Isoquick

The Isoquick insulating formwork is laid!

This weekend we had 4 of our good friends over to help us lay the Isoquick insulating form work system, which we did over 2 days.

First we set out the perimeter using builder's line from the corner rails that the ground works contractor had set at finished floor level for us last week using his laser level. The next step was then to lay the large polystyrene Isoquick insulation blocks in place, starting with the 4 corners and specially shaped edge modules to establish the perimeter. This is done from the outside so as to avoid disrupting the fine 6mm gravel layer too much.

Each of the pieces interlocks into the next with a pair of tongue & groove style joints, so you simply work around the building in one direction interlocking as you go. We had an additional 50mm piece glued to the top of the standard edge module to accommodate our 300mm thick raft foundation slab. As you can see this was not glued perfectly flat so we also checked for level on the egg-crate module surface at the base. We also checked for square at the corners and measured the diagonals. These images show us working our way down the east elevation and on to the south.

This sequence of images shows the boys waiting for more blocks… Me checking the corners for square… Bringing more blocks down the driveway… The base layer starting to go in….

After the perimeter has been completed the center is filled in. We began with the 200mm thick rectangular modules which are laid with the egg-crate side facing upwards to match the edge modules. Then the 100mm thick rectangular modules are laid the other way up over the whole area and the two layers interlock. We had to do some finer leveling of the gravel layer as we went along to make sure that the modules were firmly bedded as this is how the loads will be distributed from the building to the ground.

Fitting the last piece in the base layer…

After a long weekend we are now ready for the next stage!