Reinforcing between the third and fourth course was placed in half the walls where the large windows are located.
I had my mates around for another day of mixing to fill to sill height for the remaining 3 windows.  As this only took 15 mixes we had time to move the lounge rafters from the lower level to the middle level where they can be worked on.
I made 4 shutters for the larger windows to permit the mullion walls between them to be filled and then repositioned for the wall filling.
The middle level sewer trench has been finally back filled and a day with my nephews had 12 mixes in the window mullions and the ensuite window sill.  
 Third row of blocks in place ready to be stuck down.  
 Bracing in place for the filling of course 2 and 3 up to sill height for the 3 east windows  
 Blocks filled to row 3 and the mullion walls being placed  
After my wife stood in the ensuite and stated "this is not how I imagined it" in reference to the window above the bath and the following discussion, it was decided that the window was to be enlarged by lowering it down to the second course (from the fifth course as originally planned) to sit just above the bath.  Luckily it is easy to make changes while the walls are still polystyrene blocks and the offending third course removed. 
The discussion is now how to obscure the window (which was to be glass blocks .... thanks *JChilds* .... we are now looking at switchable privacy glass) while in the ensuite but see out while sitting in the bath.  All suggestions considered. 
After the remaining two courses of the mullion walls have been filled it will be time to tackle the exposed timber beam and rafters for the lounge roof .... serious woodwork to follow.

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## Belair_Boy

Winter has started to show itself and some heavy downpours have caused the flooding of the middle and lower levels.  Unfortunately this will continue until the roof is on.  Thankfully I have enough dry areas and things to go on with while it is raining.
Three more shutters have been made to block off the remaining wall openings and the window lintel over the front doorway put in.
All the rafters for the lounge roof have been sorted, had the top face planed and all sides given their first sanding.  
The ICF lintel over the front door window in place and shuttered ready to fill  
Reo view of the ICF lintel, N16 bottom and N12 top, ligatures at 150 mm centers.  
Window mullions and lintel ready and waiting on a fine day and some friends to help me fill them  
 A couple of extra saw horses were made, inspiration from Uncle Knackers but a few more angles used.
If you have a compound miter saw you might as well use use it.  
 All 14 rafters sorted and ordered according to the amount of bend.  The best was about 7mm from straight, measured at the center of the bend, and the worst 30mm.  This is over 4 metres.  They were set with all the curves in the same direction and the best ones in the middle and progressively getting worse. A couple with defects were selected to go up against the wall so to hide the problem side.
Each rafter weights about 108 kg (I put one on a set of bathroom scales) so moving them around is not a simple matter.  
 The router with the planing bit was put back into action.  This time some longer steel SHS used as the universal column I used previously was too short.  A saddle with a slot in it was made up to allow the router to slide along the steel beams.  This creates the top face and the reference for all other measurements.  
 After a going over with the belt sander and an 80 grit belt.  
All 14 rafters planed and sanded ready to have the end profiles cut.
The sawhorses mentioned previously have the other 5 rafters on them, all 500+ kg of them.

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## Gaza

Very nice 
Wat timber ? Was it milled off trees on your property   
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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## Belair_Boy

> What timber ? Was it milled off trees on your property

  G'day Gaza 
The timber is narrow leaf red iron bark (Eucalyptus crebra).
It came from Queensland and was milled specifically for my project.
I wish I had timber like this on my property but it is predominantly grey box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) around here.

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## Gaza

Surprised you didn't get it dressed From mill to save time   
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## Belair_Boy

All the timbers were milled and dressed while still green, over three years ago.
At around an inch a year the rafters should be seasoned now but the main beam may still have a little drying out to go. 
Although the top face of the rafters was reasonably true I still had to machine off up to 4 mm in places to get them flat.  I plan to sit the ceiling directly on top of the rafters and wanted them as true as possible to avoid gaps.  The other faces of the rafters are just as they come and add to the character of natural timber.

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## ringtail

> G'day Gaza 
> The timber is narrow leaf red iron bark (Eucalyptus crebra).
> It came from Queensland and was milled specifically for my project.

  
Of course it came from QLD. Doesn't everything good from from QLD ? Apart from Clive  :Biggrin:  :Tongue:

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## Belair_Boy

> Doesn't everything good come from QLD ?

