Polarwall

[Martin S]

Am considering using Polarwall ICF to construct the walls of my self-build.  Has anyone got any experience that they could share good or bad?  Is it acceptable to mortgage lenders?

[Jenki]

Hi,  @Martin S I Can't remember seeing anyone use this during my research. I've settled on PolySteel. I like the steel mesh inside the blocks, and they gave me free structural calcs / reinforcement schedule as part of the cost.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Jenki

[Big Jimbo]

as far as being acceptable to Mortgage lenders, I would ring a few brokers in your local area and ask them.

[jamiehamy]

We used it for our house, then our (mostly underground) garage and have just started a house on top of the garage. Great product, easy to use and very robust. Can't really say much more than that! We never had any bursts during concrete pours btw - the garage walls were 250mm and we poured the full 3m with one pump (doing around 500mm each lap)

 

 

[Martin S]

Thanks for the feedback.  jamiehamy do you know whether the system is flexible enough to combine varying depth of external insulation to accommodate a mix of render, wooden and stone panel cladding?  Each type of external cladding has varying thickness from 4mm render through to 70mm for wooden cladding with cross battens and I don't see the point of paying for an ICF complete wall product and then compromising its insulation and thermal bridging advantages (by bolting on a raft of 3rd party external wall insulation with mechanical fixings through my insulation into the concrete core) and having to pay for 3rd party external wall insulation to enable it to accommodate my mix of cladding.  

[Jenki]

20 minutes ago, Martin S said:

I don't see the point of paying for an ICF complete wall product and then compromising its insulation and thermal bridging advantages (by bolting on a raft of 3rd party external wall insulation with mechanical fixings through my insulation into the concrete core) and having to pay for 3rd party external wall insulation to enable it to accommodate my mix of cladding.  

If you fix EWI then it's usually glued and the fixings go into the webs of the ICF either plastic or metal not into the core 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Jenki
Clarity

[Martin S]

Thanks Jenki.

 

Following up on Big Jimbo's suggestion (thanks) having checked with a couple of structural warranty providers (Buildzone and Advantage) and a mortgage broker (The Mortgage Broker Ltd) I've been advised that both structural warranty providers and the majority of high street lenders accept Polarwall ICF.

[Big Jimbo]

That's good to hear Martin S. It about time that the mortgage providers moved on, and didn't just keep saying "non standard construction"

[freshy]

My experience was when applying for a mortgage, they wanted to check the ICF had a BBA certificate.

 

Also my build was classified as a modern method of construction (MMC).

 

[Mr Punter]

I have used it in a basement and it seemed to be fine.  They have BBA.  Polarwall guy came down for the pour.  We had one burst because one of the people who assembled it used a single tie across 2 rails.  Not a disaster as the bulge was on the backfill side.