Steel Framing in the Ventura-Gutek ICF House

Although most of the inner walls of the house were made with concrete-filled ICF blocks, a few walls were framed with 16 gauge steel. We chose steel because it does not mildew or rot and the studs and joists are straight and strong.
Bobby Perry used a chop saw to cut a 4" metal stud with an 11" metal-cutting blade. In order to screw an 8" track to the cement wall, Mike Hunley of H & W Construction, Alpine, TN (not recommended) cut into the foam block with an electric saber saw, then removed it with the claw of his hammer. The track will be securely attached to the concrete wall with Tapcon screws. (If metal plates had been installed by the concrete subcontractor before the wall was poured, the track could have been screwed directly to them.) The 4" steel track was secured to the concrete floor with TrakFast nails.

Self tapping Phillips half inch wafer head sheet metal screws join the studs and track together.

This wall has a doorway and three high windows.

 Glue was applied to the studs, then flooring was laid down and screwed in place over it.

Why don't we recommend Mike Hunley and his H & W Construction Company? His bid was very high, but he was recommended by the steel supplier and assured us that he could handle the job without engineered plans and said he ordered extra material and would reimburse us for any unused materials. He promised to give us a written agreement before starting the job but only provided an invoice after the work was done. The building inspector and structural engineer were later shocked by his faulty work. Mike attached most of the track (that supports the joists) to the ICF wall with sheet rock screws! He agreed to fix some things, like adding headers over openings on load bearing walls and adding more screws to the ends and joins of the pieced joists and said he would replace the structurally unsound joists if I provided him with engineered plans. Even after obtaining expensive engineered plans, he never fixed anything. Mike said that he pieced together the joists and track to save material. Over $1200 of new joists and track were left over, but he claimed that he paid for the extra material himself, even though most of it had been special ordered, so we were not reimbursed.

I can live with the holes that don't line up in the joists and studs (a problem for the plumbers and electricians), but the lumpy joints on the left make the above floor uneven and will be problematic for the sheet-rockers. The bottoms of these same joists were cut to clear an ICF wall - making them structurally unsound. One joist was even cut on top in two places. The brackets that support them are also unsound. These 8" joists should be replace with 6" joists or the top of the wall should be cut to accommodate new 8" joists.

 Mike literally cut corners here - piecing the joist and track, then not sufficiently securing either to the corner of the wall. The lumpy joint created a bulge in the floor above and will be a problem for the sheet-rockers. The joist on the left that supports the edge and corner joists of the floor above need to be reinforced. More screws need to be added where the joists have been joined to keep the joist ends from eventually sagging.

After waiting months for Mike Hunley to fix and finish the job, Andrzej decided to give it a try. He bought a chop saw, a metal cutting blade, a magnetic level, and a locking C-clamp and actually did a great job!

"Measure twice, cut once," my mother would say.

 A clamp secured the track to the stud while being screwed. A level helped keep the stud plumb.

Link to brick laying.

Link to overhang installation.

Link to electrical work.

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Web page and photographs by Carol Ventura.

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