What is the reccomended hardware to attach additional foam to ICFs? I'm looking at two applications; 1) window and door details, ie,, fax stone sills/trim/keystone. I may use a higher density foam for this application for good machining. 2) adding an additional 2" of foam over the entire ouside of the structure.

I will be using some sort of EFIS like stuco so I'm not too concerned about loosing my web attacment under the extra foam. Does EFIS type coatings work with many types of foam, or am I comitted use the same material used in ICFs?

I know many will say the extra 2" of foam is not required or a good return on my investment. I'll crunch the numbers to determine that.

Patrick T

OK, I'll tell you what I have come up with. For 2" foam, 3" screws with plastic flat washers and glue.

Yeah that sounds like it will work real well, I used scrap pieces of 1/2" plywood (flushed with the foam) and 3" screws to add foam for pillar detals like you are doing.

Did you use icf to form the round wall with arch? If so, what is the benefit in this application versus pured or CMU?

pcoughlin,

nice project and great photo with the storm moving in

http://www.eifsdepot.com/fasteners.htm

I did find a site with screws with 2" washers. $89 per 1000 pc.

Patrick T

Is simply gluing the foam to foam using the proper adhesive and then finishing with Permacrete or Grailcoat out of the question? Are screws really required to secure additional foam for trim blockout? I would also be curious if anyone had just used adhesive.

Ikazanov2,

Since I had two applications, I posed the question for both adding 2" of additional foam to an ICF structure and trim detials. For full sheet applications, I'll bet full attachment will be required to get a semi-flat surface. As far as the trim, just enough to hold it while the glue sets seems adiquate. And a few screws would insure you would not see it on the ground the next morning when arriving to the job site! I build a 1"=1' scale foam model of my project, hands on kind of guy, and the glue I bought at the big box store was days in the setting. If it wasn't for the tooth picks and nails, she would have fell.

Patrick T

Yeah you could use adhesive, all the 'caps' of the pillars in the photo above were glued with ener foam.

Yes I used logix 6" to form the arch in the above picture. The clients had a desire for a nice 'thick' courtyard wall with pillars and sense the exterior finish was stucco we felt that the flexibility of being able to shape the icf to the way we wanted it would create a better end product. I can actually form a radius wall out of icf by myself then with conventional form work, so that was another reason to go with icf.

It looks great!

To make the pillar details:  You carved out the foam to accept 1/2" plywood, screwing to the embedded plastic strips? Then screwed additional foam to the plywood and carved the foam?

If you get a chance, please post a picture of the wall after completion.

Is that place really in central Oregon?  Looks as if it belongs in Santa Fe.

No i actually used the plywood as the washers....attached the foam directly to the wall and then screwed to the ties.

heres a pic of it finished, yes believe it or not it is in central oregon!

I would read the other posts on this site about Grailcoat they seem to be having problems with lawsuits and have changed the name of the company for some reason!!!  Offering a 20 year warranty is great if they can back it up otherwise just a piece of paper.  Be careful you have alot invested in your home to have something go wrong.  I would check with the manufactor of your ICF forms to see what they recommend for adhesive of if they recommend screws.  The only thing I would worry about if the adhesive broke down over time.

Quadlock makes icf forms with over 4" on the outside and 2" on the inside for extra exterior insulation built in.

slenzen,

I looked a Quad lock at the "World of Concrete show". Pricey and assembly required. looked appealing though. I went with Fox blocks with 2-5/8" foam on each side. Good solid block and good customer support. We will have some detail work using foam as trim/sills in addition to the added foam.

How is your planning going? I have followed your posts and I'm interested in what you are going to do. About a year ago you and I posted back and forth on a T-mass concept. As you can see we have gone with ICF with a bit of added foam.

Patrick T.