We bought this book a few years ago and have the DVDs and think that this is the best owner-builder resource out there. Mike & Tori in Rainbow, CA

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April 30, 2010

Posted to Dwight--Colleen-Hartman by Dwight in Vaughn, WA on 4/30/2010

My wife Colleen and I are building our second house. This is on the Key Peninsula in Pierce County, Washington USA - to the west from Tacoma across the Narrows bridge. We previously built a house over the span of several years near Issaquah, Washington. That house can be viewed at treehousepoint.com and is owned by a couple who build very well-constructed tree houses and use the house that we built as a bed & breakfast lodge and location for small conferences and weddings.

Our new house is constructed primarily of Perform Wall, an ICF product similar to Rastra. This will be our retirement home as we are both in our 60's. The work done thus far on the house was performed by Green Bridge, Inc. and paid for from the proceeds of the sale of our first house. To continue with Doyle Lewellen, who owns Green Bridge, Inc. doing all of the work, would require that we obtain a construction loan - no small feat in today's economy, and especially to build anything other than a standard recognizable stick-frame house on a standard subdivision lot where it will look like every other house lined up for sale. Therefore we will continue the work ourselves, with Doyle, who is an excellent contractor whom we highly recommend, serving as a consultant.

My entire working experience for 33 years was in municipal and county land-use management. I was usually in a management position, however I wrote many codes and ordinances and advised city and county councils and planning commissions, design review boards, etc. and worked with the public when they wanted to do something on their property. As a result, I know what is and what is not possible to get approved and can comfortably talk with the people (regulators and inspectors) that anyone who wants to do something on their property has to deal with.

Since we can't hire everything done now, we will be doing it all, except those items such as septic system and fire sprinkler system installations that must be done by a licensed contractor.

We are presently getting ready to put the exterior finish on the Perform Wall and install windows. I know that Perform Wall and Rastra structures have usually had a stucco finish applied on their exteriors. Because we want to do the exterior finish ourselves, we plan to use HardiePlank siding with cedar trim on the perimeter of our vinyl windows. Thus far, I have not been able to find really good information on how to do this.

I know that vertical strips of some wood-type material has to be adhered to the Perform Wall/Rastra walls to serve as nailing surfaces for the siding. I expect that should also be fastened to the surface around the perimeter of all windows and doors. I know there are special products that need to be used to seal all air and water gaps around the windows and doors. Should the walls be sealed with a spray-on or roll-on sealer, or should Tyvek be used on the walls over the nail-on strips?

Any information that can be provided would be valuable. We are comfortable in stating that Perform Wall is an excellent product to work with. We have extensive digital-photo records of our entire building process and would be happy to provide anyone who is interested with those photos.

Thanks,

Dwight

Photos

Front view of our new house	Unloading Perform Wall at our site from the smaller truck that brought it from the semi-trailer parked on the road.	Preparing an 8' long 32" high, 12" thick Perform Wall block for use in a wall. Our approved plan set was stamped by a structural engineer and to avoid trying to prove to the plan checker that perform wall would safely span over a 6' wide window, we simply said we would put a wood beam inside the block over the window, which meets the standard building code. To place the beam, you cut away some of the block where the beam will be located, pin it in place in the block and set it in place over the window opening. A 2"x12" treated window buck is placed around the window location in the wall so when the concrete is pumped into the block, it won't flow out where the windows are located.

Posted by Mary in PA on 5/3/2010 Mary's Forum Posts: 101 Journal Entries: 60 Interview Answers: 15 Average Forum Rating: 4.17 Image from Mary's blog 5/3/2010

Hi Dwight, your house is looking really nice. I spent a little bit of time reading up on Durisol and was very interested in using it. But in the end, we'll probably go with a frame construction due to budget issues. I would think the manufacturer of the product would be able to help with the details your looking for. Also, I did a quick search on Google ("Durisol window detail") and came up with a few hits, so that might be another way to go. I think Hardie has some really specific info on how to install their product to keep the warranty, so checking with those folks on how to install it to a Durisol (or Perform Wall) house might be helpful. Good luck on the next phase of your build!