  We make a good drop of red here in SA  :Drinks Wine:

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## ringtail

Can't build a house with it though  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

Where does the time go?  It has been ages since my last posting so it is about time I uploaded some more photos.
It has been a rather wet and cold winter and I am happy to have some warmer days again.
The main progress has been the lifting of the timber beam for the lounge roof.  A lot of time was put into the preparation of the beam and rafters with the hope it will all go together smoothly. 
But first back to where I left off.
The remaining block fill of the front door window lintel and window mullions was completed with help from another local ICF builder who is just about to start his owner builder journey and was looking for some hands on experience.  All help is gratefully received  :Smilie:    
While block filling I filled up to the veranda bracket set into the wall as this section has the webs cut out and was a potential for a blowout.  The homemade clamp supports the block where the web has been removed.  
Here the section of wall between the windows has been filled to course eight.  I tried something different here, using duct tape to keep the top of the blocks clean, a simple idea which worked well.  Usually I use two metal channels sitting over the top of the block edges while filling to keep the notches clean, but where there are short intersecting walls the duct tape method is better.  
Three wall sections filled to course eight and some potential weak corners and intersections taken care of at the same time.  Using the vibrator makes for easy consolidation of the concrete but did cause a problem when stripping off the window shutters.  The steel uprights of the shutters have a rounded corner which form an undercut with the formply.  When vibrating a small amount of slurry found its way into this undercut and when the shutters were stripped, corner sections of the polystyrene broke off.  As the shutters will only have to be used once more I can take them apart next time and avoid the problem.  
This is the vibrator bought off eBay and has worked well so far.  I expect the drill portion to fail due to the harsh environment but hopefully it will last out the build.  
A point to note for potential buyers is that the nose thread is left hand and it took me a little while to work this out.  :Doh:  
While in concrete mode and with the scaffold still in position I  completed the gable over the front door.  Having used up all my full 240  blocks, I scrounged up enough off cut ends to finish the job.  
The entrance void with the scaffold and shutters removed.  
With the scaffold on the move the angular 170 blocks for the gable end of the AV room were cut and stuck into place.  This is still to be filled with concrete. 
OK back to wood work.

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## Belair_Boy

A jig was used to rough out the pockets for the rafters to sit in.  Not having a datum surface to work off made working on the beam a time consuming process as all measurements had to be taken back to a center line and level.  
Rafter pockets roughed in and ready for chiseling out for each individual rafter size and orientation.  
With all the pockets cut another jig was used to help drill the holes through the beam for the threaded rod which will secure the rafters.  A spade bit on the end of a drill extension worked very well and I was happy with the performance of the Irwin Speedbor Blue Groove spade bit in the hard timber. 
Due to the bow in the beam, each rafter is a different length and any error in length will, in turn, affect the height of the rafter at the wall/lintel end.
At the moment all rafters have been cut using theoretical measurements with a little allowance on the horizontal seat for fine tuning as they go up.  
The plumb cut of the rafter.  At least I have the top face of the rafters as a datum.  
The horizontal seat cut with a little allowance for adjustment.  As the rafters do not have parallel sides the seat will have to be referenced to the top face and finished with the router and another jig.  
How things looked before the beam went up.  
An extension was needed for the gantry to get the extra height for lifting the beam into its brackets.  No paint for this one as it only needed to be used once.  
Gantry moved into position, checking clearances, prior to lifting the beam.  
Beam moved into position on the scissor lift in preparation for raising.  
Ready to lift. I needed to use the 1 tonne chain block at the start and then take over with the 2 tonne as they both only have a 3 m lift.

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## Belair_Boy

Half way, changed over to the 2 tonne block.  Even though there was enough weight in the gantry to balance out the cantilever of the lifting point I put a couple of big concrete counterweights on the outer edge.    
Full height ready to be swung round over the brackets.  
In place and ready to crack open the champagne.  The beam was supposed to drop into the brackets but I didn't take into account of the bow and it was a little tight.  Noting some grease and some gentle persuasion with a sledge hammer couldn't fix.  :Rolleyes:   Well it isn't supposed to come out anyway.

