Would you be able to screw drywall directly to the foam on the inside of your house? Or would you have to modify it somehow? How strong/tough is it? Thanks

blavis,

Most ICF wall systems that I can think of are held together with either polypropolene webs or steel webs. The webs are designed so that they there is a 2" or so size area to screw into for drywall and brick ties, etc. The webs are normally identified on the side of the block (both sides really) with some identifying mark, because the 2" area is normally embedded in the block. The identifying mark should be about where the web is located inside.

If you are going to screw in for drywall, find the "2" area and screw into it with a coarse thread sheetrock screw. We normally tell people when they hit the tie to ease up a little so that you don't strip the screw. It takes a little getting use to, but you get use to it.

renangle

You need to make sure your wall is nice and flat, though. Some systems are stronger than others, so they might bulge or "scallop" in places. If that happens, you can use a rasp to scrape it flat. This is usually easier than furring out the whole wall.

Excellent. Thanks for the fast answers. I appreciate it!

there are plasters you can install that replaces sheetrock, saying it's better for fire resistance and thinner.

Do you think it's doeable or the "waves" in the foam would be very hard to hide?

http://gigacrete.com/products/plastermax-3/

I'm curious to see finished products and comments.

PlasterMax is a great product, and if you use a steel reinforced ICF, you won't have "waves" in the wall.

Bruce, PlasterMax is a fine product, but you are really killing me with this steel reinforced ICF thing as if this is some kind of differentiator. Perhaps you should start a thread asking installers for thoughts on steel vs. plastic? You might find that there are concrete reasons why the market has moved where it has over the years in this regard. Regards.

Hey Tex, it's a GIGANTIC differentiator. There's a wave coming, and I'm trying to help you see it. When it comes, those on a board or a boat will be in position for a heckuva ride. And there'll be room for you, too if you time it right. Cheers!

Here's a hint: The market is where it is because installers and manufacturers moved it there. Consumers did not move it there; they took what was offered. But the market is realizing that they can have a better ICF that yields a better finished product. A better wall. A straighter, flatter and plumb-er wall. Remember the lesson of the buggy-maker.

Bruce,

You might fool  some people into thinking that you have the only block that can hold concrete. Most of the people that check this website are experienced installers. I doubt many of them buy into your story. I have not used neither yours nor Texas' product but I have heard of several people that have used his with success. I have never heard of anyone that has used yours. Why don't you put together an event where you could have guys come and see you prove yourself. I would be interested to see it for myself. And if your right....my hats off to you.

Well, if there's any waves or bulges in my BuildBlock ICF walls I haven't seen them yet in over 2 1/2 years of looking at them, inside and out. That's before and after the sheet rock!

Hey Miformguy, you may be on to something. I will see what can be arranged.
Dmaceld, riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
B.

Ok, I'm not a builder, just a guy how researched his options and had an ICF home built..... here's my thoughts

DRYWALL SCREWS : My block, which happened to be nudura, has little plastic slates in them I think about every 8 to 12 inches so you can screw drywall right into them, I recently dry walled part of my basement and it went fairly easy, just drill straight, if you go off at a bad angle you just end up hitting foam : ) Also when building the house, the drwall guys had no prblems with the drywall hanging.....

STRENGTH - Well the government uses these things for secured locations and have seen videos of them blowing up a few pounds of tnt outside of them and they only got scabbed so that seems pretty strong ... google ICF and TNT and you might find the video .... but an in person test was done by a local friend / contractor guy who helped me out......

After the 2nd story was framed out ( ICF all the way up to the roof ) my local inspector came buy and said, hey you need an escape window 36'' off the ground on the 2nd floor,in all the bedrooms ( well you can imagine my reaction to that BS : ) ) how many 2 stories have windows 36'' off the ground on the 2nd floor...... anyway that's a whole other story.... in the end we had to cut windows into already poured walls... fortunately I have a friend who is an excavator and has concrete cutting tools from all of the road work they do,, he said sure, it would be a pain, he thought it would be a 4-6 hour job.... well, it took him almost 10 hours to cut 3 2x3' windows in my walls with a concrete .granted it took him a long time to get a water tank up to the 2nd floor : ).. so if it takes that long just to cut thru my walls I feel pretty safe in them : )

JPM, Did you mean to say the egress windows are 36" above the 2nd story floor level? Or is the 1st story backfilled up to the 2nd story where these bedrooms are? Please unconfuse me! Dave