View ChannelsFeatured: Finance
View ShowroomsFeatured: Radiantec - Radiant Solar Heating

BobVila.com

Home

Building a First-Floor Slab and Walls With Concrete

Bob talks with Ron Ardres from ReddiForm about the construction of the home's concrete-slab floor. To build the floor, the walls were constructed using ReddiForm expanded polystyrene foam forms. The distance between the walls was then spanned using foam decking that forms a ceiling over the basment story. The decking is ten inches deep and contains grooves to hold reinforcing rebar. The foam decking was set up to be temporarily supported with falsework until the concrete sets. Steel is placed using stirrups between the grooves in the foam blocks. PEX tubing is put down on top of the foam after the steel has been put in place. A rollout mesh is then put down on top of the PEX tubing. After all this is done, the concrete is poured.

Get Adobe Flash Player to see this content.

Chapters from this episode

Integrating Radiant Heat in a Concrete Floor Now Playing

Integrating Radiant Heat in a Concrete Floor

Big Energy Savings with Concrete Construction Now Playing

Big Energy Savings with Concrete Construction

Pouring the Upper-Story Walls Now Playing

Pouring the Upper-Story Walls

Pouring the Concrete for the First Floor Slab and Walls Now Playing

Pouring the Concrete for the First Floor Slab and Walls

Building a First-Floor Slab and Walls With Concrete Now Playing

Building a First-Floor Slab and Walls With Concrete

Building with Polystyrene Forms and Concrete Now Playing

Building with Polystyrene Forms and Concrete

Clip Transcript For:

Building a First-Floor Slab and Walls With Concrete

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Because covers. Okay so Ron we're standing on the actual concrete slab. Let's go through the steps what have reversed it first we erected the sidewalls out of her -- foam block right OK. And then we we stand. Indeed the entire floor with foam decking. It's it's finish deep decking. Which grooves in it OK and then we've temporarily supported that with false work every six feet to support until concrete sets. But what about the steel. Well. You did these grooves every two feet are for steel and you put steel in there which serves much like a parking garage who went into a parking garage see these beams coming down sure and we're actually doing that we're forming it right here -- I -- and then the other element that's already included in there is the pex tubing right yes and that's put down on top of the foam. After the steel was put in after the steel reinforced -- And then on top of that on top of the tax there's a rule -- measure mesh that goes down and then we --"

[-]

More Videos »Related Videos

Precast Concrete Foundation Installation

Bob Vila meets with Jim Costello from Superior Walls of America to discuss the difference between precast panels delivered to the site and a traditional poured concrete foundation. The precast panel is made of an outside shell wall of high strength concrete combined with rebar reinforced concrete pillars. The ten-inch thick pillars give a look similar to a traditional stud wall with Styrofoam insulation. Pressure treated furring strips attached to the pillars make drywall or paneling easy to attach. The panels have an R factor, the measure of a materials resistance to the passage of heat, of 5 (concrete block has an R factor of about 2). Polyurethane caulk with special concrete adhesives is added between each panel to insure a tight seal. The panels are attached to each other and the base with pre-installed saddle bolts. A typical home�s installation takes about five hours and without having to wait for the foundation to set or dry, contractors can begin framing immediately. The walls are guaranteed for 15 years compared to poured concrete walls, which generally have a warranty of one year.

Big Energy Savings with Concrete Construction

Bob talks with Jim Niehoff of the Portland Cement Association about building homes using concrete. For builders, constructing homes with concrete can save a lot of time and give homeowners a very energy-efficient home. Building a home with this combination of concrete and foam can save homeowners about 30-40 percent on heating and cooling costs. Building with concrete is particularly desirable in disaster-prone areas, because it provides stronger protection against hurricanes and tornados. Bob talks with the homeowner, Howard Brickman, about the experience of building the addition with concrete. The process has been very efficient. The crew has only been on the site for seven work days and has accomplished a great deal in that short amount of time. The construction process has eliminated the need for any exterior wall framing or insulation. The shell of the addition is already complete except for the rafters on the roof. The finished addition will look like a traditional shingled home and will be indistinguishable from the original section of the house. The radiant heating system put into the addition was downsized because of the energy savings involved with concrete construction. It is estimated the concrete addition will cost 30 percent as much to heat as the rest of the house.

Building Reinforced Concrete Storm-Ready Homes in Florida

Bob is joined on the site of the Punta Gorda, Florida, storm-ready home by Jim Crain of Precise Forms. Precise Forms partners with Mercedes Builders to create high-quality, reinforced concrete homes throughout Florida. Precise Forms began in 1967 by supplying cast-in-place forms for subterranean foundations and basements. In 2000 they began to set forms for full wall, cast-in-place houses for Mercedes Homes. Once the forms are set, Bob walks through the layout with Jesse Gonzalez of Mercedes Homes. Gonzalez points to window placements that are encapsulated behind the aluminum forms as they walk past view windows in the family area, past the three bedrooms, bath, laundry, and two-car garage of this four-bedroom home with master suite. Mark Newton of Solid Wall Systems joins Bob as the pour begins. He explains that they are using a 2,000 pound psi, small aggregate concrete mix for the entire pour. We watch as the concrete is pumped into the forms, which are braced at the top by two-by-fours that hold the tops of the forms square to prevent movement as the forms receive the static pressure of the concrete. Newton explains that they will vibrate around all door and window openings before allowing the concrete to set. This will help eliminate voids, honeycombing, or any blowout due to bad adhesion or conformity of the concrete.

Determining Moisture Content in Concrete Floors

Bob talks with homeowner Howard Brickman about drying out of the new addition. Concrete can pose problems for the wood-floor installation business. Brickman's consulting business created a device that measures the relative humidity of the interior of the concrete and predicts what will happen after the concrete is covered with a floor covering. The whole exterior structure of the addition, except for the roof, is made of concrete. It's critical that the concrete that makes up the floor is dried before the wood floor is installed. This is especially true in Southern climates where there is a high amount of humidity.