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## Belair_Boy

With the gantry out of the lounge room and the beam wrapped up, the stacker door steel lintel could be put back into position.  There is only just enough room on the balcony for the gantry and not enough clearance to allow me to lift the lintel with the cantilever (and I needed to cut off the height extension anyway) so I opted to use the winch crane.  I will use this to lift the rafters so it needed to be set up anyway.    
I use my pallet lifter to move it around and in this instance I am using the 1 tonne chain block rather than take the winch off the girder trolly.  
Lintel in position and ready to lift. ......  the first time.  I was a little short on lift height and had to raise the top section to give me some more clearance.  
Telescopic section raised and ready to lift again. .... for the second time.  The lintel had been up before but this was prior to pouring the upper level suspended slab.  With the slab in place, the lintel was now a little long on one end, so down again and a bit cut off the end.    
Third time and all was good.  Laser leveled and ready to grout into position.  
Offending end that needed cutting, grouted in.  
With the beam in place and bolted through the bracket, the chimney could be built up another two courses and filled up to the top of the bracket.  A bit of shuttering was needed here as the blocks could not be fitted right up to the bracket.  
Beam and lintel up ready for some more chimney building to get it to full upper level ICF wall height.

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## Belair_Boy

While all the beam and rafter work was going on, the structural insulating panels SIP's for the lounge ceiling/roof structure were also being constructed.
Thanks to Matt Callisto and the boys at Magtech, 8 mm magnesium oxide board (mgo), 85 mm of Neopor EPS and 12 mm of mgo were laminated together into 12 panels 3900 x 1200  
The panels at Magtech ready to be cut to width and have a timber reinforcing edge fixed down each side.  Due to the length, there is a join in the mgo board and the EPS core, which although staggered, needed to be strengthened for ease of handling and to increase the compressive strength along the edges where the counter battens will be fixed. 
I then laminated 6mm hoop pine plywood to the 8mm mgo board side which will form the finished ceiling to the lounge.  
The first 6 panels at the block ready to me moved inside for sanding and sealing prior to be lifted onto the rafters.  The panels are over length at the moment but the extra length will form eaves until cut off when the roof structure is completed.  The 200 mm strips of ply (overhanging the panel) have been trimmed back and sit above the lintel so wont be seen.  They are only there to keep the panels a consistent thickness. 
The panels are about 130kg or so and will need a bit of clever lifting to get them into position without damaging the ply ceiling surface.
Originally I was going to paint on a waterproof membrane to the top mgo board surface to keep the rain out until the roof goes on but at a cost of near $1000 to do the job properly a tarp has been purchased to do the job instead.

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## Armers

Hows yours going Belairboy!?

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## Belair_Boy

> Hows yours going Belairboy!?

  Things have been going reasonably well the last couple of weeks except for a surprise water bill of $600 for 150kl water usage  :Eek:  
My water usage is always very low (being a building site) and so I made a quick trip back to the block and sure enough the meter was slowly ticking over .... bugger .... a leak.  I turned the water off at the meter but the reading was much higher than on the bill.  On closer inspection of the bill, I discovered the reading was taken 6 weeks prior to the bill being issued, another 300kl lost since then  :Shock:   This is going to mean another $1000 for water use when the next bill arrives.  I am very frustrated that SA Water had a reading with excessive and uncharacteristically high usage but did not let me know for 6 weeks. 
I was also shocked at the thought of my unbroken run of 40mm blueline from the meter to the house having a leak.  A continuous piece of pipe was used and carefully bedded in sand for the very purpose of never having to see it again.  It has been in the ground for over 3 years so why a sudden leak and where in the nearly 200m of pipe was the problem?  The water appeared to be coming to the surface where the trench left the driveway dropped down a metre or so and headed towards the boundary.  I dug a test hole here and sure enough the bedding sand was running with water.
The thought of having to dig up the drive looking for the leak was not a happy one but I dug another hole about 8m up the drive at a point I knew the pipe would be.  Amazingly the sand was dry here so I felt confident I had just narrowed the search down to a short section.  The lower hole was enlarged into a trench following the pipe and within 2m I had found the leak.  Small mercy I guess.  
A small pinhole had formed in a dent under the pipe.  The only thing we can attribute it to is a damaged point on the pipe, maybe done with a forklift tine when it was being unloaded at some time, weakening the pipe and then a moment of higher pressure or hydraulic shock causing the hole to form.  Both my plumber and myself must have missed it when the pipe was being laid.     
It was decided to use a welded joint instead of a mechanical one as the cost to hire the welding unit was minimal and I definitely didn't want to see the pipe again.  The two electrodes on top of the fitting attach to cables from the welding unit which supplies the 40V for 60 seconds as specified on the coupling.  An element in the fitting melts the pipe to the fitting and a permanent joint is formed.  
While I had the plumber and the pipe welding unit on site, I used another welded fitting at the house main supply ball valve and finally mounted the water manifold (made about 6 months ago) to the wall under the house.  The REHAU pipe leaving the manifold is the temporary supply the toilet and sink. 
I have found out that I can claim 50% of 300kl once in 10 years for a water leak so I am going to try and get $500 knocked off my next bill.

