has anyone used gigacrete directly on their icf walls interiorly?  how about plaster? did you use drywall first if you used plaster?  thanks

I had one project where they used Dryvit on the interior walls of the ICF, no drywall and no issues. they did have to spray foam all cut ins for the plumbing and electrical and the finished product looked good

Be careful about the fire rating.

Our PlasterMax is designed to be placed directly over the ICF as an interior coating and is fire rated plus has many other properties that make it the only choice to use

I'll wager that regular drywall will be your least expensive option because many local installers are familiar with it and there are generally lots of installers and finishers competing for your business in this building slow down.

Dry-vit doesn't have the fire rating required to meet code, unless they've come out with a new product just for it. Go with drywall. It's the cheapest code-approved finish I've seen.

I'll tell what I do and that is have the drywall delivered after the floor is poured, but before the deck is framed the drywallers love not having to carry the board downstairs and the price reflects it.

PlasterMax will not mold and as most drywallers will tell you the green water resistant drywall often has mold behind it. Cheapest is not always the best and by the time you have it finished it costs more than PlasterMax. PlasterMax is also a green product and qualifies for LEED points.

You can get paperless drywall that won't support mold. A little more expensive than the regular drywall, but probably still much less expensive than special coatings.

http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=4659

I am told that PlasterMax costs about $1.65 per sqft installed.It's fire rated and cures to about 8,000 psi @ 1/8" thick, so it's quite durable. I imagine that anyone who can apply EIFS can manage this stuff.

how does the fire rating compare to drywall? what are the other properties that make it superior?  what is the cost per sq/ft?

oh thanks ray for ans all the questions i have just asked?  have you actually used plastermax?  if so, can you paint over it?

Regular 1/2" drywall costs ~$0.25 per square foot. It is ~25% more for mold resistant drywall or ~$0.32 per square foot. I couldn't find local costs for the paperless or fiberglass faced drywall, but I will assume ~%50 more than regular drywall, or $0.38/sq ft. Labor costs to hang and finish drywall are highly dependent on your location. The cost to hang drywall here is approximately equal to the cost of the drywall or ~$0.25/sq ft. The cost to tape and finish drywall is approximately the same as the cost to hang it or ~$0.25/sq ft. So for regular drywall you are looking at ~$0.75/sq ft installed and for the paperless you are at ~$0.88/sq ft. The mold resistant drywall, i.e. Certainteed M2Tech, would be somewhere in the middle at ~$0.82/sq ft.

edited to correct a math error.

I have not personally used PlasterMax, but I have seen it and done a lot of research. GigaCrete recommends that PlaterMax be painted with Behr Paint.

WE suggest Behr paint as it only needs one coat. Drywall normally needs 3 coats, (primer and 2 coats) so that adds to cost. I have never seen drywall cost $0.25 for installation costs. PlasterMax is much quicker than drywall , no down time, lower maintenace cost, no VOC, no mold/mildew, no sanding dust to breath. It qualifies for LEED points, and is sustainable. We figure the total installed and Painted costs to be somewhere between $2.90- $3.90 sq foot. We have seen VHI drywall installed and painted costs are $4.60 sq foot.

PlasterMax can be applied over ICF/SIPS, EPS foam, concrete, gypsum board and CMU. Some people only want cheap but most people want a durable long lasting product that will be good for the environment and be around as a testimony of quality work.

With PlasterMax do the joints between ICF blocks show?

At 1/8" does it cover up/fill all the minor holes in the foam?

No nothing shows thru at 1/8" thick. If you would like a sample of it over ICF, email snail address to [email protected]

If you use a large sized ICF that allows you to easily make a nice straight flat wall,you'll get the best results.

ICF.....your product sounds good but the price is thru the roof! Sheetrock installed here turnkey runs approx  .89/sf.

Oh please, Robin. It's not through the roof, it's a few pennies more. If you just want cheap, get sheetrock. If you want something better, Plastermax is a good choice.