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FAQs
When can I backfill the foundation wall?
The con­crete must cure for a min­i­mum of 7 days and the foun­da­tion wall must be lat­er­al­ly sup­port­ed, mean­ing the floor sys­tem is installed sup­port­ing the top of the wall. All below grade water­proof­ing / damp­proof­ing must be installed.
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Can I install a 16' garage door and / or large openings in a concrete wall?
Yes, if the fol­low­ing cri­te­ria is avail­able for the design of a con­crete lin­tel (beam) over the open­ing – con­crete lin­tel depth min­i­mum 16″ (400 mm) or more with no point loads. Larg­er open­ings would require an engi­neered design.
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Do ICFs require a special concrete mix design?
The con­crete is nor­mal strength, min­i­mum 2500 psi (20 MPa) per build­ing codes. The mix design spec­i­fies a small­er aggre­gate and high­er slump than con­crete typ­i­cal­ly used for floors. Most Ready-Mix sup­pli­ers are famil­iar with an ICF con­crete mix design.
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Is the Fox Blocks product rated by ‘Energy Star’?
Ener­gy Star does not eval­u­ate or rate insu­la­tion prod­ucts. Every Fox Blocks home when test­ed by an Ener­gy Rater, can meet and exceed the Ener­gy Star home stan­dards and achieve a 5 Star rat­ing and a ​‘HERS’ score well below the min­i­mum Ener­gy Star require­ment of 85, or in Cana­da, high­er than an Ener­Guide rat­ing of 80.
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What is the R-Value?

The clear R‑Value of an Fox Blocks is R22, how­ev­er cur­rent Ener­gy codes rec­og­nize the lack of ther­mal bridg­ing in an ICF and the con­tri­bu­tion of the mass con­crete on the influ­ence of the ther­mal per­for­mance. Whole wall cal­cu­la­tions indi­cate a Fox blocks wall assem­bly pro­vides an R24 rat­ing.

The con­tin­u­ous dou­ble lay­er (inside and out­side) of insu­la­tion, the elim­i­na­tion of ther­mal bridg­ing and min­i­mal air infil­tra­tion through the mass con­crete wall assem­bly, allows Fox Blocks walls to per­for­mance in the high per­for­mance wall assem­bly cat­e­go­ry. Com­plet­ing the enve­lope with ener­gy effi­cient win­dows and doors and roof insu­la­tion, Fox Blocks homes can eas­i­ly meet and exceed ener­gy code require­ments and exceed the min­i­mum require­ments for Ener­gy Star and Ener­Guide. A Fox Blocks struc­ture requires 44% less ener­gy to heat and 32% less ener­gy to cool.

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Does the EPS provide support for a wood sill plate?
No, the EPS has no struc­tur­al capac­i­ty to sup­port any loads. Wood sill plates must achieve the required bear­ing from the con­crete with­in the ICF. A wood plate that can­tilevers 1⁄3 over the EPS and bears 2⁄3 on the con­crete is allow­able. This can be done with a min­i­mum 2 x 6 plate. If a 2 x 4 plate is required, a taper top form should be used to extend the con­crete under the plate.
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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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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
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