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## Belair_Boy

I have had  a permit to burn on my property for the last few weeks so have been busy clearing up prior to the bush fire season.
Some progress has been made on the house however and the chimney is now up to the upper level wall height.  
Course 6 wall reo taken through the chimney to tie the two together.  
The walls adjacent to the chimney are stacked to full height (9 courses, 2.7m) and the bond beam reinforcing is in place.
I will place another two courses of blocks on the chimney to tie in the top reo leaving another 2m left to do after the upper level walls have been poured.  I also need to extend the N16 corner reo up to full chimney height, just as it was getting easy to thread the blocks on too.  
All the upper level braces are in place and fixed down, along with the work platform.  The edge form shutters for the upper level floor slab have also been stripped off as I needed the form ply for the platforms.  
The third course horizontal reinforcing in place around the ensuite ready for more blocks. 
A couple more days with the brush cutter and most of the pre-summer cleanup will be taken care of.  A day to get the chimney sorted and I will be back to ICF block laying to complete the upper level walls.  There are 10 ICF lintels to support and one steel lintel over the Juliet balcony, so it is not just a matter of "lego" block stacking, unfortunately.

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## Belair_Boy

> That's it! I'm buying a bigger welder!

  
Managed to pick up a CIGWELD TRANSMIG 330 at auction the other week for $200. :2thumbsup: 
It didn't have a gun but I borrowed my mates and it welds like a dream.
Just need to get a new gun for it and I will be in business.  
The wiring diagram inside the cover has deteriorated, so if anyone has the same machine I would really appreciate a copy for future reference.

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## ringtail

What a score ! I have a transmig 250 so I'm not sure if the diagrams would be applicable. Mine also has no remote feed but it might be worth a look

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## Belair_Boy

> .... it might be worth a look

    Thanks Ringtail 
Probably not too much difference between the 250 and 330 when it come to the actual welder if it has the course and fine voltage step selectors.
Not really much to them when you look inside but it may come in useful if I ever have any problems.
The remote wire feed has one small circuit board which would be a swap over if things went wrong but I am yet to use the stitch and spot functions so don't know if it would even be an issue. 
I just need to decide on a gun now and where the law of diminishing returns sets in.  :Confused:

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## bratuliviu

Hi Belair_Boy, 
What sort of turn buckles did you use for the braces? I'm building an ICF house in a suburb of Melbourne and I would love to build ~ 20-30 braces. Just not sure what sort of turnbuckle or tilt prop to use for adjustment.

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## Belair_Boy

> What sort of turn buckles did you use for the braces?

  G'day bratuliviu
I didn't use a turn buckle for the brace adjustment but used a differential thread arrangement.
A  turnbuckle uses a right and left hand thread to lengthen (or shorten)  when turned where as the differential thread arrangement only uses right  hand threads.  I didn't want to use a turnbuckle as they are more  expensive than the threaded rod I used and the threads can be rather  sloppy.
By using two right hand threads but of different pitches  turning one way has a lengthening effect and turning the other has a  shortening one.
I used standard galvanised threaded rod with a M20  (with a 2.5 mm pitch) on one end and a M16 (with a 2mm pitch) on the  other.  Thus one turn of the brace strut move the M20 end 2.5mm but the  M16 end 2mm, resulting in a 0.5mm difference (either shorter or longer  depending on the direction of turn).
You have the effect of a fine pitch thread without the associated problems, eg keeping them clean and working on a building site.
The brace strut has a M20 nut welded on one end and a M16 on the other so very cheep to make.
I hope I have explained the principle clearly enough but if not I can draw a picture  :Smilie:

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## ringtail

Crap, I was meant to get you a photo of the transmig wiring. Sorry about that. ASAP, promise.

