Onward and upward!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new website and blog! There will no longer be posts at this site, so move on over and follow along at http://carolinaxwall.com/blog/. You can subscribe to the blog via RSS in the right sidebar there. You'll find the same great commentary and information in a new uniform, easier to navigate format. And, check out the new homepage as well, at www.carolinaxwall.com. Let us know what you think!

ARXX goes BIM!

Understanding Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Building information modeling is an integrated process built on coordinated, reliable information about a project from design through construction and into operations. With BIM, design professionals are able to work collaboratively using models created from consistent and reliable design information.

Click here to access the ARXX ICF BIM models on Autodesk Seek. BIM covers geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building materials and components. It can therefore be used to demonstrate not only the entire building lifecycle, but also the impacts the building and its component materials have on the environment.

By adopting BIM, architects, engineers, contractors and owners can easily:

• Create coordinated digital design information and documentation.
• Use that information to more accurately visualize, simulate and analyze performance, appearance and cost.
• Deliver the project faster, more economically, and with the potential for reduced environmental impact.
• Make faster and better decisions.
• Predict the buildings performance characteristics before breaking ground.
• Create drawings and details directly from a model (and have the software automatically coordinate these drawings and details with the model).
• Improve efficiency and accuracy of green certification.
• Obtain schedules of building material quantities to determine the percentages of material reuse, recycling and salvage.
• Utilize advanced visualization techniques for solar studies.
• Improve collaborative communication among various stakeholders (architect, owner, consultants, review bodies, builder, etc.)

With BIM, much of the data needed to support performance analysis is captured naturally as design proceeds. BIM allows design professionals to analyze how a building will perform, even in the early stages of design. Armed with this information, design professionals can evaluate design alternatives quickly and make better decisions for greener more energy efficient designs. By streamlining design and analysis, BIM facilitates the calculations needed to optimize building performance.

ARXX Insulating Concrete Forms and BIM

As industry methods evolve to meet the increasing complexity and multiple requirements for information and data related to construction, sustainable design and building life cycle analysis, it’s important that ARXX leads the way with the tools necessary to make designing and building with ARXX ICFs easy and efficient.

ARXX has created over 120 combinations of parametric 3D model details of standard ARXX Edge, Prime and Steel ICFs and applied a variety of common exterior and interior wall finishes. Design professionals now have the necessary product information and specifications for ARXX products at their finger tips. Some of the information readily available through BIM about ARXX products and wall assemblies include:

• Size – length , width, height, EPS thickness
• Volume
• Clear R value
• Wall assembly U Value - minimum
• Fire Resistance rating
• Sound attenuation rating - minimum
• Form weight

All of the ARXX BIM files are available through Autodesk® Seek. Autodesk is the industry leading online source for building product information that allows design professionals to search, select and specify the best building materials for their projects such as ARXX insulating concrete forms. ARXX ICF products have been developed as a family of 3D details for Autodesk Revit® software versions 2009 and 2010. The RVT, DWG, DWF and DXF files are all available for download including any relevant marketing and specification materials.

To watch an ARXX BIM demonstration video(wmv file, 16MB)* click here.

If you have any questions about ARXX BIM files, contact our technical support team at 1.800.293.3210 x 5 or techsupport@arxx.com. We’re here to help.

Click here to access the ARXX ICF BIM models on Autodesk Seek.

Pour Day 8-Gable Ends

This pour was a bit of a challenge at first because of the hose selection, a 3 inch hose with a bit of a curve on the end. That presents a tall task to the hose man, who has to muscle with two hands to point the hose into the wall rather than to easily guide the hose with one hand. It's especially key to make sure the proper selection is made when you have more dangerous scaffolding applications, like the tall wall setting here. It's just as important to make sure that the pump driver is on the same page. It is no fun to be 15 feet in the air with a boom shifting around while trying to point a curved hose in the proper direction. Once the 3-inch hose was replaced with a 2.5 inch one that was clearly more straight and flexible, life got exceedingly easier for the entire crew.

Because of the hose selection, and the subsequent delays in process, there were several close calls with the concrete truck "on deck" (to borrow a term from baseball) potentially needing to be sent back to the plant.

Manning the 3-inch hose required much harder work.

Going up gables required more coordination as the hose needed to be past from one worker to another on different sections of scaffolding.

Pump drivers need a delicate touch. Just millimeters on the joystick can mean feet at the end of the hose. It's easy to tell a good driver from a not-so-good one. ICF experience is a most helpful asset, and it's not a great idea for an inexperienced one to learn on a project this size.

People, professionals and laypersons alike, often question the capability of shaping wet concrete in sloped applications. These gables are on a 12/12 pitch, a full 45 degree angle, and as you can see, there was no problem troweling the mix to the peak.

The third story of ICFs fully complete, the project awaits masonry and hollow core planks before the final stretch of 4th story walls are assembled. Once again, the ICF crew of 10 workers has outpaced other trades. Who doesn't want a more complete system that goes up faster with less people and less subs?

