Introduction
Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) are a 'stay in place' insulated wall forming system made of three primary components:
- Expanded or Extruded Polystyrene Foam
- Rigid Plastic Ties
- Reinforced Poured Concrete
ICF's were invented in the 1940's in Europe. These systems made a giant leap in the 1960's with technology developments made in Plastic Foam and Moldings. ICF's became widely commercially available in North America during the 1980's but even then only a handful of Canadian and US companies were experimenting with this new method of forming a wall with stay in place insulating foam forms. Currently though, there are now some 40 companies engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of ICF systems.
