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.
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.
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.
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.
Is an ICF home quieter than a stick framed home?
Absolute­ly. The exte­ri­or walls are two lay­ers of con­tin­u­ous insu­la­tion, the den­si­ty of sol­id con­crete and a lay­er of ½” gyp­sum board on the inside all con­tribute to supe­ri­or sound sup­pres­sion of STC 50 for the whole build­ing enve­lope. Note: A wood frame sys­tem of equiv­a­lent STC rat­ing would be 2 x 4 studs spaced 16˝ o/​c, with 3½˝ absorp­tive mate­r­i­al, 1 lay­er of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on resilient chan­nels spaced 16˝ o/​c, and 2 lay­ers of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on the oth­er side. (Cour­tesy of 1995 NBCC Sec­tion A9.10.3.1 Wall #W5a)
What is the difference between Fox Blocks ICFs and the competitors, and why are Fox Blocks ICFs better? Why should I use Fox Blocks ICFs?
Most ICF blocks share com­mon fea­tures and ben­e­fits. Fox Blocks, as a com­pa­ny, pro­vides 30 years’ expe­ri­ence in prod­uct devel­op­ment, doc­u­men­ta­tion, test­ing and train­ing, as well as ver­sa­til­i­ty in the line of prod­ucts to meet all appli­ca­tions. The key dif­fer­ence comes in the exper­tise and sup­port you get from Fox Blocks. Fox Blocks is the leader in insu­lat­ing con­crete form con­struc­tion – proven in over 100,000 com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial projects across North Amer­i­ca. Exten­sive resources and sup­port sys­tems are avail­able to ensure your project’s suc­cess from start to fin­ish. Please vis­it our web­site www.Fox Blocks​.com to review our project gallery and find more detailed doc­u­men­ta­tion on the prod­ucts and the appli­ca­tions. Fox Blocks also pro­vides a toll free num­ber for Cus­tomer and Tech­ni­cal Sup­port 8773692562.
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.