Scaffolding Comparison

We've already mentioned the difference in labor force required to put up different assemblies. With ICFs, fewer people install more components of a better wall assembly in one simple step. Part of the reason for that is an integrated bracing and scaffolding system. Take a look at these pictures which show how much work space remains with ICF scaffolding in place, compared to traditional scaffolding required for other assemblies. Because only nine pound blocks are installed from ICF scaffolding, and, at most, 20 foot lengths of rebar, a more streamlined system meets needs.

Here you can see even tall wall ICF bracing in place. Traditional scaffolding pieces on the ground are about to be assembled.

This photo and the next one compare up close the difference in complexity of the two systems. It saves a lot of time and labor utilizing ICF bracing.

Compare this shot to the first one.

Up with the Gable Ends!

It is truly exciting to see the building taking its form! I can't stress enough how much a quality installer plays into the success of the build. The tightness of the site, the challenge of scheduling trades, meeting demands from different angles. Robbie Vernelson of RDV Contracting and Humberto Mendieta of ICF Construction have made a remarkable partnership. And the commitment and morale of their crew is to be commended. These are quality workers who know how to make a project move quickly, giving thorough attention to detail, all while adjusting to the expected and unexpected events on a busy job site.

The procedure for assembling a gable end, in order to ensure proper dimensions and alignment without endangering workers by needing to cut high up in the air, involves "dry-stacking" the forms on the floor first. This especially helpful because of the louvered openings in four of the eight gables on the building. Follow along here for a brief sequence of assembly.

Forms are numbered so that, once cuts are made and pieces are separated in order to pass up the scaffolding, they will be stacked in the appropriate order on top of the wall.

Each form with an angles chalk line will be brought down and cut on the ground. Safer, faster, more accurate.

With these ARXX Steel ICFs, the hole for the louvered openings is simply cut out with a reciprocating saw.

The special round buck by V-Buck is made to order, right to rough opening size, and conveniently fills the spot cut for it without a worker needing to lift a saw.

3rd Story Progress Video Clip...

New Project Profile at ARXX.com!

Click here to view:

Project Gallery: Chidley North Residence Hall

Pour Day 7 - Video

Pour Day 7 - Second Floor complete

RDV Contracting owner, Robbie Vernelson, monitors progress. RDV's crew consists of nine to 10 workers.

Jeff Philips of InFocus Design Studios shoots some footage of the pour. It could be pointed out here that he seemed to be wondering, "What's the big deal?" concerning pour day. That's a great question. When you have a crew and a pour team (including the concrete supplier and the pump truck operator) that know what they are doing and have a good working relationship on site, pour day is indeed quite uneventful. So, while the film may not be that exciting, that's precisely the point. We've dispelled some pretty big rumors and assumptions about ICFs as a result. In fact, the project engineer's inspector and assistant superintendent, were catching up on something clearly other than the pour down on the ground while the pour was taking place two stories up. On the first pour, the inspector was there every step of the way...up on the scaffolding, right by the hose!

Perfecting the plumb of the wall once concrete is screeded at the top.

Steel beam pocket is packed tightly and trowled by hand.

One more partial story (7' plus) of ICF on this wing. The roof system will extend from that point and include 10' dormer windows.

The "core" of the building, parallel to the concrete truck here, will rise two more stories.

Lord Aeck and Sargent, Architect Discusses ICF and Green Building Features

Derek West and Sarah Weiser, of Lord Aeck and Sargent, Architect, discuss features of a residence hall project, including the selection of ICFs for the project.

Introduction to ICFs - USGBC Talk-n-Walk - Durham, NC

Bradley Yoder, President of Carolina X Wall, introduces insulating concrete forms to two dozen USGBC members on site in Durham, NC.

Hollow Core installation/integration

Here are some photos of hollow core installation taking place this morning before the rain came.

Notice here that the rebar used to tie the floor system into the wall is a 90º rebar that turns up rather than down into the wall. This makes the placement of this reinforcement far more simple than if it were required to come up out of the lower level wall. It is nearly impossible to either bend the rebar precisely in between planks being laid, or to navigate the planks into place around a fixed piece of rebar. There is almost no way of knowing the layout of the planks and placing the rebar appropriately according to that layout beforehand, so simply installing them when the grout between planks is placed makes for much faster assembly.

USGBC Talk-n-Walk

Yesterday evening we had the privilege of welcoming the local chapter of USGBC and Triangle AIA COTE (Committee on the Environment) to our residence hall project to introduce them to ICF construction, and to hear firsthand from the architects why they selected the product for this application. Great turnout, good questions, some good wheels turning. The session was videotaped, so keep an eye out for that once our new website is launched in the coming weeks.

Progress: Post-pour day #6

Over halfway through the project! Here are some overall project photos.