If 2009 taught me anything, it taught me the meaning of the phrase "blood, sweat, & tears." Building our home was the most crazy, exhausting, fun, emotional, scary, amazing thing I have ever done. I honestly had a blast, and I honestly can't understand why I didn't have a nervous break down :o)

I can't write about the whole build in one post. I don't have the time or emotional fortitude to go thru it all. So I'll have to give it to you in chunks.

We spent a lot of time researching the materials that went into our home. What we wanted was an affordable way to build a super efficient house. In the end we chose to build our home out of Insulated Concrete Form Basically they build the walls out of hollow forms that are made of anything from concrete to foam to recycled newspapers. Then they fill in the forms with cement.

Choosing to build with ICF had a lot of consequences that we didn't recognise when we started. The most surprising was our general contractors reaction. When we told him we wanted to build with ICF he pretty much broke up with us. He said it would be impossible. And if we could pull it off it would be outrageously expensive. We really wanted to "general" our home ourselves, but it was a challenge finding funding for a construction project that "couldn't be done"

The ICF added a lot of stress to our build, as most of our contractors had never heard of the stuff. We were surprised to see how many people were nervous to work with a new product. The ICF added a lot of time to the build and really annoyed our framers. The funniest consequence was the way our neighbors reacted. Most thought we were flat out crazy.

After we bought the land and pored the foundation, we waited and waited and waited. The EZ Block people, who where in charge of building the exterior walls, didn't show for almost 2 months! Their web site claims their product is "Easier, Cheaper, Faster." This is clearly not the case.

We are fairly happy with the end result. EZ Block did in fact offer a product that is "extremely strong, virtually fireproof, super-insulated, and nearly sound-proof. The block is also impervious to vermin and rot.

ICF is supposed to be super green, which is probably true in the long run. But having a green home is about being efficient and choosing a responsible way to leave the home's footprint. I'm not sure I'm buying all the green claims the ICF sales guys are pushing...oh well, we got what we wanted in the end. Our house is really easy to heat and will be even easier to cool. It is pretty much sound proof and the exterior walls are really thick (a full foot) which makes for awesome window sills.