Wanted to hear if anyone has had experience with foam degrading or pulling away from concrete over time? Would be interested in any long term duration studies of ICF construction or personal experiences of living in an ICF for over 10 years?  We are considering building an ICF in the mountan west of the U.S. where summers can be very hot and winters can be very cold.  A traditional architect has mentioned to us that foams don't all hold up over time in our enviroment (he has focused on commercial development for the past 35 years).

Thanks

Perhaps you should ask the traditional architect how the foam is holding up in his refridgerator, which is subject to hot/cold and moisture, just like the foam in an ICF home.

He would then have to answer "It NEVER sees it, because it is covered on both sides" and then he would have to stop with the scare tactics.

I know that ICf's have been around for at least 25 years. I researched some patents on Foam Form about 12 to 14 years ago and they went back over 20 years then. They were manufacturing in Arizona Foam Form then and a friend of mine bought some molds and molding equipment to mold them with. If there has ever been separation of foam from the concrete in an ICF it is certainly a great secrete. Anyone interested in some used equipment to mold with call me. It's been in storage for at least 10 years. It's to bad that some architect's as well as some others are so opposed to change.

all foam manufacturers will tell you to not allow foam to have direct sunlight. it will degrade.

That's right, the UV degradation causes the "dust" on the EPS surface which needs to be cleaned off depending on the siding material used. Id siding over, I wouldn't bother, but when using any cementitious or Acrylic parging or base coat, then the foam needs to be at a minimum broomed off before attaching the mesh, or applying the parge-coat.