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Does the Fox Blocks contain recycled materials?
The plas­tic webs in Fox Blocks forms are 100% recy­cled postin­dus­tri­al polypropy­lene. The EPS insu­la­tion is vir­gin mate­r­i­al. Recy­cled con­tent for an ICF block is mea­sured by weight. The recy­cled con­tent by weight of a stan­dard 6″ Fox Blocks form — 48%.
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How do I determine which size ICF to use?

ICFs pro­vide a rein­forced con­crete wall which is designed to spe­cif­ic engi­neer­ing prin­ci­ples. Typ­i­cal res­i­den­tial con­struc­tion, per the applic­a­bil­i­ty lim­its in the build­ing code, allows walls 10′ (3 m) high or less between lat­er­al sup­ports (floor and roof con­nec­tions). Below grade walls must have a min­i­mum 6″ (150 mm) con­crete core. In some regions, an 8″ (200 mm) con­crete core is the min­i­mum allowed thick­ness for below grade walls.

The 4″ (100 mm) form can­not be used below grade as a foun­da­tion wall. The 4″ (100 mm) form may be used for above grade walls up to a max­i­mum of 10′ (3.0 m).

The 6″ (150 mm) form, above grade, is lim­it­ed to approx­i­mate­ly 14′ (4.2 m) in height. Walls high­er than 14′ (4.2 m) must use an 8″ (200 mm) or larg­er form.

Typ­i­cal res­i­den­tial con­struc­tion will use 6″ or 8″ con­crete core size blocks. Project spe­cif­ic engi­neer­ing may allow for some core thick­ness to span ver­ti­cal­ly high­er than these pro­posed guide­lines.

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Can masonry be installed on the exterior walls?
Yes, Fox Blocks has a brick ledge form and the xLer­a­tor ledge rein­force­ment that is designed to sup­port mason­ry. Fox blocks also has a tieKey acces­so­ry which is a specif­i­cal­ly made as a mason­ry tie, to be insert­ed through the form into the con­crete.
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Do I have to finish my basement walls with drywall?
All build­ing codes in the USA and Cana­da spec­i­fy that plas­tic insu­la­tion (EPS) must be cov­ered by a ther­mal bar­ri­er equiv­a­lent to 15 min­utes of fire pro­tec­tion in hab­it­able spaces. If the base­ment is clas­si­fied as hab­it­able space, then gyp­sum board must be applied but does have to taped and filled. Check with your local build­ing offi­cial.
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How do I apply an acrylic stucco finish to an ICF?
Acrylic stuc­co is a thin coat fin­ish which can be direct­ly applied to the EPS insu­la­tion on the exte­ri­or face of the ICF. Fox Blocks pro­vides a con­tin­u­ous EPS sur­face con­ducive for the appli­ca­tion of acrylic stuc­co. All acrylic stuc­co man­u­fac­tures are famil­iar with ICFs as a sub­strate and each have their rec­om­men­da­tions for appli­ca­tion over ICFs. Note there is a dif­fer­ence in the instal­la­tion pro­ce­dures between acrylic stuc­co and tra­di­tion­al stuc­co.
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How do you control voids in the wall?
The con­crete mix is a high slump 5″- 6.5″ (125 mm – 165 mm) with a small­er aggre­gate size so the con­crete flows eas­i­ly. The per­son in charge of plac­ing the con­crete should watch the con­crete flow through­out the whole wall to ensure there are no void pock­ets. Inter­nal vibrat­ing pro­vides good con­sol­i­da­tion, elim­i­nat­ing voids.
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Is there a problem when placing concrete, dropping concrete from the top of the wall which may be over 8' (2.4 m)?
No. Spec­i­fi­ca­tions in the Amer­i­ca Con­crete Insti­tute (ACI) do not lim­it the max­i­mum dis­tance con­crete can free fall. Engi­neer­ing stud­ies and reports have shown that free fall from up to 35′ doesn’t reduce con­crete qual­i­ty and there is no evi­dence of seg­re­ga­tion or weak­ened con­crete strength. ICF con­crete design calls for a high slump mix which assists in reduc­ing seg­re­ga­tion.
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Can you vibrate or consolidate the concrete in ICFs?
Yes, con­sol­i­da­tion of the con­crete is one of the key ele­ments in the place­ment of con­crete in an ICF wall. Fox Blocks rec­om­mends inter­nal vibra­tion with a pen­cil vibra­tor, quick­ly in and slow­ly out.
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Can you build and pour concrete in cold weather?
Yes. The forms insu­late the con­crete and enhance the cur­ing process. The top of the forms, or exposed con­crete areas will need to be cov­ered, tem­porar­i­ly, with insu­la­tion to pre­vent the exposed con­crete from freez­ing. Fox Blocks projects can be con­struct­ed any time of the year, no delays for cold weath­er.
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Is a vapor barrier required on the inside face of an ICF wall?
No. The char­ac­ter­is­tics of an ICF wall with the mass con­crete and the EPS insu­la­tion pro­vide the required vapor per­me­ance to meet build­ing code require­ments as a vapor bar­ri­er.
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