ZONT™ BRACING

Michael Antinoff

Pacific ICF Converts to Zont™ Bracing

Pacific ICF Inc. is a Vancouver based contractor specializing in ICF construction. President Michael Antonoff: "We've been building with ICFs and fabric formwork for 12 years. We've been a green contractor long before it became fashionable."

"We've owned several sets of 10' ICF bracing", said Michael. "But we got tired of lifting them in and out of the hole, and then finding a place to store them. We are definitely not keen on moving a ton of bracing to flatten a light weight ICF wall."

"When I heard about the Zont™ Bracing I was very interested."

Horizontal vs. Vertical bracing
 

Horizontal vs. Vertical bracing

The photo on the left above shows horizontal bracing, where the first contact with the wall is a horizontal waler, held in place with the Zont™ bracket. The photo on the right shows conventional ICF braces where the first contact with the ICF wall is a vertical member.

As the critical alignment of the ICF wall is in the horizontal cirection, it makes sense to align first in the horizontal direction, not vertical. Many ICF manufacturers recommend the use of a product called 'form-lock', an open wire mesh product 12 1/2' long and the width of the ICF cavity to serve as an internal horizontl waler to provide the horizontal alignment. With the use of Zont™ bracing, form-lock is eliminated saving the contractor about $350 per typical foundation.

Flatter ICF wall

Flatter Walls

The Zont™,  Zuckle™ and angled kicker allow a top of wall accuracy of 1/8".

"We're impressed with the system", confirmed Michael. "The Zuckles™ quickly adjust with an electric drill to get a real flat wall."

Detail of Zonts and Zuckles

Zonts™ & Zuckles™

Each Zont™ weighs one and one half pounds and the Zuckle™ about twice that much.

"Each 'brace' equivalent weighs about one tenth the weight of our old vertical braces. All the 2x4s are left on site to be incorporated into the build."

 This efficiency leads to cost savings to the contractor and resource savings to the environment.

For specifications on the Zont™ bracing, click here.

Placing concrete

Placing Concrete

Concrete placement is no different with Zonts™ as with conventional ICF bracing. As the vertical strong backs are located 3 5/8" away from the ICF wall, there's plenty of room to install reinforcing around window and door openings.

Zont™ brackets can be located on each side of the openings to ensure perfect alignment.

"I'm sold on Zont™ bracing", confirmed Michael.

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