Zonts and Zuckles
Last Post 21 Feb 2016 03:35 PM by ronmar. 12 Replies.
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smartwallUser is Offline
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06 Jan 2016 09:57 AM
Anyone have any Zonts or Zuckles for sale?
davidhopkeUser is Offline
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06 Jan 2016 10:34 AM
No but they are the next best thing to sliced bread. Getting ready to buy some more ourselves. Bought ours directly from Joey in canada
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berkyUser is Offline
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12 Jan 2016 11:08 PM
davidhopke,

did you do the monopour or the standard fastfoot? I'm highly considering the monopour, but I will likely need to convince whomever my ICF contractor will be to use it.
smartwallUser is Offline
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13 Jan 2016 09:02 AM
I always do mono pour but I use my own system. The picture with my post is a 9' 4" wall with a 4' frost wall. I've had building inspectors say it can't be done that way. I ask them if the normal method is to first pour the footing and then the wall. I tell them that is exactly what I'm doing. The only question about the Fab Form system is that you delaying the set of the CC. I use regular form boards that are open so that the BI can see the footing rebar.
berkyUser is Offline
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13 Jan 2016 11:10 AM
smartwall, pardon my ignorance, but i'm trying to figure out what CC means?
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13 Jan 2016 12:34 PM
Sorry, it's my shorthand on my estimates for concrete
davidhopkeUser is Offline
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16 Jan 2016 06:45 PM
We pour footings with Form A Drain. Wet set vertical rebar. Small keyway . Shoot down steel framing angle with powder gun to hold icf in place
24 inch wide footing allows room to screw down board for vertical board in the Zont to screw to . To hold in place.
smartwallUser is Offline
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18 Jan 2016 09:07 AM
My point exactly. When I do mono pour even with form a drain we can skip most of those steps, saving time which translates to money
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21 Jan 2016 10:16 AM
how do keep the weight of the ICF and concrete as being poured from shifting "level" on the footing forms ( Form-A-Drain )? While doing the mono pour? How do you attach the ICF to the Form A Drain system for the first course of ICF? Lots of questions How do you keep the concrete from flowing out over the Form a Drain? We have to have 24" wide spread footings here. Big gap for concrete to flow out? What to do attach the bottom horizontial 2x4 for the Zont System too? Sorry for all the questions. We just started using Zonts and Zuckles. Open to suggestions, sounds like you have it worked out. Hope you will share.
smartwallUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2016 09:48 AM
Sorry about the delayed response but the thread disappeared and came back. I use a bar that I designed to bridge the space between the footing forms be they wood or form-a drain. We can make them for any footing width. They screw into what ever you use. Funny about the thought of the concrete spilling over the form it was my thought originally. But unless your stupid enough to run a real snotty mix , it doesn't happen. I order a 3 slump delivered. This is stiff enough that the only way the footing forms will be filled is by vibrating . First pass fills the footing and a little of the first course. After your done you take the slump up by adding a water reducer to your mix to increase to a 6. Part of the system is the bracing. I've adapted my metal bracing to do the job. I haven't done one with Zonts and Zuckles but in thinking about what I do with my steel brace it can be done. You would attach your Zont to the web as usual.
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19 Feb 2016 02:40 PM
I do NOT recommend Zonts and Zuckles. They capital purchase of them is the only advantage they have. But once you buy the lumber and add up all the wasted labour if ends up costing you MUCH more. Example: for 160 lineal feet of wall I had about $1,500 in lumber that cannot be reused in your house unless its for blocking. The concrete spill and sun dry out and warp the lumber making unusable and the labour was 4 times as much as using the conventional metal braces that you can rent from your ICF supplier.
I sold some ICF to a client who installed it himself and he bought the zonts and zuckles and told me had 5 days into erecting the system. I went and helped him pour the walls and we had problems getting them aligned, not at the top but throughout the middle of the wall. For his next pour for the above grade wall I told him to bring a trailer and stop by my shop and pick up my metal braces (free of charge). I did this because I didnt want the bracing system used to make my product look terrible. After the above grade walls were poured using my metal braces my client told me what a difference it was in time. He said the first level was 5 days putting the zonts/zuckles up and 2 days tearing down and with my system he was 1 day putting the metal braces up and a half tearing down.
Please dont make the same mistake my client did by purchasing these Zonts/Zuckles.
smartwallUser is Offline
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21 Feb 2016 10:58 AM
I do recommend the Zonts and Zuckles especially to DIY customers. 160 ft of wall should have taken about 2 hrs to install 54 Zonts and 27 Zuckles if you didn't exactly set the world on fire in the speed category. Your Canadian lumber must cost more that our Canadian lumber since it would have cost about $500 for the same lumber down here in NY. I tell my customers to buy some off color exterior paint and spend about a hour with a roller slapping the paint on the studs if they are going to be out in the weather for a while. Every piece ends up in the house. 5 days setting up the system? What were they building, the Great Wall of China? Does your customer want to sell the Zonts And Zuckles because I'm a buyer.
ronmarUser is Offline
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21 Feb 2016 03:35 PM
Not using zonts and zuckles, but I am bracing with 2X4's. I have far less than $1500 into it for about 190' of wall, and also do not see why nearly all the wood will not be able to go back into the build. I do not think it will be any more weathered than the lumber I would be using if I were solo stick building a house, and the wood adjacent to the pour will be covered on pour day so I am not too worried about concrete getting onto it. Knowing that wood changes shape as its moisture content changes, you need to take this into account when you attach it to the wall. I am very happy with plum and true of the wood braced wall, and can easilly adjust to compensate for any wood shift. The only wood I don't see reusing is the plywood sheathing I used for scaffold deck(over 2X4"s) as it will get concrete and dirt and mud ground into it, but I will find some other use for it eventually It took me about 2 weeks of evenings and weekends to build my own brace design and scaffolding and get it put up. Built from 2X4, each brace and strut is made up of three 12' 2X4 and is easy for one person to move and place.

Even if I cannot use one piece of the wood in the build, I am still well ahead cost wise. If I were renting bracing, I would be well over $1500 into it by the end at the pace I am building as I would still need to fabricate the scaffolding to go with the rented braces. And I will still need to brace the upper wall later this spring.

Painting the wood is good advice. Also don't buy PT lumber it will always shift radically as it finishes drying. Don't buy the nastiest stud grade lumber, pay a little extra for #2 and better, pick it yourself if you can, the straighter you start with the straighter you wil finish with...
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