Michael Antonoff, Pacific ICF, has been building with ICF for 12 years. He recently sold off his final set of 10' traditional ICF braces.
Last week he poured his first ICF wall using lumber for bracing, and says he will never go back.

Project Video/Photos found here

no OSHA issues with that?......
I plan on building wood ones for my ICF build.

No OSHA in Canada. In British Columbia they have Worksafe BC, and this was built to their requirements.

Posted By JosephFearn on 11 Jul 2012 07:33 PM
No OSHA in Canada. In British Columbia they have Worksafe BC, and this was built to their requirements.

These are not just 2x4's slapped together, what you are showing is an actual designed system that one has to purchase. How much do these systems cost compared to the steel bracing? How long can the wood sit in the elements like rain?

For a 10' wall you are looking at roughly $25-30 a brace. Keep in mind you are bracing your walls horizontally, so you do not necessarily need a kicker & turnbuckle running off each brace. I believe a traditional brace can run around $240 dollars. In regards to the longevity of wood. Wood is being used to build/brace houses all across the world. Not sure what you mean by the question?

This post looks like advertisment.
I used wood bracing. Because this product inspired me. But 2X4 is not enough. I poured 12 ft walls. I used one 2X4 to test. However It is bended by sun. Sun is bending wood. The wood is bended to the sun. I guess the sun side of the wood is drying.
I used 2x4and2X6 together nailed. 2X6 is pressure treated. I found 5/8 turn buckels each 16 bucks. Total was around 40. But still they are tend to bend. You have to be fast than sun to use wood.

I just figured that covering wood with a aluminum folio may be a solution.

Posted By JosephFearn on 11 Jul 2012 09:10 PM
  In regards to the longevity of wood. Wood is being used to build/brace houses all across the world. Not sure what you mean by the question?

Yes, but the wood to build homes is protected from the elements (sun & moisture) by exterior sheating. My question was in regards to using wood bracing that will sit out in the elements as the wall is setting. The wood bracing will sit on job sites where the sun will bake it and it will get rained on. What is happening to the untreated wood bracing that sits out in the elements and is later used for bracing?

I'm not knocking the product, I just know that job sites and job site products are not treated well by either the workers or the elements. A piece of steel is much stronger and one does not have to worry about it warping because it got wet.

Posted By Lbear on 11 Jul 2012 11:44 PM

My question was in regards to using wood bracing that will sit out in the elements as the wall is setting. The wood bracing will sit on job sites where the sun will bake it and it will get rained on. What is happening to the untreated wood bracing that sits out in the elements and is later used for bracing?

I'm not knocking the product, I just know that job sites and job site products are not treated well by either the workers or the elements. A piece of steel is much stronger and one does not have to worry about it warping because it got wet.

That would be my concern. I swear, when I was building the interior walls of my ICF house I would pick up a straight 2 x 4 from off the package outside, and it sensed when I passed through the door to where the miter saw was inside. When I put it on the saw it would be a corkscrew!

This link shows the wood bracing I used to build my basement and main floor ICF walls. The cost for this bracing is minimal and the majority of the 2x4s will be re-used elsewhere in the house. The framing crew that did my basement interior walls and floor system commented on how straight and true the walls were - much better than other ICF homes they had worked on. The bracing did its job. When I moved from the basement to the main floor above, I did have to replace ~4 of the vertical 2x4s (~10%) with new ones because they had bowed a little bit more than I liked. Not a big deal because I used the slightly bowed 2x4s for bracing inside my window and door bucks. These were hand selected SPF 2x4s from Canada that I got at the local Lowes.

http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Fo...fault.aspx

I don't think the Zont bracing would work with my ICF (Liteform) since it does not use continuous ties - it only uses tie pads 1.75" x 2.5" every 8" on center. It doesn't look like the Zont would accommodate this. I used 17 ga electric fence wire to tie my vertical braces to the ICF ties. It worked great and was cheap and easy.

I build with ICf for 15 years and use only 2*4 for bracing. Very eazy to work with and no need to cary extra braces sets from job to job. Order one bundle and use the strait ones for plumb brace and crooked ones for diagonals, scafolding etc. later all are reused and find their way into home. What you can do eazy dont need to complicate.