Anyone done tilt up?

Has anyone else done a tilt up for a house??? I have a mate who builds them in industrial areas and its got me thinking about using a tilt up type construction for a tri level house.

I have seen some better looking efforts in industrial areas recently and it appeals to me as cheaper and quicker way to go forward. Effectively Id be building a box with built in patios. The ground level would be all garaging a 6-8 car garage with toilet and shower and a two car garage seperated by a lobby/entrance, the second floor all open plan living/lounge/kitchen/toilet etc with a L-shaped mesanine 3rd floor with 4 bedrooms with master ensuite and another bathroom.

With keeping costs in mind I have had some ideas:

Some walls would be left raw concrete as I like the look.

All but one of the toliets/bathrooms would be in vertical alignment thus reducing plumbing costs.

The open planning of the 1st two levels should reduce materials.

Plumbing and wiring the slab in the big garage so it can be converted to a granny flat later on.

Any other ideas I should incorporate into it? Views on construction methodology. Pictures of cool features you have seen on industrial tilt up???

Thanks.
 
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Kamak,
Don't know if it'll be much help, but someone is building a tilt-up house, looks pretty large, in Millbridge, which is a few ks out of Bunbury.
Frank.
 
Hmmm...
Reckon you might been on the wrong track. I don't think it will be any cheaper, in fact quite the opposite.
You need to add quite a bit of steel reinforcing for any concrete pour, especially if it needs to be structural.
The R value will be shocking, with it acting as a great big heat sink in summer, transferring the heat direct througn the wall ( unless you incorporate a cavity), and nice and cold in winter.

We are using a tilt panel system but not using concrete panels.
R values up at 3.9 for the walls ( double cavity brick is 0.4 by comparison) and energy ratings at 8 stars and above.
(How do I add pics again??) This alzheimers is getting bad....

kp
 
Thansk kph, great input and means I need to do a LOT more research. Would love to learn more about what you are doing.....

I use photobucket.com to post pics. Just cut and paste the IMG line under the photo. Not sure if that helps.
 
It is a lot dearer to build tilt slab than conventional domestic methods. I inspected two factories at once, side by side. One tilt slab, one brick, the difference in termperature inside was amazing, winters day, bit of sun, the tilt slab was as cold as ice, the brick a lot warmer
 
Hi Kamak, just a couple of thoughts to consider.

1. can you form and pour the panels on site? otherwise you are looking at extra costs around 25%, handling , storage, extra crane hire and transport.

2. you can line the inside of the panels with sisolation furing channel and plasterboard which would help with insulation. ~$50m2

The good thing about panels is they are quick, the price is similar to brickwork until you add lining the inside.
 
Hi Kamak,

You are right, Tilt-Up is much quicker than traditional building methods.

I have designed quite a few warehouses and industrial sheds using tilt panels with good results. As Celica pointed out, it can be a cold material for walling and I would insulate the walls for living / sleeping areas.

A recent bulky-goods development (like Harvey Norman etc) that I have worked on required a 150mm thick tilt panel, 35mm air gap, 64mm stud framing with insulation and then plasterboard lining. This was to comply with Part J of Building Code of Australia - Energy Efficiency.

There are many great insulation products out there; one in particular that I like is "Air-Cell" www.air-cell.com.au

Overall I think concrete is a wonderful material to build with and provided the house is insulated and orientated correctly, it should be very climatically comfortable all year round.

I hope my ramblings are of assistance mate.


JJ
 
Hi Kamak,

tilt up may be a bit difficult on site on a resi project as usually you're working on smaller parcels of land which don't have enough room to accomodate forming, pouring and craning on site.

I would suggest go with pre-cast panels.

they're manufactured off site and when delivered, craned and placed on site in a couple of days.

If you're shop drawings are good they will accomodate absolutely everything you require and it will be possible for you to have your whole structure up and roof ready in a few days once they're all manufactured.

It is more expensive than brick BUT you will save on scaffold costs, brick costs, bricklayer costs and rendering costs. PLUS you'll save time.

You'll eliminate the risk of drummy render and all the mess that goes with those wet trades, which really is the worst part of construction.

Pre-cast panels will give you a superb finish that externally you can paint directly on. It can also accomodate all manner of texture finishes.

Regarding the R rating, precast panels are much better than brick as they are a denser material. All you need to do is insulate properly and you'll have a beautiful cosy home in winter and cool in summer. In this regard CRS and Bradford insulation have speciliast product to accomodate precast panels.

