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The way to Install Kitchen Wall Cabinets in ICF Houses

January 23, 2015

Insulating concrete forms, or ICF, are a part of a concrete building system used most frequently for foundations and baths, but occasionally for outdoor walls. Interior finishes, like drywall are hung on the ICF panel by driving fasteners into its integrated, plastic furring strips. Installing kitchen cabinets on drywall-finished ICF is similar to installing them on most wood-framed walls, but instead of screwing the cupboards into the studs, you drive them into the furring strips.

Locate the vertical furring strips by identifying a drywall joint, that you sometimes could see by its telltale bump left behind after taping and mudding. You are also able to shake a 2-inch finish nail into the drywall, repeating until a furring strip catches it tight.

Mark the place of all of the plastic furring strips at the hanging area, with a measuring tape and a pencil. Many ICF furring strips are spaced 6 inches apart. If you’re not sure, look at unfinished ICF panels at the basement or consult the manufacturer for specifications. Use a 4-foot level to transfer the strip places a few inches above and below the cupboard’s installation area.

Put in a 3/4-by-3-inch short hanging cleat horizontally on the wall in the height of the base of the closet. Drill pilot holes through the cleat with a 1/8-inch drill bit so that they line up with every other furring strip. Drive 3-inch wood screws through the cleat and into the plastic strips. Use a level to level your work. The cleat must be long enough to break an entire cabinet — or even row of cupboards — about it.

Lift up the cabinet, then break its underside on the cleat. Hold the closet flat against the wall and slip it into position horizontally.

Drill pilot holes into the top mounting rail inside the cupboard. Use the pen marks previously as a guide so that you don’t miss the plastic furring strips. Drill a pilot hole in every furring strip, then use a countersink bit to countersink the pilots in order that the cupboard mounting screws will install flush, or recessed slightly below, the surface of the timber.

Drive 3-inch wood screws through the mounting rail and into the plastic furring strips to get a firm hold.

Repeat the exact same piloting and attachment processes with the mounting rail on the base of the closet.

Remove the mounting cleat, and patch the holes left behind in the drywall.