What is the suggested method of waterproofing and protecting an icf house below grade? Building inspector says that there needs to be some type of hard protection (from shovels etc..) from the level of grade to at least a foot below as well as water proofing. Somebody suggested to me corrugated sign board. Any suggestions?

Ask the BI to show the citation. I'm on my 5th foundation in upstate NY and have yet to hear this one. You can use surface bonding cement to below grade. This will stop a shovel, the only problem is it has fiber in it that will be partially exposed. The best new regulation is sping loaded outlet covers on all walls on the interior.

I use dimpled membrane and it dosen't matter if it gets pierced.

Although we have never tested for this application, believe our StuccoMax would work just fine in this application.

A peel and stick or roll on waterproofing (must not be solvent based) is the recommended method for waterproofing the icf below grade. The addition of a drainage material such as dimple board or EnkaDrain is also a wise choice. Hardie Board can be used as a parging to prevent the weed-eater damage to the foam, or any type or hard sided board. There are also cemeticious products that can be applied to the area that serve the same purpose.

Thanks for the advise.

Hardie Board can be used as a parging to prevent the weed-eater damage to the foam

How long does that Hardie last when installed at ground level like that?