Hello, I've got a question for experts about how I can install the ICF bracing on the basement slab. I can't drill as I have the in-floor heating pipes... I remember seeing picture with 2x4 lumber glued on the concrete slab and braces anchored on it. Do you have any recommendation on the glue used. Will the concrete hold that? Will be marks after removing the 2x4 pads? Any suggestion is appreciated. Can I install the braces outside? Thank you for any suggestion.

As long as you have the space for your turnbuckles you can place bracing to the exterior.

If you are not able to brace to the outside a PL400 or similar would adhere the wood to the concrete floor. If the concrete was designed as the finished floor, you may have some trouble removing all the residue from the glue (anyone able to suggest a solvent???), but typically a flooring will be installed over so any remaining residue would be a non-issue (scrape off excess glue after use).

-- some good ideas here but I would suggest that you use a 2 x 12 network (on the floor) - you will screw your regular bracing to this network with short screws. Use several 50 gallon barrels full of water ( roughly 500 or so pounds each to hold the network down). You can buy the used barrels for about $10 apiece and usually sell them back for $5. I've done it a few times and it works really well. Regards Cameron

P.S. If you keep your walls straight all the time as you go up you can actually get by with very few barrels of water. This is only true in low wind conditions but if you think you're having to push or pull your walls very much something is not right.

P.S. If you keep your walls straight all the time as you go up you can actually get by with very few barrels of water. This is only true in low wind conditions but if you think you're having to push or pull your walls very much something is not right.

As ICFbdr states the best and simplest way is usually just bracing to the outside. My suggestion is only valid when you can't do that.

Much easier to pour from the outside, with exterior bracing. Tapcon a 2x4 ledger on the outside of the footing. It's easy if you do it with a partially dry slab. Or use the outside slab form as the base for the bracing.

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Yes, I've got room to install the bracing outside. All the time I thought that is an advantage to put the bracing inside because the tendency of the wall is to lean inside so is easy to push out. Even when I was at training they said to install the bracing inside not outside....

Once you do one from outside you won't do it any other way. I switched from standard metal braces to Zonts and Zuckles because you can vary the angle of the diagonal support.

Posted By rogerius on 02 Aug 2017 06:52 PM
Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Yes, I've got room to install the bracing outside. All the time I thought that is an advantage to put the bracing inside because the tendency of the wall is to lean inside so is easy to push out. Even when I was at training they said to install the bracing inside not outside....

The tendency is for the wall to lean away from the bracing (which is why it is recommended to lean the walls to the inside when bracing to the inside). When bracing the outside, lean the walls out (ie, toward the braces). You lose some efficiency bracing to the outside, since the guy cutting forms has to run around the perimeter to the guys on the scaffold, rather than having a cut station inside the basement.

But you don't have to load product inside the foundation and climbing in and out of the basement is a thing of the past.

Actually it's been my observation that icf block walls will bend in the middle towards the outside when poured. Learned this lesson with a couple of customers who decided to skip the screws in the center of the wall. Also all walls when poured will push towards the outside at the corners. Trying to hold the corners proud from the inside with bracing by depending on the screws to hold the whole shebang is crazy. Hence I shifted all my bracing to the outside. Actually it started the first time I mono poured the footing,walls and floor in one operation.

smartwall - good point with the force on the corners. As a general rule concrete should not be poured directly into the corners (rather pour a few feet away and let concrete flow in). This will reduce (although not totally eliminate) this effect. Solid bracing on the outside of corners will virtually eliminate this issue. Bracing on the exterior of the foundation will hold the outside corners, but bracing on the interior will do the same for any inside corners (ie, brace the outside SURFACE of the corner forms - not necessarily the outside of the basement).

I put my braces on the inside. I just glued blocks of 2X6 to the concrete with a foam gun. It was surprisingly strong, and were actually somewhat hard to remove.