How does the ICF block get secured to the foundation?
The ICF blocks are held in place with either low expan­sion spray foam or a met­al starter track. The bracing/​alignment sys­tem, typ­i­cal­ly installed after the 4th course of block, also sup­ports the ICFs in place. Once the con­crete is in the wall there is no con­cern with the forms mov­ing. The con­crete is con­nect­ed to the foot­ing with rein­forc­ing dow­els.
Do I need an engineer to design and stamp Fox Blocks building plans?
Fox Blocks are list­ed in the build­ing codes (IRC- Sec­tions R404, R611 or NBCC Part 9) with spe­cif­ic applic­a­bil­i­ty lim­its for res­i­den­tial con­struc­tion. If the project meets the applic­a­bil­i­ty lim­its with­in the build­ing code, a Pro­fes­sion­al Engi­neer may not be required (depen­dent on local build­ing depart­ment require­ments). A build­ing offi­cial has the right to request engi­neer­ing and in some regions all projects require a professional’s stamp. For any projects that exceed the applic­a­bil­i­ty lim­its, a Pro­fes­sion­al Engi­neer is required for the struc­tur­al design. Check with your local build­ing depart­ment.
Is burning EPS toxic?
Test reports con­duct­ed by the Nation­al Research Coun­cil state: The max­i­mum tox­i­c­i­ty index obtained from the com­bus­tion of poly­styrene was of the same order as that of wood.” Fox Blocks ICFs have been test­ed to meet build­ing code require­ments for flame spread rat­ings, smoke devel­op­ment and tox­i­c­i­ty
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.
Is an ICF house faster to build?
The assem­bly and place­ment of con­crete may take the same time as to build with con­ven­tion­al meth­ods. The advan­tage with Fox Blocks is that the walls are now insu­lat­ed, have a vapor and air bar­ri­er installed and are ready for fin­ish­es once the win­dows and roof are installed. These ben­e­fits will save weeks and/​or months depend­ing on the size of the projects.
What is the typical Interior finish on an ICF?

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. This is achieved with ½” gyp­sum board or an equiv­a­lent mate­r­i­al. Fox Blocks has spe­cif­ic fire test­ing that proves reg­u­lar ½” gyp­sum board with reg­u­lar dry­wall screws fas­tened into the plas­tic webs remains on the wall for the required 15-minute time peri­od.