Up with the Gable Ends!

It is truly exciting to see the building taking its form! I can't stress enough how much a quality installer plays into the success of the build. The tightness of the site, the challenge of scheduling trades, meeting demands from different angles. Robbie Vernelson of RDV Contracting and Humberto Mendieta of ICF Construction have made a remarkable partnership. And the commitment and morale of their crew is to be commended. These are quality workers who know how to make a project move quickly, giving thorough attention to detail, all while adjusting to the expected and unexpected events on a busy job site.

The procedure for assembling a gable end, in order to ensure proper dimensions and alignment without endangering workers by needing to cut high up in the air, involves "dry-stacking" the forms on the floor first. This especially helpful because of the louvered openings in four of the eight gables on the building. Follow along here for a brief sequence of assembly.

Forms are numbered so that, once cuts are made and pieces are separated in order to pass up the scaffolding, they will be stacked in the appropriate order on top of the wall.

Each form with an angles chalk line will be brought down and cut on the ground. Safer, faster, more accurate.

With these ARXX Steel ICFs, the hole for the louvered openings is simply cut out with a reciprocating saw.

The special round buck by V-Buck is made to order, right to rough opening size, and conveniently fills the spot cut for it without a worker needing to lift a saw.