Whether you’re a first time home builder or a Contractor with many homes built under your direct supervision I’m sure you’re both asking – “Do I need any special tools to build an Energy Efficient ICF home?” The quick answer to that is ‘No’. To help explain I’ve taken the list from the ICF installer’s manual of recommended tools to help explain everything you’ll need to build the ICF portion of your home. The good news is that if you are a Contractor then there’s a good possibility that you will have everything on the list. If you’re a first time home builder then you’ll probably have most of the items also (especially the DIY’ers), if not then you have a real good excuse to go out and buy some other tools that can and will be used on many other projects. So if you want to know what tools you’ll need and how you’ll use them, keep reading. Like I said there are not really any special tools that you’ll need to build an Energy Efficient Home yourself. In this article I’ll help you know how you’ll be using the following items on your project.
BASIC TOOLS
Framing Hammer: Of course you’ll need a good hammer to build a house. You’ll use a hammer to put 2X4 braces on the exterior ICF walls. All corners, window and door openings, and ICF walls will need to be braced very well with 2X4’s so they are level and plumb and have the extra support when you make the concrete pour. I would highly recommend that you use screws instead of a hammer and nails. They have better holding power and it’s much easier to remove and reuse the boards later. You will also use the hammer claws to remove the Styrofoam in the areas that you’ll be running your plumbing and electrical lines. Later in this article you’ll read about a ‘hot-knife’ tool for this purpose but I found it to be all but worthless. I’ll explain more about this in another article but you can make faster and more effective cuts with a drywall saw and hammer claws than the hot-knife. Plus it’s hard to get deep enough with the hot-knife so you have enough clearance to be code compliant. (Electrical wires must be 1-1/4 inches deep)
Good Cordless Drill: You’ll be using a lot of screws. Screws are used for everything being attached to ICF walls. The metal strips in the ICF forms cannot be nailed into, you MUST use screws. So a good cordless drill with extra batteries is a must!
Deck Screws: As mentioned above you’ll be using a lot of these. Make sure they are galvanized since they’ll be out in the weather and in contact with Pressure Treated wood.
3/8” Drill & Bits: Sometimes it difficult to get a screw started into the metal brackets in the ICF forms. Screwing a pilot hole helps a lot. There is an even a better way however. Sink the screw down until it touches the metal brackets in the ICF form, stop, then hit it with a hammer. This will punch the screw into the metal and act as a pilot hole. It works very well and will be much faster and easier than drilling a bunch of pilot holes, especially when you get to the drywall.
Framing Square: You’ll need to make sure all inside and outside corners and cuts are square. It’s very important that as you cut out the areas for doors and windows that they are square!! I can’t emphasize the importance of this. If the window cut-outs are not square then the window trim done toward the end of the process will be a nightmare!
4-foot Level: You’ll be doing a lot of leveling with ICF walls. You’ll need to make sure that all walls are plumb, level and straight. You’ll need a good level to perform these checks.
Hand Saw: A good hand saw is used for not only cutting wood but also for cutting the Styrofoam. You can use a handsaw to cut the ICF forms, then go back and cut the metal ties inside the forms with tin snips or bolt cutters. It goes a little faster with a handsaw than with a drywall saw sometimes. You’ll need both.
Drywall Saw: Get a couple of these. You’ll use a drywall saw to cut the ICF forms both during the initial construction and then also again when you start your electrical and plumbing.
Circular Saw w/Metal Cutting Blade: VERY handy. Get a bunch of metal cutting blades since you’ll go through lots of them cutting the metal brackets in the ICF forms and also by cutting rebar. It goes faster to cut through 5 pieces of rebar all the same length than cutting them one by one with a rebar bender/cutter. When you cut crossways over the ICF forms you’ll be cutting through the metal brackets embedding in the Styrofoam. It goes very quickly with this tool, and then all you have to do is cut the metal ties inside the forms with tin snips or bolt cutters.
Electric Reciprocating Saw: You can use this tool to cut the metal brackets embedded in the ICF forms but I found it much faster with the circular saw. Even when you use the fine tooth metal blades the vibration is so intense that it kind of makes a mess of the form. The form will still be usable of course but the cuts come out cleaner with a circular saw. There are some cases when it’s easier with the reciprocating saw, like making small square cuts for plumbing and main electrical lines.
