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%.
Can the plastic webs be detected by using stud finders?

A stud find­er typ­i­cal­ly uses the den­si­ty of mate­ri­als to locate studs. The polypropy­lene (plas­tic) web mate­r­i­al will show up on high qual­i­ty den­si­ty stud find­ers. Note, the webs in Fox Blocks are spaced at 8″ (200 mm) on cen­ter and will be con­tin­u­ous ver­ti­cal­ly on each side of the wall.

What exterior finishes can be used on an ICF?
Fox Blocks are com­pat­i­ble with all exte­ri­or fin­ish mate­ri­als and sys­tems – sid­ing, stuc­co, mason­ry veneer, sim­u­lat­ed stone, etc. The attach­ment of cer­tain exte­ri­or fin­ish­ing sys­tems is rec­om­mend­ed with exte­ri­or grade screws fas­tened into the exposed or con­cealed webs.
Do ICFs promote mold or mildew growth?
EPS is an inert, organ­ic mate­r­i­al. It pro­vides no nutri­tive val­ue to plants, ani­mals or micro-organ­isms. It will not rot and is high­ly resis­tant to mold and mildew.
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.
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.
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 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.

What fasteners are recommended for ICFs?

Fox Blocks has con­duct­ed numer­ous fas­ten­er tests for pull-out strength and shear capac­i­ty for var­i­ous fas­ten­ers – screws, ring shank nails and sta­ples into the plas­tic webs. The rec­om­men­da­tion for inte­ri­or and exte­ri­or appli­ca­tions of fin­ish mate­ri­als is for the use of screws which pro­vide the best hold­ing capac­i­ty into the plas­tic webs or fas­ten­ing strips in the forms which are iden­ti­fied on each block.

The EPS insu­la­tion does not pro­vide any hold­ing capac­i­ty for fas­ten­ers.

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.