Is a high performance ICF home less expensive to build than a wood framed high performance home?
Yes, mar­gin­al­ly high­er on the ini­tial cap­i­tal costs, but, it is a record­ed fact that Fox Blocks high per­for­mance homes out per­form in com­fort and oper­at­ing costs over a wood framed home. These cre­ates month­ly cost sav­ings for the life cycle of the Fox Blocks home.
Kenwood 1
KENWOOD ELEMENTARY GYMNASIUM
Rebuild­ing the Ken­wood Ele­men­tary Gym­na­si­um helped heal the com­mu­ni­ty.
Grand odyssey 1
GRAND ODYSSEY THEATRE
The own­ers of the Grand Odyssey The­atre aimed to bring a mod­ern the­atre expe­ri­ence with state-of-the-art ameni­ties to Water­town, South Dako­ta.
Orman residence 5
ORMAN RESIDENCE
The design­ers and con­struc­tion team were charged with cre­at­ing a sus­tain­able 7,500 sq. ft. mod­ern estate atop a stun­ning hill over­look­ing ranch­es and vine­yards in Mur­ri­eta, Cal­i­for­nia.
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.
Where can I purchase the product?
Fox Blocks has a wide-rang­ing net­work of knowl­edge­able prod­uct dis­trib­u­tors and trained installers across North Amer­i­ca; con­tact Fox Blocks Cus­tomer Ser­vice to find the clos­est Fox Blocks prod­uct dis­trib­u­tor or trained installer in your area.
Is there a top and bottom on the blocks when installing the Fox Blocks forms?
Fox Blocks forms have a reversible inter­lock sys­tem on all blocks. The robust inter­lock allows the blocks to fit togeth­er very tight­ly, elim­i­nat­ing any require­ment for adhe­sives. A reversible inter­lock speeds up the instal­la­tion.
Are there different types of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)?
EPS is list­ed basi­cal­ly under four prop­er­ty clas­si­fi­ca­tions – Type I, II, III and IV. The char­ac­ter­is­tics are based on the den­si­ty of the mold­ed foam which defines the prod­uct type. Fox Blocks ICFs are man­u­fac­tured as a Type II EPS with a den­si­ty of approx­i­mate­ly 1.5 pounds per cubic foot.
Is EPS the same as XPS?
No, these insu­la­tion prod­ucts are quite dif­fer­ent. EPS is closed cell expand­ed poly­styrene, while XPS is a closed cell extrud­ed poly­styrene. The prop­er­ties, appli­ca­tions and costs of each are quite dif­fer­ent. The major­i­ty of ICFs are man­u­fac­tured with EPS.
What is EPS made from?
Poly­styrene is vir­gin mate­r­i­al, man­u­fac­tured from petro­le­um. Poly­styrene beads are expand­ed with steam heat to be up to 40 times their orig­i­nal vol­ume and then the expand­ed beads are mold­ed again by steam heat into 258″ rigid insu­la­tion pan­els to cre­ate a Fox Blocks ICF.