Some units, particularly those that form a “waffle” or post–and–beam concrete wall profile must be glued together or taped at the joints during assembly. Builders usually start at the corners and place a layer at a time to build up the wall.
Installation of insulating concrete form systems is similar to masonry construction. Installation & Connections for Insulated Concrete Forms More recently some systems have developed the capability of offering thicker layers of foam to enhance performance. So an 8-inch cavity with a two-inch foam face on either side would lead to a 12-inch formed wall. The foam faces are also capable of being varied, but 1-7/8- to 2-3/4-inch thickness is a usual range. The cavities are commonly six or eight inches wide but can be larger or smaller as needed. Special units for corners, floors, and roof assemblies round out the product lines and improve the engineering of the system and energy efficiency of the final construction.īlock sizes are typically on the order of 16 inches high by 48 inches long. These “reversible” insulated concrete forms save time during placement and prevent improper alignment. Many manufacturers have developed units with universal interlocks that allow the insulated concrete forms to stack whether the form is flipped one way or the other. The joints between individual insulated concrete forms can feature interlocking teeth or a tongue and groove configuration molded into the forming material, or simple butt jointed seams. There are advantages to each type of material, but one current trend incorporates hinges into the ties that allow pre assembled forms to fold flat for easy, less costly shipping.
The ties that interconnect the two layers of insulated forming material can be plastic, metal, or additional projections of the insulation. The salvaged material is formed into blocks with cement, making units ideal for direct application of plaster finishes. A few products are made with recycled foam or wood fiber in a nod to green building. It can be extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is stronger, but also more costly. Foam is most often expanded polystyrene (EPS). Panels or planks ship more compactly, but must be assembled into formwork on the job. Large preassembled blocks stack quickly on site. The two insulating faces are separated by some type of connector or web. Whatever their differences, all major ICF construction systems are engineer-designed, code-accepted and field-proven. “Post and beam” systems have just that – discrete horizontal and vertical columns of concrete that are completely encapsulated in foam insulation. The wall produced by “grid” systems has a waffle pattern where the concrete is thicker at some points than others. “Flat” systems yield a continuous thickness of concrete, like a conventionally poured wall. Insulated concrete forms systems can vary in their design.
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