Bi-metal Fine Tooth Blades: Use only these blades on the reciprocating saw; wood blades are worthless on the metal brackets in ICF forms. Even when you use the fine tooth metal blades the vibration is so intense that it kind of makes a mess of the form. The form will still be usable of course but the cuts come out cleaner with a circular saw. Some ICF manufacturers do have plastic brackets instead of metal, but I liked the metal brackets and would recommend them to you. If you go with metal brackets you’ll need the metal blades.
Concrete Trowel: You use this to skim the top of the ICF forms after you pour the concrete down the center. You’ll want to have enough concrete in the form to trowel the remaining concrete off the top so when the concrete dries you have a nice smooth finish on top to attach your wooden top plate and trusses.
Tin Snips: You’ll use these to cut the metal ties inside the ICF forms. A pair of small bolt cutters also works pretty well but you may find tin snips easier to get down into the form and cut the inner ties. You’ll also need these to cut tin for different material installations. For example, if you put vinyl siding on the exterior of your home you’ll need to install heavy gauge tin on the outside corners of the house to give you something to screw the corner pieces into. Tin snips will come in handy.
Tape Measure – 25’: Obviously you’ll be doing lots of measuring.
Tape Measure – 100’: You’ll need to make sure your walls are square at the top and bottom of your home. Just because it’s square at the bottom doesn’t mean its square on top. A 100 foot tape will come in handy with all of these measurements.
Step Ladder – 6 ft.: I highly recommend getting a multipurpose ladder (the kind that can be used as a step ladder, extension ladder, on stairs, ect). You can get one at Wal-Mart for about $100. If your building a two story home I’d suggest getting a larger one, I got a Werner from Lowes and it is positively the best ladder I’ve every had. It has a 13 foot working height as a step ladder and 22 foot height as an extension ladder. It’s a bit heavy for indoor use but you’ll use the heck out of this thing on many projects.
Chalk Line: You’ll use the chalk line to make long line marks on ICF forms to make straight cuts. You will use this everywhere so get a good one with an extra bottle of chalk.
Nylon String Line: Nylon string can be used as a straight edge along walls, roof lines, decking, or just about anything. When you have long runs of ICF walls you can pull a tight line to check the straightness of that wall. It’s very important that your walls are straight so some nylon string is a real handy thing to have.
Crowbar – Small: Crowbars are always handy to have around. You’ll use this to move window and door bucks into position. Once the buck is in place you must make sure it is square and plum and perfectly even with the inside and outside walls. A crowbar will really help out, especially if you have large window openings.
Polyurethane Adhesive: This adhesive will be sold by your ICF supplier. This adhesive is kind of like an industrial version of Great Stuff ™. It’s a VERY sticky expanding foam that is used to glue the ICF forms together and also used to glue them to the concrete foundation slab. I’ve seen two types, Foam2Foam® and EnerFoam®. You’ll use lots of this foam but your supplier should give you an estimate of how much you’ll need.
Applicator Gun: This applicator gun is used to dispense the polyurethane adhesive above.
Extension Cord – 50 ft.: This should also be obvious but I wanted to list it just in case.
Sledge Hammer: A sledge hammer is used to drive stakes in the ground. The ICF walls will need bracing to hold them square, level, and plumb. Once you build the walls you’ll need to square and level them and the 2X4 braces will hold them this way until the concrete is poured and dried. These 2X4 kickers will extend down to the ground and be screwed into the stake, which is driven into the ground with the sledge hammer.
Transit/Surveyors Level: A must have for a two story home. I did not use this piece of equipment at all on the first floor but you absolutely must have it for the second floor. The concrete slab will not be perfectly level so if you go off of that for your second floor heights your second floor won’t be level either. A transit will help layout the perfectly level lines as a guide for building your second floor.
Rebar Bender/cutter: You’ll be using a whole lot of rebar. You’ll need to make lots of bends and cuts so a good quality, heavy duty bender/cutter will be helpful. Rebar goes from the foundation vertically all the way up to the roof, and then also horizontally around the entire house at roughly 4 foot increments.
Rebar Saddles: Rebar saddles are used more for the foundation than for ICF forms. The metal ties inside the ICF forms can be used to support the rebar.
