cutting insulating concrete form (icf)

[treyp3]

Does anyone have a good way to cut trenches in the Styrofoam for NM wire? I am in an environmentally sensitive area and cannot just whack away at it. I have tried the hot knives that you buy on amazon but they break frequently and are painfully slow.

 

[eagleelec]

I completed a project using ICF. To cut out the boxes i used this style product, excellent!

To cut trenches this was not so great i used an electric chain saw that i had laying around. I attached a wheel at the end that gave me a 2" deep cut. It was a little messy at first but then had someone hold the shopvac hose next to the cut and that made it much cleaner.

 

[kwired]

I don't know what you were finding on Amazon, but having a hot knife that has variable temp control is a must.

Routers, circular saws and similar items not only make a huge mess but have too high of speed and eventually gum up reducing performance once that happens.

 

[tom baker]

Fine Homebuilding suggested a diamond blade on an angle grinder

 

[JZE14]

I use the Wind-Lock hot knife. It works great and has different size blades.

 

[junkhound]

Hot air gun make a nice surface sealed channel PDQ.

 

[Macktek]

I have found that the manufacturer of the Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) almost always has a recommendation for exactly what you are asking. When I went to a session at a Quad-Lock training seminar they responded quickly to emails. It is likely that recommendations would apply for similar products. It has been several years, If I recall, they recommended a hot knife.
Search for "ICF Hot Knife", you should get a good number of suggestions.

 

[kwired]

I have found that the manufacturer of the Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) almost always has a recommendation for exactly what you are asking. When I went to a session at a Quad-Lock training seminar they responded quickly to emails. It is likely that recommendations would apply for similar products. It has been several years, If I recall, they recommended a hot knife.
Search for "ICF Hot Knife", you should get a good number of suggestions.

I recall local building supply store would let me use a hot knife they had a few years ago, seem to recall it was branded with same name as the ICF materials they sold.