Conclusion
The successful results presented in HPO’s “ICF Field Testing Report” have guided the formulation of new best-practice construction details for ICF buildings in the upcoming revision of the organization’s “Building Envelope Guide for Houses,” slated for release this spring. Other provinces will likely be modelling their own future ICF guidelines after the information published in B.C. The author is not aware of any ICF-specific guidelines developed outside the provisions of the 2015 NBC, although these have been adopted by most provinces and other local jurisdictions in Canada.
As building codes concerning ICFs continue to emerge, the ICF industry will continue to offer guidance to the International Code Council (ICC), supported by the ICF construction details developed as a result of this research. (While the I-codes offered by ICC are available for adoption worldwide, they are the mainstay of U.S. codes. Canada recognizes the I-codes only in a general and advisory fashion.) For instance, it has been suggested code change petitions based on the HPO work be submitted on both a provincial and national level.
From an ICF industry perspective, this third-party research fosters a major step forward in providing proven, cost-effective solutions for code-compliant design demonstrating high performance across a broad range of building types and uses, even in the most extreme conditions. Add to this the structural and fire capacity of reinforced concrete structures, and ICFs’ role in resilience becomes clear.
(An earlier version of this article appeared in the September 2016 issue of ICF Builder.)
Douglas Bennion manages the technical department for Quad-Lock Building Systems, an ICF manufacturer that was one of the industry stakeholders in this project, and was instrumental in all phases of the research project reported above. His work has supported the ICF industry since 1989, and he has directly contributed to developing ICF building code and manufacturing standards in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Bennion regularly conducts training and continuing education seminars for builders and design professionals around the world. He can be reached via e-mail at douglas.bennion@quadlock.com.