Electrical Zip Ties: Zip ties are used to tie the rebar to the metal grid the inside of the ICF forms. Since rebar is used quite extensively throughout the entire exterior portion of your ICF home you’ll need a way to secure all of it. That way the rebar doesn’t move around while you’re pouring the concrete.
Permanent Markers: For marking rebar and ICF forms for cutting.
Protection from Sun: ICF forms are white and due to the reflective nature, hats, sunglasses and sunscreen lotion come in handy.
ADDITIONAL TOOLS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL BUILDER
The following tools are listed for builders that may want some different options on tools or plan on building several homes and thus would need a few more tools than the average owner/builder.
Electric Hot Knife: As I mentioned earlier you’ll hear lots about this hot knife from your supplier and possibly even from a few contractors. I found this knife to be worthless. It does cut some very nice grooves in the Styrofoam but unfortunately you’ll run into two problems. First, the grooves won’t be deep enough to pass code. You must have electrical lines at least 1-1/4 inches deeper than the drywall face to avoid screws hitting the wires when the drywall is installed and also to avoid screwing into these wires when you hang photos and such. The hot knife simply won’t get the groove deep enough. You can try doing several passes but that is very time consuming and that brings me to my next problem with the hot knife. Time….the hot knife is only supposed to be used for 30 second intervals and then let it cool down for 30 seconds. This is to avoid overheating and messing up the tool. It does get very hot. So after several hours’ worth of waiting for it to cool and trying several passes I came up with my own way to make the grooves and it worked spectacularly! You basically use a drywall saw to cut two lines down the Styrofoam about 2 inches apart the entire length of where you’ll be running the wire or plumbing. You’ll cut all the way through the ICF form to the concrete (2.5 inches deep). You then start at the top and use the claws of a hammer to scrape out the Styrofoam between the lines. Then when you scrape out enough you’ll be able to use the claws to get behind the Styrofoam and pry out between the cuts. You’ll be removing about 6 inch section at a time. Now you have a 2.5 inch deep groove to run your plumbing and electrical lines. Once you run your lines you fill the groove with ‘Great Stuff’ expanding foam and your done! It is very simple and very fast. It does take a little more elbow grease then with a hot knife but you’ll cut the job in half by doing it this way. There will be more on this with pictures and such in another article.
Band Saw with Metal Cutting Blade: A band saw will really help cut all that rebar much faster. You can set it up to cut lots of rebar at one time and save yourself a lot of time.
Metal Cutoff Saw: A metal blade on a cutoff saw works well too when cutting rebar and window/door bucks.
Heavy Duty Hammer Drill: This is a must have if you plan on building an ICF home. If you build more than one then you must buy one. If you only plan on one project then you could get away with renting one. No matter how well you plan there is still going to be that dryer vent, main electrical connection, water hose line, or something that you’ll forget to account for before you pour the concrete. That’s where the hammer drill with concrete bits will come in. A little hammer drill that came with your tool multi-set will not work; I’d recommend a heavy duty large hammer drill, one capable of drilling holes 1 inch in diameter or better.
Rebar Twist Ties: You can buy packs of metal rebar twist ties and they work great. You may like using these better than the zip ties. I used both and found great uses for each kind.
Rebar Twist Tie Tool (pigtail): This tool is used to twist the ties above. It’s very handy and you must have the tool to use the metal twist ties.
Flatbed Trailer for Hauling Forms: If you plan on building more than one house with ICF’s then a flatbed trailer will come in handy. You’ll be moving lots of forms around from one side of the house to another anyway so even with one house it’s nice to have but not necessary. If you decide to become an ICF builder than I would invest in a trailer and some storage space for the forms.
Bracing Turnbuckles: You can use a steel bracing system and turnbuckles to brace your ICF walls instead of wood if you like. These tools come in handy and are re-usable. I used wood and then got to use the 2X4’s on the interior framing of my home so I didn’t have a lot of waste, that’s always an option for the professional builder as well.
Steel Bracing System: Used for bracing the ICF walls. The bracing system can be used instead of wood but I found the wood to be better since I used the wood to frame my interior walls and now I don’t have to worry about where to store all the parts for the bracing system.
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