My name is Jim, from ontario, Canada a customer wants me to board his 2,200 sq ft floor space ICF home this coming weekend. I taped one of these house 2-3 years ago but didn't put the board up, don't think were doing ceilings in basement but in Jan/13 when main floor is ready were doing ceilings haven't seen house yet only from outside threw a few windows. Any help, video's or step by step to apply drywall to the basement 9 ft high walls l need to learn quickly lol. My son and l will be using a drywall lift need expert advice step by step pictures etc anything please. Thanks Jim could you email me at [email protected] thanks

Gyprock on ICF outside walls?

I truly hope that Jim is talking about installing drywall to the inside face of external ICF walls.  I would not encourage anyone to install drywall, even the moisture resistant type, to the exterior face of any type of wall.  I know that we used to do that occasionally in the southeast, but not any more.  In fact, we are told by experts not to use moisture resistant drywall on walls inside the home behind wet areas anymore.

I'm not expert, but we went though this last summer. It wasn't much different then the interior walls, there are vinyl "studs" in mine, and they take and hold nails just fine for the edges. The field was screwed, but a little longer screw was required, 1 1/4", otherwise the connection wasn't reliable. I also let the hangers run wild as the board is fully supported on the back and there isn't the issue of wall movement wanting to crack the joints. If you are not feeling daring you can terminate over the "stud", but I've had no trouble with mine. The only real difference from conventional framing was the outside corners as there is nothing to nail to, we used the tape on corner bead for that. There was a fair amount of this as I wrapped the windows other than the sill. The only other change I made was to rip a 2" piece of OSB for the base of the wall and set the drywall above that, otherwise there is nothing to attach the trim. I screwed this base on into the vinyl "studs" at every other location, that way in the future if I need to find a "stud" I can pop the trim and see the locations. I have yet to find a stud finder that will locate the vinyl stays, and tapping on the wall certainly doesn't work. ICF also doesn't tend to work out to a standard height unless you do a lot of extra block cutting, (I used two top plates so I had enough room to attach my hurricane straps on top of the 16" block height modulus) so we used two 4' wide boards on the side with a partial on top to finish it. That way we got two partials out of each board, then used the center for wrapping the doors and windows.

I'm new to ICF, but have found a few things. It takes a few tries to get the screws just right without stripping the plastic nailers. I also found that driving screws at high RPM tends to strip easier- maybe the friction heats and softens the plastic? I use a slower RPM and push fairly hard rather than letting the screw drill it's way in. I used Fox Blocks, which has nailers every 8", and they are clearly marked. If they are properly installed, these strips are a predictable distance from the corners, so they can be found by measuring. I messed up one area of the basement, and didn't keep the strips in line, so I have drawn a map of where the strips are when I get to drywall. With Fox, I find 1-5/8" screws are just long enough- 1-1/4" won't work. You need to learn a bit about the forms used, such as what the spacing is, how deep in the foam they are, and what the manufacturer recommends. Around the openings, it depends on how the openings were created. I used pressure treated lumber set inside the forms, so I could attach there, but you need very long screws. In the case of Fox, the screws would have to be over 3" to go through the drywall and foam.

1-5/8 course screws, as others have mentioned. I screwed 1/2" plywood along the bottom of the wall for the trim and sheetrock above this. For the toughest corners, consider no-coat products - no-coat.com . No need to screw or nail. After the ceiling, hang the ICF walls before the stud walls, since you cannot ensure that there will be a nailing strip on the inside corner. Take some drywall adhesive foam meant for foam and use on the corners where you don't have a nailer. Then you can pinch this piece into the corner with the stud wall sheet. Here's a link to the foam adhesive: http://greatstuff.dow.com/products/pro/wall-and-floor/

Regarding the butt joints, I've done it both ways, I've split the difference between the webs and just used the adhesive and I've also split the joint over a web, like a traditional stud wall. Either seems to work fine.

If the homeowner already knows about the kitchen layout and the cabinets are going against the icf walls, screw some plywood where the cabinets are going so they have something to attach the wall cabinets to.