Hi,

We are putting up a BuildBlock ICF shell near Rhinelander, WI late summer of 2015. It is a one-shot deal, after which we'll no longer need the ICF braces we will purchase for the job. Mono Brace seems to have a clever design and a more than reasonable price. Two questions?

1. What is the consensus here on the quality and usability of the Mono Brace?
2. Would anyone care to purchase a lot of 50 of these 10-footers for, say, $3500 after we've used them one time? They will cost me $5000 plus freight. Anyone interested in buying these would likely need to pick them up. Freight charges to a "civilian" are probably a lot higher than they are to a company that ships a lot of stuff so it would likely cost a fortune for me to ship them to anyone.
   

Rhinelander is "Up Nort'" in Wisconsin, and while a wonderful place to be it is not a hotbed for new construction techniques. I'm going on the assumption that there aren't likely to be braces for rent. Zonts and Zuckles don't really ring my bell ... no basis for that other than reading the literature and watching the videos. They just don't fill me with confidence. That they come in at a little less than half the cost of the Mono Brace is not enough of an incentive for me to look past my doubts.

Thanks!

Jim Webb

we are always looking to buy bracing, we have a fairly specific criteria, their are some that we will definitely purchase, but Mono is not one of them, mainly because of the strong-back, we can't use it with other kickers. we buy giraffe, wass 2, arx / bluemax(green or blue), and reechcraft but only the kickers not the strong-backs, hope that helps, but you are right make sure you only pruchase 10fts
good luck

Thanks, Bill.

Jim

I've been in the icf business a long time, before there was any bracing on the market. Standard has been for quite a while that steel or aluminum bracing was the way to go. Last year I got ahold of some used Zonts and Zuckles. They made a believer out of me. The biggest pain as far as a distributor is the bracing rental part of the deal. We rented out the Zonts and the customer raved about how straight the walls were and he used all the lumber in his build except for a some sheets of Zip sheathing that he made the platform brackets from. He returned the Z and Z's in his car. I'm sold

How long did it take them to place the bracing and do you have any pics?

Thanks, Smartwall. Part of wha makes me scratch my head on the Z&Z is what looks like a LOT of fussing getting them assembled. Have you used them yourself? Was it as tedious as it looks like it might be? Also, what is your opinion of how sturdy they are in combination with the dimensional lumber? As you well know, when the concrete starts pouring would be a horrible time to learn that the braces aren't doing all that they need to do. What are your thoughts?

Thanks again for chiming in!

Jim

Posted By webbmeister on 10 Mar 2015 09:34 PM
Hi,

We are putting up a BuildBlock ICF shell near Rhinelander, WI late summer of 2015. It is a one-shot deal, after which we'll no longer need the ICF braces we will purchase for the job...

If it is just a one-time job, you can make your ICF bracing using lumber and most of the lumber re-used during interior wall construction so there will be little if any waste or cost associated with the bracing.

Here are some prior links to DIY wood ICF bracing including my project:

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

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

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

I helped set them up out of curiosity. The one big difference was that after you set the system up the walls were straighter than any strong back and diagonal brace system that I normally rent out. The horizontal whalers keep the walls straight as you build. You use the same amount of screws as a regular system. I have a collated screw gun and it saved a lot of time . The same gun won't work with the system that I have now. The other thing that I liked was the fact that you can screw the diagonal brace at any height. If you brace a wall you want to put the diagonal brace as close to the top as possible. I have 100 sets of Plum-wall and Arrxx bracing. Almost all brace the strong back at the platform, strong back connection, this means that the diagonal adjustment will be 2-3 ft below the top of the wall. With a regular brace having a standard 2" plank platform you can't brace higher than the platform connection. Some braces may be different, but most that I have seen are similar. The question always comes about straight lumber. I told my customer to go to either Lowes or HD for his lumber.. My local yard keeps most of it's dimensional lumber outside with little protection, but the big boys keep their lumber inside where it is dry and heated. it took him about 1/2 hr to pick his studs. They were delivered to his job site at no extra cost. He used some mismatched exterior paint on the studs since they would be out in the weather for a while [3 months].

Thanks, guys. You've made me open my mind a little with this information.

If you are interested I can rent you the bracing. I usually have a set or two in the UP for the summer.