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## Belair_Boy

No rush Ringtail, whenever is convenient. 
I bought a gun for the welder and put it through its paces making up a trolly to help move a lathe I scored on gumtree.  
The trolly ready to position under the lathe, no time to paint this one. The wheels are the ones I used on my gantry.  
Ramps made from some UB offcuts bolted to the trailer.  The lathe is bolted to the trolly and it was pulled up using my one tonne chain block.  
To take the lathe off the trailer I was able to lift it complete with trolly using my 2 tonne chain block and the girder trolly suspended from the beam above the workshop doorway. Lift, drive the trailer out and then lower to the ground, perfect balance being achieved by moving the saddle.  The lathe weighs about 1200kg but it was a very painless and straightforward move.   
Once off the trailer it was rolled into its new home. 
This is not the final position for the lathe but a convenient clear spot for the moment.
Now all I have to do is resist playing with it rather than building the house.  :Rolleyes:

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## Belair_Boy

Bit of a first this last month, had a kangaroo on the block for a few day.  I have heard of them being around from time to time but this is the first time I have actually seen one.  
Roo resting on the North slope. 
While on animals, I have had a kookaburra problem for the first time.  In the past I have had the occasional lorikeet nibbling on the top of an ICF block but no real damage done.  However this spring a kookaburra has been pecking large holes in the polystyrene.  :Mad:   
After several days of filling in the holes just to find them pecked out again shortly after (and having the kookaburras laugh at me while doing it) I gave up.  They can only get as far as the concrete core so not much use for nesting but I thought that if that was what they were trying to do then I would help out.  
I made up a kookaburra box and in the last week there has been a resident.  I have not had any more hole made but just hope that having resident kookaburras is not going to result in more damage.  The render can't come soon enough.  
One of the less destructive locals just off the west balcony.

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## Belair_Boy

Back to the build.  
The chimney is now filled to above the ICF finished wall height with only another two meters to the top.  I have stopped here as I will need scaffolding on the upper level to get the blocks over the corner reinforcing bars and the bracing is in the way at the moment.  
All walls are stacked to course eight and only the lintel/bondbeam course to go.  I have been making supports for the door and window lintels with only a few more to go.  
In this case I was not happy with the position of the course six reinforcing and have tied it into position through a joint in the blocks.
I will just cut off the tie wire once the concrete has been poured.  
Upper level walls stacked to course 8.  Note the gantry up on blocks, the wheels having been recycled.  
All these window have the lintel supports in place but I haven't taken photos yet due to the recent wet weather.  
One of the lintel supports being made.  I was getting frustrated with the 90 x 45 pine not being straight enough and having sufficient twist that the resultant "box" was also twisted.  To remedy the situation I have been running the pine through the saw to effectively plane it all round and make it nice and straight without any twist.  The dimension of the pine is not critical so making it a bit smaller is of no consequence. I am probably going to more effort than required again but I like things to be right and It keeps me sane when trying to fit it in position.  Some would say sanity left when I decided to embark on such a large owner build in the first place. :Rolleyes:  
More photos to come when the sun is out.

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## phild01

Love the kooka nest!

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## ringtail

Just went downstairs to take a pic of the welder. Guess what? There is nothing under the hood.

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## Belair_Boy

Thanks Ringtail, not to worry, must have gone the same way as mine.  Hopefully I will never need it.

