Replies

1. 
   brownbagg | Sep 24, 2009 05:08am | #1

   I have used "Reward" icf and are very easy, but Frenchy will be here and hes the guru on ICF's. He know everything there is about ICF. I think he has over a 100 housed under his belt.
1. 
   Piffin | Sep 24, 2009 01:08pm | #2

   more like 200ICF blocks 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   Piffin | Sep 24, 2009 01:09pm | #3

   I think they are all pretty much alike. For a beginner, I would not recommend the ones that require you fold them out on site.

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

3. 
   Gene_Davis | Sep 24, 2009 01:25pm | #4

   It is a good idea to buy a brand that is readily available in your area.

   Where I am there are dealers stocking Amvic and Logix.  Very few differences exist between the two, with the first coming to mind that the Amvic corners are unhanded, while with Logix, you need to buy RH and LH.

   Go to the websites for the products you can get locally, and read up all the technical stuff you can see, especially the coursing and run tables, whether height makeups are available (4", 8"), and more.

   Edit:  I'll add to this, Phil, because I see you have not read it yet.

   While we have two dealers selling Logix and two selling Amvic, only one of the dealers (a Logix one) goes the whole nine yards, offering a couple of full-day how-to clinics each year, and also offering complete plans review and takeoffs in order to develop comprehensive quote packages.

   I cannot imagine a dealer of block that did not offer the whole package of scaffolding needed, and all ours do, but there a lot of non-block accessories that you need, and not all four of ours are equal when it comest to that.

   Zip ties, rebar, bent rebar, or the lending or rental of a bender, cutter, the spray foam, the Simpson connector that you need for ledgers, rental or use of hotwire foam cutter, window buck stock (the extruded PVC stuff is quite superior), and other things I cannot think of right now.  It is good to be able to get all of this from one good pro jobber.

    

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   "A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."

   Gene Davis        1920-1985

   
   

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   Edited 9/24/2009 4:39 pm ET by Gene_Davis

1. 
   brownbagg | Sep 24, 2009 04:24pm | #5

   buy a brand that is readily available in your area.that really a good idea, shipping kills you, about half the price is shipping. I wish the box store start carrying icf

2. 
   Piffin | Sep 24, 2009 11:21pm | #7

   good paint - also some local dealers sponsor a training day program about once a year 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   jc21 | Sep 24, 2009 11:33pm | #8

   What say you all on the need for borate treated ICF's? Yes, no, depends on where you live?

   "There can be no doubt that Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the abject worship of the state…Socialism is in its essence an attack not only on British enterprise, but upon the right of ordinary men and women to breathe freely without having a harsh, clammy, clumsy tyrannical hand clasped across their mouth and nostrils"  -Winston Churchill 

1. 
   dovetail97128 | Sep 25, 2009 07:36am | #9

   I just finished a building with non-borate treated ICF (contract was let before I fully grasped the implications of not having it) next time I would search for local supplied borate treated ICF.
   Life is Good

4. 
   john7g | Sep 24, 2009 10:12pm | #6

   Haven't used them but watched a nearby med office built with FoxBlocks.  Got a sample sent to me (free) just to get a better grasp of them.

5. 
   Marson | Sep 25, 2009 02:55pm | #10

   A few tricks of the trade I've learned the hard way:

   I run a strongback (2-2 x nailed together as an ell) at the top of the foundation. Just screw it into the blocks. Then string and brace that. Helps a lot with getting a straight wall at the end.

   Also, laser the top of the wall AFTER the pour. The force of the concrete falling on the cross ties smooshes the blocks down. Unless you stacked them perfectly tight (good luck with that) you'll have more settling in some spots than others and wind up with "whoops".

   I'd echo what the other posters said. Find a good supplier who can help you get started. My first ICF foundation, the salesman came out prior to the pour and helped me get ready.

   As far as brands go, it's pretty much like picking between Fords and Chevys. (At least before GM went bankrupt!)