I have two questions for the DIY folks here:

[Ecumenist]

His Lordship and I are building an ICF home, with steel interior framing. I am pretty savvy where it comes to things about the house. We are taking classes in various aspects of homebuilding, ie, drywall, laminate floors, plastering the walls, (earth plasters), etc. I have spoken to the folks at that steel framing place, HSF Steel frames out of Oklahoma. The gentleman I spoke to told me that at least better than 50% of the people who purchase their systems install them themselves.

WE are trying to save as much money as possible,(within reason, I'm not crazy enough to try to do everything- I'm an owner builder, not a nut), so we are willing to do as much as possible to build more sweat equity as possible. Consequently, my first question is this- has anyone worked with steel interior framing, installing it themselves and if so, what was your experience?

Number two question is this, the home plan has non load-bearing columns on either side of the foyer.

I'm looking for the twisted columns in the 8ft height w/a Scamozzi capital and the same column that has that scamozzi capital in a size that is about 4ft tall that can be cut in half. I'll be using these smaller columns to support a mantel shelf in the living room over a wood burning fireplace. I plan to leaf both the columns and the mantel shelf in muted silver leaf, sort of an antiqued finish.

Has anyone ever done this silver leafing decoration and does anyone have any idea where I can find these plaster columns or REASONABLY priced cast stone OR paint ready wooden columns?

Thanks in advance,
Forever grateful,
Ecumenist

[Kingshakabobo]

1. I have no idea what you are talking about......

......but we demand pictures!!!!

I wish I could help......

What's an ICF home?

[Ecumenist]

2. ICF is a poured concrete building method.

Isulated Concrete Forms is what that abbrevations mean. The walls are between 8 to 12 inches thick, have an R factor of 50 and a firewall of 4 to 5 hours. I will provide copious photos as soon as I get to take them. We have to outline EVERY LITTLE THING we are planning to do because we're going Owner Builder and your's truly is acting as the GC. Saves at least 80K just for what I'm doing. We're using AMVIC block for our ICF home.

[Kingshakabobo]

3. Very cool...........

Are you building the above-grade walls with concrete?

[Ecumenist]

4. Yes, ALL the exterior walls will be poured concrete

The interior walls will be steel framed and sheetrocked. We are going to plaster the walls with American Clays. The only wood in the house will be the cabinets and the floors in the dining room and the mezzanine bonus room.

[Adsos Letter]

5. I did quite a bit of metal leaf work during my 30 years as a

painter. Are you aware that the silver leaf will tarnish naturally over time? It also may not be the best choice over a fireplace, if you want to clean it...you can coat it with clear finishes to give it durability and stop the tarnishing process, and these can be very lightly tinted with umbers, etc, if you want to "cool down" the sheen of the metal. However, beware that coating will slightly "drown" the leaf, and detract ever-so-slightly from that pure metal feel, but this may not be a problem for you. Durability over that fireplace is definitely a consideration, though. Have you considered using aluminum leaf with a coating of a very, very lightly tinted clear? I don't know how much experience you have with leafing, but it can be difficult for the inexperienced to achieve the smooth finish they are looking for with silver, aluminum is less prone to "wrinkling", etc.

Whichever material you choose, be sure to use "backed" leaf rather than the "loose" variety. The "loose" form is definitely for the experienced applicators.

Also, as long as you can maintain a relatively clean air environment for a couple of days, be sure to use the 24 hr. leaf size (the clear varnish which will serve as the "glue" holding your leaf to the substrate). You can get 3-hour sizes, but they tend to be less satisfactory for leafing large surfaces (which you may end up doing in sections anyway) because their "tack" window is shorter, and can also be less uniform, which is important in terms of "drowning" the leaf; 24 hour products are much more stable and friendly in this regard, but their longer "open time" makes them more suseptible to dust, bugs, kids hands, etc. This usually isn't a problem inside...

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions...I loved working with leafing material.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. steel frame means lots and lots of bolts.

invest in good air-power tools and a compressor that can run multiple tools at a time.