Photos: Oscar Sosa/ Black Star David Howard's dream came true when his company built an innovative, open, and appealing home that would be able to survive coastal tides and winds.

As the founder and president of Concrete Express Inc. (CONEX), a Georgia ready-mixed concrete producer, David Howard had long dreamed of providing an innovative yet attractive and functional home with his favorite building product—concrete. His dream took shape when he met William H. Harrison, an architect and longtime concrete enthusiast who had been selected by the Portland Cement Association to design its 2001 concrete show house, “Safe Haven,” featured during the International Builders Show in Atlanta.

In mid-2004, the Harrison and Howard teams began planning a house to be built on a secluded site along a tidal creek near the Intracoastal Waterway between Savannah and Wilmington Island, Ga. The future owner had three goals:

The result is a striking two-story residence with 5600 square feet of living space and 7400 square feet of ground-floor garage, covered porches, and storage space. Designed for a beach and boating lifestyle, the house has guest bedrooms downstairs and a master bedroom suite and office upstairs; a main-level screened porch with a concrete fireplace and an outdoor kitchen; a turret-shaped dining room with a custom cast-in-place concrete-based mahogany table; a living room that opens onto a spiral-shaped, three-tiered swimming pool and spa; and river access via a floating concrete dock.

For Howard, whose company is supplying 1500 yards of concrete for the house, the job offers an ideal opportunity to apply the latest advances in concrete technology to residential construction. Howard, particularly interested in ICFs and self-consolidating concrete (SCC), soon learned that these techniques and materials require more precision and attention to detail than more standard construction methods.

“This was my first experience with ICFs, and I soon learned that bracing and shoring are critical in dealing with light non-structural formwork,” he says. “You cannot skimp.” To provide assistance, the ICF manufacturer, Reward Wall Systems, had a representative on-site periodically.

The second- and third-floor exterior walls are constructed entirely using ICFs. To create window openings, window bucks were secured by tie wire and rebar, with observation holes drilled in the bottom of the sills to allow workers to see when the concrete reached the right level, thus assuring that the forms were completely filled.

SCC was used for the ground-level (garage) walls, but was poured in place using steel forms, not ICFs. The SCC (using Sika's Sikament admixture) allowed the 10-foot-high, 10-inch-thick walls to be poured in a single lift with only minimal movement of the pump.

The garage floor is set 2 feet above grade and constructed on a base of flow-able fill—a combination of sand, fly ash, cement, and water—that guarantees full 2000-psf compaction around the foundation. (Flowable fill can be excavated if necessary and is safer for filling trenches in areas with a high water table.)

If recent history is any guide, another direct hit from a large hurricane is only a matter of time. “In the coastal areas and other areas prone to tornadoes and other extreme weather, I believe that over the next 25 years, we will continue to develop much more economical ways to build in concrete,” Howard says.

Back at his computer, Howard reviews house plans and calls up records and resources for each technique used in the structure. Almost on schedule for an early 2006 completion date, he seems pleased with his crew's progress in mastering the new techniques.