Rastra home

[txdon]

Does anyone have experience in building a Rastra home I will be attempting one in about 600 days.
Thanks, Don

[Pat]

I saw it or something a lot like that on TV. I don't have a basic problem with the method but it doesn't suit my needs. I chose plain sided ICF with no interior material saving shapes, no waffle, no post abd beam just a plane flat 8 inch concrete wall with 2 1/2 inches of styrofoam insulation on either side.

All of those clever measures have great load bearing capacity and shear strength but lack penetration resistance and I wanted a lot of penetration resistance for the SAFE ROOM effect to stand up to a class F-5 tornado.

If there are economical means of boosting penetration resistance performance for specific portions (for instance I made my master suite a safe room) then I think you have a good building style. The only other issue is the roof. I would need more info on the roof and its strength.

Best of luck to you,

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Looks interesting! I agree with Pat. In our part of the country resitance tro penetration during a tornado is important. Like Pat, I went with ICFs for the foundation walls and saferoom walls.

It wasn't mentioned on the website, but I'd assume that wiring would be run in channels cut in the interior surfave before drywall is added.

[BrianP]

Not as such. There are dozens of companies selling all different kinds of ICF. I went with Blue Maxx. My whole house, basement mainfloor walls and fllors are all concrete.

The thing to know about this or any other ICF (or even novel building material) is that things are different, so lots of stuff like windows and that sort of thing, which are set up for 2x6 or 2x4 walls have to be custom fit. Things like electrical and plumbing become special challenges.

If you go with ICF and your contractor just doesn't care (like mine didnt) then you spend hours doing stuff like framing a false wall to compensate for a wall which leans in 1" over 10 foot, etc..

All in, I like the result. I suspect that my house is very energy efficent but I don't have any way of benchmarking it. It is very quiet and solid: this is not a house which creaks in the wind.

Still, if I would have gone for a turn key house, of at least one which gave me a roof and walls, I would have saved a lot of grief, and I suspect the contractor would have paid attention a little more.