After much research, 33 years in the construction business, growing up in Europe , the need to build a non toxic home, and lots of courses on building, we decided to build a concrete house in Hope, Maine for our daughter. We are using Comfort Block a Genest Concrete product made in Sanford Maine. They are based on a German design. The house is small, 24'x35'. The walls are 9' high and it took three guys in their 60's three and a half days to put up the walls. The insulation is already embedded in the block. The electrical channels inside and outside are part of the blocks as well. They even have weep holes in case water ever does get in there. We used triple pane windows from Pinnacle Windows. If you call Genest, tell them that Crystal sent you. They have a spec house you can look at that isn't far from NH and you are welcome to come to Hope. What I like about it too is that we used stucco on the exterior and plaster on the interior. If you have more time than money that is the way to go. My husband and I did it ourselves and, frankly, we think the stucco looks professional even though we are amateurs. The plaster on the inside was more difficult but that is because our daughter wanted us to use NH 3.5 lime plaster. It is very pretty and durable but much more time consuming and difficult to use than the products that Genest recommend.
My brothers, who are also in construction, like the double wood walls but, unless every step along the way is done perfectly, there is too much opportunity for water to get in there and get trapped. We saw way too many 10 year old houses that were built by other contractors that were completely rotted out. A well designed and well built concrete house will last for centuries.
Good luck!
Crystal
