wall penetrations in ICF
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| Posted in General Questions on
Any thoughts on the wisdom of running 1″ pvc in the ICF forms to provide for the exterior outlets and lights? I’m thinking that doing it that way will minimize the through wall penetrations by only having one penetration on the interior of the building and connecting to 3 exterior outlets and lights. Building will be a single story 1700 ft with 6″ cement core in the ICF forms.
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If you are running it inside the wall for any length you can run into issues with cover and cracking in a 6” wall. I’m not sure the implications specific to icf but even if you have a number of rebar in 6” walls it becomes a challenge to get appropriate cover.
I would run PVC pipes in the ICF walls for exterior outlets (1"+) and ductless mini-splits (2.50"+). If you do this before the pour, it will save you much labor later on, as you will have to hammer drill/core drill the holes once the concrete is set. Plus, if you hit rebar while drilling, that will slow you down or ruin your drill bit. So there are advantages to running PVC in the ICF before the pour IF you know the correct locations of exterior outlets, exterior lights, ductless mini-split refrigerant lines, etc.