Posted this in the wrong spot yesterday, sorry

I'll be going up to Tenn to resume work on my ICF house this month.
My 2 goals are to wire the inside of the house and get the outside protected and ready for stone. Blocks are starting to discolor.

Thinking of installing wire lath with SS screws then scratch coat. 

My question is should I use the paper underlayment with the lath or just the plain wire lath.

I know some would set the stone direct to the ICf after rasping but it may be awhile before I get to the stone work.

Thanks
 

Check with your local inspector...it's really his call

Technically speaking nothing is needed, but here I still see building paper used below the stone and stucco

Stainless screws are expensive, not required, used a regular protected screw from someone like grabber and save $$$

Thanks, I have a 5 gallon pail of #10 stainless large hex head srews I bought at a garage sale for $10.
There are no inspectors involved. The county I'm building in really doesn't care what or how you build.

Masonry, particularly the grout, leaks. At a minimum you need to use underlayment and I would suggest 30 lb in wet climates. I personally wrap my ICF projects, whether it is above ground or below with Ice and Water bitchuthene and then go with 15 lb felt under my sidings or stone work.

Panel Guy "I personally wrap my ICF projects, whether it is above ground or below with Ice and Water bitchuthene and then go with 15 lb felt under my sidings or stone work."

Are you saying you place a layer of each above grade? Just curious as I'm planning to do stone like Raider Bill and have seen various opinions on the need for wrap. My inclination is to provide some kind of wrap material. Also would anyone ever put 15 or 30 lb felt directly on the ICF forms?

There is a lack of understanding in the building world about ICF's, how they work, etc. ICF manufacturers for years and years have been toting the ICF doesn't cost much more then conventional and the energy savings gets you your payback in short order...to a certain degree that is correct...however the building departments, engineers, architects, etc...who generally deal with woodframe and the likes continue to expect the same construction techniques on ICF, and this is why ICF's appear to be costing more.

You, your architect, engineer...whoever must review all the available information for your specific block, this means all testing data that was used for ICC approval...once you have and understand that you can present your 'case' or actually specification to the building department for approval...if you have hired a architect or engineer have them present the 'evidence' as they can talk a lingo you and I cannot.

Chris,

I have no building dept, engineer, or architect. I gues s I am all of these as I've built my house myself with none of the afore mentioned people involved. Aside from a septic tanl inspection I'm done. There is not any other regulations in that county.

My reason in asking is for my knowledge only as I will be to that point hopefully later this month after I become a electician and get the house wired enough for the permanat connection. To date the only things I have hired out was the slab and metal roof. After decking the roof I and my knees decided I needed to saty off a 6-12 pitch. All drawings so far have been on notebook graph paper. it has been a great experiance. I am not a builder by trade have done some remodeling and construction work before and tend to over build anything I do maybe in hopes of making up with material to off set my lack of knowledge. I am confident it is solid and stable. Some things are a bit out of square, plumb and even bob. But, it's been fun!

That said, Here is what I understand this situation to be. You can attache stone/stucco directly to ICF with proper materials and prep such as rasping. In my case my blocks are starting to get chalky from expoursure over the past months so rasping will need to be done.

Or, I could metal lath and scratch coat so I wouldn't be in such a rush to find rocks, stone whatever I find I like and protect the foam, seal the openings and go on a rock hunt. Doing it this way I understand that condensation will be a issure so that brings me back to my original question.
What should I use as a backing to the wire lath.

What's best for me here.

I've built this baby mostly with knowedge I've learned here. Had little manufacturer support, very little actually.

Is there any reason why I can't rasp, clean my blocks, apply metal lathe then butter up the stone with type S and apply directly to the walls?

RaiderBill,

Here are some of the pitfalls you must look out for. Natural rock, stone, and brick are very heavy and should be installed so that all of the weight is bearing on a footing next to the wall. On the daylight portion this is easily accomplished, on the upper section not as simple and should be resting on some type of ledger meant to carry that load. Two stories of brick single layer is about 2000 lbs per lineal foot and rock or stone can be more depending on the size, type, and shape.

I think you will have disastrous results if you think you can basically lick and stick real stone to your home.

ICF Contractor

About rasping. My house turned yellow from several months of sun beating on it. I was surprised at just how quickly it does chalk and yellow. A good pressure washing yesterday appears to have cleaned it off quite nicely. Anyone else tried pressure washing rather than rasping, and how good is the surface afterward? Or is rasping the only way to go because it will give you a rougher surface for stucco, or whatever, to stick to? Pressure wash stream will chew the foam right off if you're not careful!

I'm using fake stone which is substancially lighter than real stone or brick. Pretty much looks to be more like setting wall tile than brick. I looked at a ICF house in GA where the owner did this 2 years ago and has had no problems to date.