I will admit, it is curiously difficult to find a building materials supplier in Maine who has any idea what a Termit Shield looks like, or a builder who ever installs them. Mainers are under the impression that they are unecessary due to the impression that termites seldom appear in Maine. Well that will change as they migrate north with population growth. However, we already have a severe problem in Maine with ants infesting homes and eating the wood frame of the house. What is traditionally called a “termite shield” will also work for ants. If you do not install one in your house, you are making a serious mistake. I found two companies online who supply termite shields. Print them and bring them to your builder or supplier and tell them you want these on your home. They are installed by laying them along the top of the foundation wall, under the sills. Here are links to their PDF brochures.

http://penciljazz.com/blogpdf/Flamco_termiteshield.pdf

http://penciljazz.com/blogpdf/Union_termiteshield.pdf

written by pencilman \\ tags: Termite Shields: Ant Infestation Prevention

Installing a 2″ rigid foam layer to the outside of the foundation will give your wall an additional R= 13. This will slow down the rate of heat loss from the concrete to the ground or the air. However, the house has to be designed to accomodate this additional thickness. The sills must hang out over the edge of the foundation wall by 2 inches to give the foam a flush surface under your sill.

Warning: If you install the 2 inch rigid foam only up to the grade line, then bury the top, then the exposed area of foundation wall will be colder than the sub-grade section, possibly causing cracks in the wall due to uneven expansion and contraction.

There are concrete forms called ICF Blocks that come with the insulation on both sides and the steel reinforcing built in. It’s a great idea. Just remember that a full two story home requires the structural strength of 10 inches of concrete, not 8 inches.

Exposed foam above grade has to be finished somehow. It is just soft foam which breaks down easily in the sunlight and is easily damaged by cats and dogs and bugs. Some suggest a stucco application with highly water resistant mortar. Some might use the same mortar to fasten a simulation stone veneer to the foam. In both cases, metal fasteners should be embedded in the concrete to grip the facing because nothing can stick directly to foam for a long time.

Here are some links to show you what ICFs look like and how they work.

http://www.owenscorning.com/foldform/

http://www.litedeck.com/

http://www.quadlock.com/

http://www.smartblock.com/index.html

http://www.eco-block.com/

http://www.arxxbuild.com/index.php

written by pencilman \\ tags: Foundation Concrete Insulation, ICF Foundation Concrete Forms

Here is the shortcut math I do in my head in the field when I need a quick answer and don’t have a calculator.

If your concrete wall is 12 inches thick, it’s easy. So just assume it is for now. Take the length of the wall in feet, multiply it by the height of the wall in feet, then multiply that times 1 foot (12 inches).

Length=10 - - Height=8 - - Thickness=1 — – 10×8x1 = 80

Now you have the answer in cubic feet. There are 27 cubic feet in a yard. Divide your sum by 27. Now you cubic yards of concrete.

If the wall is only 8 inches thick, remember that 8 is two thirds of 12, so just multiply your sum times .666…(2/3rds) to subtract the difference. If you have a 10 inch wall, 10 is about .833 percent of 12, so just multiply your sum by .833.

If you want to include the footing in the calculation, you could add 2 feet to the height of the wall, because a footing runs the whole length, and it’s like a 2 foot wall laid on it’s side under the vertical wall.

written by pencilman \\ tags: Foundation : Quantity of Concrete