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## Belair_Boy

As I have been asked if I can provide more details of my braces here are a few pictures of the thread sections.
The front posts (against the ICF) are 75 x 50 x 2.5 Duragal RHS and the rear posts are 50 x 50 x 1.6 Duragal SHS
The top and bottom angles are 50 x 50 x 3 EA and the whole assembly put together with M12 galv bolts.
The brace tube is 33.7 OD x 2.6 galvanised CHS  
The top fork bracket with M16 thread rod  
Bottom bracket M20 threaded rod.  This is a separate fixing for use with front posts alone, corner braces or miscellaneous bracing applications.
If I was making these again I would move the vertical plates to the front edge of the base plate, giving access to the anchor screw without having to remove the brace bolt.   
Top fork bracket for use with front posts alone and other shutter bracing applications.
The trapezoidal bracket is just cut from a 50 x 50 SHS and can be screwed to timber or tek screwed to metal (as shown here).

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## Belair_Boy

Here are a couple of photos of the lintel supports I have been working on.

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## Bigmaxy

How's the build coming along? Outstanding attention to detail!!!!!  :Redface: ).

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## Belair_Boy

G'day Bigmaxy
Thanks for the positive comment. The build is coming along well but I have been slack (read very slack) in posting on the forum.
I am about to upload some more photos and bring everyone up to date with my build over the next few days.

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## RONCA

Hi Belair_boy
How is the build going.

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## turnstiles

Hey BB - any updates? Hungry for more pix!!

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## Tonzz

18th Dec 2015 11:41 AM  last time on forum

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## RONCA

Hi Belair_Boy 
It has been a while. The build should look great now. 
RONCA

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## SlowMick

enjoyed looking through this again. looking forward to more updates.   :2thumbsup:

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## phild01

Have emailed BB, hope he comes back.

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## SlowMick

Cheers Phild01.  let's hope.  :Biggrin:

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## Belair_Boy

Not dead yet  :Rolleyes:

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## SlowMick

yay. good to hear. 
I get the same messages from my sister when she travels.  mum said, let us now you're ok. so she just sends "Not dead yet".  :2thumbsup:

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## CraigandKate

We are waiting with bated breath for an update!

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## SlowMick

you must be typing one hell of an update sir  :Biggrin:

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## Sir Stinkalot

I think that I may have driven past today .... unfortunately Photobucket has basically destroyed the effort put into this thread.

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## SlowMick

Is it finished?

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## Sir Stinkalot

Not 100% sure it was the same house. I was running off memory of the photos I had seen some time ago in this thread. I was hoping to look through again to see if it was the same.  
If it was the same house it appeared to be occupied- not sure about finished  :Smilie:

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## turnstiles

> I think that I may have driven past today .... unfortunately Photobucket has basically destroyed the effort put into this thread.

  All of the photos are still visible to me. 
This is worse than waiting for the next series of Game of Thrones to air!!!  :Biggrin:

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## phild01

Photobucket restores photos “taken hostage,” hopes to lure back customers with cheaper plans after last year’s $399 debacle 
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/05/17/photobucket-image-hosting-plans/   http://www.techrockies.com/photobuck...s-0074931.html

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## Bigboboz

Looks like a week later Photobucket is hacked again or still hacked but they don't realise it yet! 
If a internet business can't keep their servers secure, what hope does an individual?  Every time we have unexplained slow internet speeds my paranoia sets in and I think we've been hacked  :Smilie:  
It's usually later explained but crappy Telstra service or it's just Sunday night and the interwebs are getting slammed...but who knows...

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## Sir Stinkalot

> All of the photos are still visible to me.

  Photobucket, which appears to be the hosting service used for the majority of the thread, was a very popular external hosting service for members - it was free. Then a while back out of the blue Photobucket turned around and rolled out a payed subscription service at some highly inflated price. They then blocked access to any of the photos that were hosted under the previous business model, breaking the links to many forums - such as this one (they were broken last time I looked at the thread). They did this in the hope everybody would pay the annual fee.  
It would appear that the way Photobucket went about this was a huge mistake and there was huge backlash as users went to other hosting services. Some forum users re-linked their photos - often using the forum hosting server - others didn't. Photobucket seem to have now realised that they have shot themselves in the foot and now seemed to have unblocked access and introduced a more reasonable fee structure. One would expect that their horse has already bolted however.

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## commodorenut

There are add-ons or extensions for FF & Chrome to fix the PB issue. 
2 examples: 
Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...obucket-fixer/
Chrome:https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...bifiaedg?hl=en

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