Also, you'll have a structurally superior building than that of brick, and you will not experience any movement and subsequent cracking as a result.

I firmly believe it's the way to go, having just completed my 8 storey building in precast.

The panel providor allowed dowells, furring channels and all the other technical bits and pieces so that we could pour each floor/ceiling slab using conventional construction methods.

Hope this helps some, but it really is the way to go. Alot of builders are going down this route and relegating brickies and renderers to retaining walls...
 
Kamak
You and me have to have a serious chat ( seriously!)
Im in Perth tomorrow (Sat) for approx a week.
We are currently doing a 12 unit warehouse in insulated panel which negates the requirements to stud out, or add any extra insulation etc etc.
It stacks up on its own and provides supreme insulation qualities compared to other methods. Plus its quick and prob cheaper than tilt up concrete. And it will look better.( grey concrete is NOT the new black)

We also do the same for resi construction, so if bricks not your poison, and you want to use a panel method of construction ( for all the attributes mentioned previously) you need to consider this as an alternative.
Energy ratings at 8 stars ( best came in at 9 stars), and 5 to 7 days to plate height equivalent ( all wall panels up and ceiling on)
We expect to get a few underway in Perth before the end of the year in Yanchep and Midland, maybe Northam, and more likely down south.
Soon as I can figure out how to post pics (again) it will prob be self explanatory.

kp
 
Figured out how to post pics so here goes...

01.jpg

02.jpg

10.JPG
 
Bouncing ideas around with someone and tilt up was discussed, he also said
the insulation problem with straight concrete IS poor
; other comments mentioned below which I found interesting:

Victorian state gov't used pre-cast slab as a housing matierial in the late 1950's- about a week to assemble all the slabs, then paint and fit out. They were as cold as bloody charity, no insulation in or on the 75mm walls.

In the mid to late 1970's, a new style of concrete slab, incorporating foam plastic balls as the aggregate was used (one was built down the road from us when I was a kid); panels very similar to those in the photos here (from memory) arrived on site, were stood up and bolted together on the floor slab, and then the roof trusses went on. About 12 - 13 weeks start to finish.

However, all of the above were only single storey buildings. With a 3 storey building, the slabs would have to be 100mm minimum thickness, and internal spans would have to be worked out to suit the tensile limits of the floor/ceiling panel.

X has constructed 3 or 4 of the 2 and 3 storey buildings in Y using this method, but clad the outside with corry iron to add insulation and aesthetic appeal. Interior walls were treated as a plaster finish and merely painted. Cost was about equivalent to a normal type construction, the savings came from the short time required to build.

Probably not the style I would like to build and live in, but as an investment thing, probably OK.
 
Hi Guys

Nearly 3 years later and this idea has bounced back into my mind. Any additional input on the use of tilt up?
 
Hi Kamak,
We're thinking of buying a piece of land inner city melbourne. It's approx 12m x 19m deep and are really looking for a cheap cheap cheap building method. Ie/ bringing a house in under $300k - is this possible? We're looking for 3 bedder 2story...
We were thinking of an off-the-plan builder like UrbanEdge but would prefer to build and have higher ceilings etc. I think once the structure is built, the fitout can be done cheaply, very minimilist concrete floors and white walls etc.
Let me know how you go with finding out about tilt slab and precast!
 
Thats what had me thinking along those lines too, but Im not sure if they are indeed misplaced :) Hopefully someone will chime in with tilt up experience :)
 
Hey guys, new to the forum, but this is the only place I could find that was talking about tilt-up.

Me and the wife are looking at doing this as well, just wondering how it compares to brick? From everything including cost and thermal/noise performance. I don't mind if it costs the same as long as it outperforms brick. We weren't really into brick much anyway, our choices have boiled down to either brick or timber, price is a huge player obviously.

If you do a search in google images for concrete homes, you'll find heaps of architecturally beautiful homes made completely out of concrete.
 
Concrete tilt up

I also would love to know about the cost benefits of building this way.

I was inspired by a recent holiday to Bali and a restaurant of all places. Which is build from concrete walls/floor in a warehouse style and thought "I want to live in this".

I have found from a quick web search a builder in Perth that seems to deal in this but have not gone any further as it's a bit of a pipe dream at the moment. But one day - perhaps!
 
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