Superior Wall System

dcl

Building a house this spring. Just went to the builders show in Orlando and saw a company called Superior Walls. They used them on This Old House a few times. Any reviews? The house will be in Connecticut. After 20 years in the Tile & Stone biz I think it's time I do a project for myself!! If I had it to do over I would have been an excavator. I can sit for hours and watch those machines do their thing. And who doesnt like the smell of diesel.

rino1494

They are junk. We have been using them for the past 4 years and we do about 30-35 a year. The actual walls themselves are not bad. They are 5000 psi concrete and are waterproof. The only problem with them is the installers. They come with the crane and the crew wants get in there and out in 1 day. We have had how many of them out of square where i had to take the excavator and push the walls in for the framers. Just the other day, they had to bring the crane back in to move the entire garage b/c it was 2.5" out of square. Also, The corners on the inside are 45 degree angles and they don't butt up flush together and they butter it up with caulking. The caulking they use is good pretty good stuff and is like rubber, but after 20 years, who knows what it will look like. When they bolt the walls together, they use 1/2" bolts in a 3/4" hole.

As far as backfilling, you must be careful to not push the walls. The first floor of the house must be framed and the basement floor must be poured to prevent the walls from kicking in. We have braced the walls so we could fill the garage for the framers to work. The only problem is, the framers use a couple 2x4's and think it will hold.

They are really a pain in the ass to work with. The framer has to put up the first floor then clean up the mess. Then you have to set up the mason's to pour the floor then set up the excavator to backfill. If the framer is willing to work over a hole, then so be it, but most don't.

Another thing is, the wall company wants a 30x40 ft level pad for the crane. There can't be any trees in the way or other obstructions. If it is muddy, then you must haul alot of shale or rock in to get the crane in to set the walls. This can get pretty pricey. Also, the cranes this particular company uses only can reach 65ft from the center of the crane. The out-riggers are 12ft plus your overdig. So, if you have a very large house, they won't be able to reach the other side of the house. Then you must build 2 crane pads, but on smaller lots, this is very tough. One time, we dug the house, then they set the walls. While they ate lunch, we came in and dug the garage footers and stoned them.

The builder that we mainly work for is sick of them and we are now going to poured walls to better suit all of the subs.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH

jmic

IMO

__________________
___"Remember You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression"______________________
Joe

dcl

Thanks for the reply's. I thought it was too good to be true. Not having a footing also made me a little uneasy. Plan 2.. an ICF foundation.

747

if there crap why are you installing 30-35 a year? I have seen them use those on this old house without incident. But then they take the time to dot all the I's and cross all the T's before installation.

ContractorSon

Can the answer be...$$$?

rino1494

We used to use block wall foundations. The mason had trouble keeping up so the builder switched to pre-cast walls because they are set in one day. A builder has a contract to build a house in such amount of time, usually 6 months. The faster he can get it done, the better. The typical homeowner has no clue about foundations. Most ppl think they are wonderful, and they can be if properly installed. They have R-12 insulation poured right into the concrete and have concrete studs. You can easily nail up drywall and finish off the basement. With all of the problems we are having and with the subs complaining, we are switching to poured walls to make life easier on the subs.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH

ProWallGuy

On 'this old house' you only see what they show you, or want you to see. If anything goes wrong, I'm sure its edited out before we would see it.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

bigjake_the1

We are building 30 houses a year, and we use nothing but superior walls anymore. We have virtually no problems of any kind at any time in almost 8 years. One time there was a mistake in height of where they added outside supports for external pour that technically aren't required, but that would be the only issue in almost 250 homes now. Different companies, and there installers could make plenty of issues though. I don't believe it is the walls fault that there aren't qualified installers of the products. We have had issues with excavators not prepping the sites properly, but we have come to expect that, and just go over their work and correct problems before the walls show up. Most days, the basement is up and in, excellently installed in less than 4 hours. I am not sure if that is just the crew we use, and the same crane operators, but they do make it look easy. Not one of the houses has ever been even 1 inch out of square, which I think is pretty amazing for bolt together system. We have had zero issues with leaks, but it has only been 8 years. However, local contractors using block and poured walls in some of same areas are having serious issues. Could be excavation issues there also.
Our reasoning for using the superior wall system is time, and the dryest basements of any local builder we have been repeatedly written up for.
Is it the walls, or our site prep? I believe it is a combination.

genecarp

welcome big jake, you make a good point, many a fine product has been ruined by a hack who has not learned the proper installtion procedures, look at eifs, hacks practicly ruined the entire system. bottom line, a product is only as good as its installer.

__________________

expstaller

not having all the info you need is the problem .i think if you are going to use superior walls or any type of concrete foundation you need to have a person that is not affiliated with the company doing the install to ensure it is done properly .the most common problems with Superior walls is a improper install or not following proper guidlines.this usuallt falls to the contractor but if he dont know then how will he know it wrong. lot of peeps dont like the sealing process but if done properly it is fail safe .companys trying to save money might scimp on proper applying procedures wich allow leaks .HIRE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY BY NOT KNOWING!!!!

hire a person that can advice you of known problems

ConstSvcs

We have Thermo-mass spec'd on our next project. We'll be pouring in late August so if your not poured by then.........stop by and take a look. We'll be pouring in Madison CT. We usually use Western Forms, 10" pour, Marflex 5000 waterproofing with 2 3/8" Drain-Dry board. The home mentioned above will be Thermo-mass because it's a superior insulation quality. This home will have a lower level with a subterranean car lift to park 3 cars below grade in a climate controlled environment.

Here is Thermo-mass
http://www.thermomass.com/index.html

and here is the auto lift just for haha :
http://www.aclifts.com/parking/pss-7.asp

contractorgirl

Hey I have had the same issues with Superior Walls Product. I am having a specific issue with them now and though they continue to reference their Builder Guideline Booklet they cannot seem to produce one for the year the house was built. Does anyone out there have a Builder Guideline Booklet for 2004 or 2005? PLEASE let me know asap.

dave_dj1

these are new to me so i can't comment on them but i would like to know a cost comparison to poured concrete.

TERM101

We do probably 25-35 a year also. Also I have had and continue to have many of the same problems as dayexco. When they come to install them most of them are NOT willing to take there time and do a good job, they just pop em up and gone. The ones we have done seem to be doing pretty well..but as day said..in 20 years, who knows? I also moved from them back to block walls and on to poured walls.

rino1494

Go back and read my posts. I posted those comments 4 yrs ago and since then we have been doing poured walls. We'll never go back to superior walls. Actual costs may vary a few hundred bucks in favor of the superior walls. The added costs of building a crane pad, and mobilization of the excavator plus lost time with the framers working over the excavation and getting the mason in there to pour the floor, drives the addtional costs up and doesn't make them worth it as far as a GC. We have also had problems with drywall cracking on superior foundations.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH