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What is the difference between Fox Blocks ICFs and the competitors, and why are Fox Blocks ICFs better? Why should I use Fox Blocks ICFs?
Most ICF blocks share com­mon fea­tures and ben­e­fits. Fox Blocks, as a com­pa­ny, pro­vides 30 years’ expe­ri­ence in prod­uct devel­op­ment, doc­u­men­ta­tion, test­ing and train­ing, as well as ver­sa­til­i­ty in the line of prod­ucts to meet all appli­ca­tions. The key dif­fer­ence comes in the exper­tise and sup­port you get from Fox Blocks. Fox Blocks is the leader in insu­lat­ing con­crete form con­struc­tion – proven in over 100,000 com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial projects across North Amer­i­ca. Exten­sive resources and sup­port sys­tems are avail­able to ensure your project’s suc­cess from start to fin­ish. Please vis­it our web­site www.Fox Blocks​.com to review our project gallery and find more detailed doc­u­men­ta­tion on the prod­ucts and the appli­ca­tions. Fox Blocks also pro­vides a toll free num­ber for Cus­tomer and Tech­ni­cal Sup­port 877−369−2562.
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Why is the concrete limited to a placement height or lifts of 4 feet (1.2 m)?
To alle­vi­ate the pres­sure from the liq­uid con­crete, the con­crete is placed in lay­ers or ​‘lifts’. The first lift is lim­it­ed to 4′ (1.2 m) of con­crete around the perime­ter of the build­ing. This allows approx­i­mate­ly one hour for the con­crete to set-up before con­tin­u­ing with the next 4′ (1.2 m) lift. The low­er lift pro­vides sup­port for the next lift as the con­crete is placed con­tin­u­ous­ly around the build­ing in con­sec­u­tive lifts to the top of the wall.
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Is a vapor barrier required on the inside face of an ICF wall?
No. The char­ac­ter­is­tics of an ICF wall with the mass con­crete and the EPS insu­la­tion pro­vide the required vapor per­me­ance to meet build­ing code require­ments as a vapor bar­ri­er.
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What is the R-Value?

The clear R‑Value of an Fox Blocks is R22, how­ev­er cur­rent Ener­gy codes rec­og­nize the lack of ther­mal bridg­ing in an ICF and the con­tri­bu­tion of the mass con­crete on the influ­ence of the ther­mal per­for­mance. Whole wall cal­cu­la­tions indi­cate a Fox blocks wall assem­bly pro­vides an R24 rat­ing.

The con­tin­u­ous dou­ble lay­er (inside and out­side) of insu­la­tion, the elim­i­na­tion of ther­mal bridg­ing and min­i­mal air infil­tra­tion through the mass con­crete wall assem­bly, allows Fox Blocks walls to per­for­mance in the high per­for­mance wall assem­bly cat­e­go­ry. Com­plet­ing the enve­lope with ener­gy effi­cient win­dows and doors and roof insu­la­tion, Fox Blocks homes can eas­i­ly meet and exceed ener­gy code require­ments and exceed the min­i­mum require­ments for Ener­gy Star and Ener­Guide. A Fox Blocks struc­ture requires 44% less ener­gy to heat and 32% less ener­gy to cool.

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Is the Fox Blocks form recyclable?
Yes, every com­po­nent of the Fox Blocks form itself plus the con­crete and rein­force­ment bars are recy­clable.
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Is an ICF home quieter than a stick framed home?
Absolute­ly. The exte­ri­or walls are two lay­ers of con­tin­u­ous insu­la­tion, the den­si­ty of sol­id con­crete and a lay­er of ½” gyp­sum board on the inside all con­tribute to supe­ri­or sound sup­pres­sion of STC 50 for the whole build­ing enve­lope. Note: A wood frame sys­tem of equiv­a­lent STC rat­ing would be 2 x 4 studs spaced 16˝ o/​c, with 3½˝ absorp­tive mate­r­i­al, 1 lay­er of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on resilient chan­nels spaced 16˝ o/​c, and 2 lay­ers of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on the oth­er side. (Cour­tesy of 1995 NBCC Sec­tion A9.10.3.1 Wall #W5a)
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What size and how much steel reinforcement is required in an ICF?

Fox Blocks walls are designed as rein­forced con­crete walls, with steel rein­force­ment bars spec­i­fied to be installed ver­ti­cal­ly and hor­i­zon­tal­ly, as the walls are built. Typ­i­cal rein­force­ment bar sizes used are #4 or #5 (10 m or 15 m).

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How do you control voids in the wall?
The con­crete mix is a high slump 5″- 6.5″ (125 mm – 165 mm) with a small­er aggre­gate size so the con­crete flows eas­i­ly. The per­son in charge of plac­ing the con­crete should watch the con­crete flow through­out the whole wall to ensure there are no void pock­ets. Inter­nal vibrat­ing pro­vides good con­sol­i­da­tion, elim­i­nat­ing voids.
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Can you build and pour concrete in cold weather?
Yes. The forms insu­late the con­crete and enhance the cur­ing process. The top of the forms, or exposed con­crete areas will need to be cov­ered, tem­porar­i­ly, with insu­la­tion to pre­vent the exposed con­crete from freez­ing. Fox Blocks projects can be con­struct­ed any time of the year, no delays for cold weath­er.
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Is there a problem when placing concrete, dropping concrete from the top of the wall which may be over 8' (2.4 m)?
No. Spec­i­fi­ca­tions in the Amer­i­ca Con­crete Insti­tute (ACI) do not lim­it the max­i­mum dis­tance con­crete can free fall. Engi­neer­ing stud­ies and reports have shown that free fall from up to 35′ doesn’t reduce con­crete qual­i­ty and there is no evi­dence of seg­re­ga­tion or weak­ened con­crete strength. ICF con­crete design calls for a high slump mix which assists in reduc­ing seg­re­ga­tion.
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