Building Details

ICF Foundation

In the past, we have been agaist ICF foundations due to their rigid standards that prohibited efficient custom home construction. However in the past few years, ICF companies have begun offering different product lines that allow for just about any type of foundation you need. With that, we have a few recommendations on what to look for.

• We recommend contacting the company to see if they have any of their ICF's being used in the construction of a timber frame. If they do, we suggest having that particular representative who is on the project come visit with you. At the very least, have a talk with him to see what he suggests with his company's specific ICF blocks. That will help eliminate a large number of headaches on your end if you're going to install the foundation yourself.
• We also recommend maintaining as much similarity to our poured concrete wall design. In order to do that, we specify a minimum 10" concrete core in the ICF wall. We have done some foundations smaller than that but it took some additional pre-planning. Contact us directly to discuss the rammifications of using a smaller core.
• You want to look for a block design that is reversible in all directions. This eliminates confusion during the forming process. It also helps to eliminate the errors that might occur with an incorrectly placed block.
• In order to give the most concrete bearing surface to the floor system and the SIPs, we suggest a "taper-top" form for the top course. Most companies we have worked with supply this type of a form. And while the SIPs aren't transferring that much load to the foundation, it's a better practice to have as much support as possible.

Something else to consider as you're choosing an ICF brand. In your home, you will typically have a step in the foundation from the garage to the house or breezeway. Where you have that, you want to see if the company offers a 1/2 or 1/4 height spacer block. If they don't, consider keeping the changes in the elevation on the foundation in 16" increments. Doing this will eliminate a large amount of site cutting.

ICF Companies

These are some of the companies who's ICF systems we have designed with.

• BuildBlock - Based in Oklahoma and nationally distributed.
• Logix - Based in Ontario, Canada and distributed in the United States.
• Reward ICF - Based in Nebraska and nationally distributed.
• Quad-Lock - Based in British Columbia, Canada and distributed in the United States.