How much will it cost per square foot to build an Fox Blocks ICF home?

Build­ing with Fox Blocks ICFs pro­vides you with a high per­for­mance wall sys­tem for the foun­da­tion and above grade walls. Build­ing any high per­for­mance home, with either ICFs or con­ven­tion­al wood fram­ing, has many fac­tors that define the end cap­i­tal costs.

What addi­tion­al mate­ri­als and labor are required to make a con­ven­tion­al foun­da­tion equiv­a­lent to an Fox Blocks ICF foun­da­tion which exceeds ener­gy code require­ments in most loca­tions? Con­ven­tion­al wood fram­ing requires con­sid­er­ably more mate­r­i­al, insu­la­tion and atten­tion to air seal­ing to make it qual­i­fy and per­form as a high per­for­mance wall. All of this, for con­ven­tion­al con­struc­tion, adds mate­r­i­al and labor costs to the over­all project. Fox Blocks ICFs pro­vide a sim­ple method to build high per­for­mance walls that pro­vide ongo­ing ben­e­fits from the high insu­la­tion val­ues and mass con­crete walls that are ener­gy-effi­cient and pro­vide cost sav­ings for the life cycle of the build­ing.

Com­par­ing cost per square foot between con­ven­tion­al con­struc­tion and ICFs for a high per­for­mance build­ing, is like com­par­ing apples to oranges. To devel­op con­struc­tion costs, more detailed infor­ma­tion is required, for instance the num­ber and size of open­ings, the shape and size of the home, the region­al costs for mate­r­i­al and labor, etc. If you have a project you’d like us to review and pro­vide a mate­r­i­al esti­mate, Fox Blocks would be hap­py to have one of our rep­re­sen­ta­tives con­tact you. Please com­plete and sub­mit a lead infor­ma­tion sheet on the web­site or call Cus­tomer Ser­vice.

What do termites do to the foam?
EPS pro­vides no nutri­ent val­ue and is not a food source for ter­mites. If left exposed, ter­mites may tun­nel into the foam in search of fibrous food. When build­ing, in a heavy ter­mite infes­ta­tion area, care is required in the detail­ing and con­struc­tion of the walls that will be in con­tact with ground, to pre­vent access to the foam for ter­mites.
Can I leave Fox Blocks forms exposed to ultraviolet rays for an extended period (months)?
Yes, but you will notice a light dust­ing on the sur­face and a yel­low­ing dis­col­oration of the forms. This does not indi­cate any detri­men­tal effects to the ICFs. We do sug­gest, that if the exte­ri­or fin­ish is not going to be installed with­in around a 3 month peri­od or more, the forms be pro­tect­ed from UV rays by installing a tem­po­rary build­ing wrap type mate­r­i­al. The pow­dery film must be removed with soap and water before the appli­ca­tion of a syn­thet­ic stuc­co fin­ish or water­proof­ing mem­brane.
Is the Fox Blocks ICF product ‘LEED’ rated or certified?
Prod­ucts are not rat­ed or cer­ti­fied under the LEED pro­gram. The over­all build­ing is eval­u­at­ed and assigned a LEED rat­ing. In the selec­tion of build­ing mate­ri­als for a LEED design, Fox Blocks have many ben­e­fits that can enable, enhance or direct­ly con­tribute toward LEED points for the project.
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.
How do I protect the ICFs below grade?

All ICF walls below grade, that have hab­it­able space on one side (base­ment), must have a water­proof­ing / damp­proof­ing mem­brane installed. For walls that do not have hab­it­able space on one side (crawl space, frost walls, etc.) the EPS can be left exposed to the earth. The EPS will not dete­ri­o­rate when exposed to the earth.

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.
How are Fox Blocks green/environmentally friendly?
Fox Blocks con­tain a min­i­mum of 40% recy­cled con­tent by weight.
  • Fox Blocks do not off-gas and are not man­u­fac­tured using any gas­es that deplete the ozone or are harm­ful to the envi­ron­ment.
  • Fox Blocks require low embod­ied ener­gy to man­u­fac­ture.
  • Fox Blocks do not con­tain any mate­ri­als, that pro­mote mold or mildew growth.
  • Fox Blocks are an effi­cient con­struc­tion method there­by reduc­ing the amount of con­struc­tion waste, dust and air pol­lu­tion in the build­ing process.
  • Build­ing with Fox Blocks will save on heat­ing and cool­ing costs because less air is exchanged between the out­side and inside of your home. This also means a small­er more effi­cient HVAC unit is required for the home.
  • Fox Blocks are sus­tain­able. They will not rot or dete­ri­o­rate for the life of your home.
  • Fox Blocks pro­vide a secure, durable, com­fort­able, long last­ing build­ing
Why is the concrete limited to a placement height or lifts of 4 feet (1.2 m)?
To alle­vi­ate the pres­sure from the liq­uid con­crete, the con­crete is placed in lay­ers or lifts’. The first lift is lim­it­ed to 4′ (1.2 m) of con­crete around the perime­ter of the build­ing. This allows approx­i­mate­ly one hour for the con­crete to set-up before con­tin­u­ing with the next 4′ (1.2 m) lift. The low­er lift pro­vides sup­port for the next lift as the con­crete is placed con­tin­u­ous­ly around the build­ing in con­sec­u­tive lifts to the top of the wall.
Is installing ICFs a DIY project?
Fox Blocks rec­om­mends that all installers using Fox Blocks ICFs com­plete a Fox Blocks train­ing pro­gram to ensure they have a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the basics. How­ev­er, for first time installers, it is pre­ferred that a Fox Blocks trained, expe­ri­enced installer inspect the instal­la­tion pri­or to place­ment of con­crete and assist in the place­ment of the con­crete, as they are famil­iar with work­ing with con­crete and can ensure the build is struc­tural­ly sound and safe and the walls are con­sol­i­dat­ed prop­er­ly, built straight and plumb.