Vertical ICFs: New Opportunities for Seasoned Pro PATH Case Study

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Arrington built her first home with vertical ICFs following the manufacturer's manual. Arrington's transition to vertical ICFs was relatively smooth. "The major hurdle was getting over the mindset of having used wood for everything before and then changing over to a completely different material," says Arrington. "But that challenge can be overcome by realizing that your new method of building is going to be easier and will create a better product. You just do it." Learning by doing Arrington has completed five projects using vertical ICFs, but started with her own home. "Because we didn't want to use one of our customer's homes to experiment with a new method of building, we decided to try vertical ICFs on the home we were building for ourselves," she says. "The manufacturer sent us a manual with our first order and we learned how to use them from reading that. "The manual and its drawings make everything very easy to comprehend. This makes everyone involved — from the engineer and the architect to the subs and inspectors — comfortable with the product because they know how it goes together and how it should look as it's going up. We also always give a copy to the county inspectors so they have it on file and to the engineer, architects and draftspersons for their drawings and reports." Despite the manual, Arrington did still have to educate some of her subcontractors so they could adjust their practices. "For example, the HVAC contractor had to recalculate the size of the HVAC system to account for the higher level of insulation that vertical ICFs provid," she says. "It was also necessary to plan where the exterior wall openings for the electrical and plumbing devices would be located. But thankfully, getting the subcontractors familiar and comfortable with the changeover only takes one project!" ICFs are strong enough to withstand many tons of weight without backfill. In the first project, Arrington discovered she had used too much bracing. "We used two whalers — one on the inside and one on the outside — with walkboards above the inside whaler, all the way around the building, plus outside corner bracing," she says. "We have since adapted our method. Now, for most projects, we only use corner bracing on the outside corners; inside, we use scaffolding to walk on as we do the pour. We also reuse the bracing to construct the interior walls of the house, which we typically build out of 2x4 studs." Education is key From previous experience, Arrington knew that educating the inspector in advance would be essential. "We made an appointment with the inspector ahead of time and sat with him for a while to explain the technology," says Arrington. "Since he was from upstate New York where vertical ICFs are used more frequently, he was already familiar with the product. Some other inspectors have required a bit more education, but they have all come around. These days, we often approach inspectors ahead of time to educate them about the product so the inspection process will go smoothly." Educating consumers is also key. Arrington makes sure her potential clients see the benefits of the technology first hand. To demonstrate a house built from vertical ICFs, Arrington regularly invites potential customers to tour her own home. "At least twice a week new customers come look at our home to talk about building their homes from vertical ICFs," says Arrington. Technology highlights This project included the following PATH-profiled technologies: Electric tankless water heaters Engineered trusses PEX piping a target="_blank" href="http://www.toolbase.org/TechInventory/techDetails.aspx?ContentDetailID=876"> Universal design principles Vertical Insulated Concrete Forms (Vertical ICFs) This article is provided courtesy of PATH — the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Homebuilding. PREVIOUS  1 | 2