I live in Portland Oregon and I am jacking up my 1905 house and pouring a new footer and ICF walls. I have been completely engrossed in the literature, talking to reps, reading this site and others for the last few weeks. Nonetheless, I have a few questions for the experienced installers. This topic is about tracks for ICF blocks.

I've seen installations where metal stud tracks were fastened to the footing for both the interior and exterior sides of the ICFs. I've also seen them used for only one side of the ICFs with shims for the other side. I've also seen cases where 2x4s were laid down flat on the outside of the block on both side to hold the first course in place. And then I've seen cases where no supports on the footing were used for the first course whatsoever.

Is there a standard way of doing first-course stability? I could use my sill plate for one side of the first course to save costs.

natjwest,

Pick a block that does not require tracks of any kind. It's not that wood or tracks are a bad thing it's just that several blocks exist out there that do not require this extra. Furthermore, use of these (if metal and left in place) is a thermal bridge. Regards.

Texas,
Which blocks do not require some form of bracing at the footer?

Almost all of them. Just foam the bottom block to the footer and skip this step.

The track is nice it helps keep the wall straight and eliminates the need for block lock at the bottom of the wall. The track can be used with any block. I use it on the inside only.

Thanks for the advice smartwall, I will do the spray foam gluing.