Building Forms for Concrete Footings - Part 1: Lumber

With the excavation phase complete, the next step is to prepare the concrete footings. Steve ordered lumber and it has arrived to the site early in the morning.

Lumber arrives at sunrise. I caption this photo "morning wood". LOL.

At the end of lumber moving day, Steve was very, very sore. He calculated each pressure treated 16' long 2" X 12" plank is about 110+/- lbs.

"They're heavier than I remember."

Moving the lumber.

HOW TO BUILD FORMS for the CONCRETE FOOTINGS:

• Set up two parallel planks: 2' wide x 1' tall.

Setting up the lumber for the forms.

• MRLS = Measure, Re-measure, Level, and Square. (I totally made that up.)

• Insert a spacer/chair - The orange plastic horizontal thingys are spacers/chairs. They hold up the lumber and have three spots for rebar (pictured below).

These are spacers/chairs.

This guy has been a really good boy just staying close by. Except for when Steve sees him trotting down the hill in the middle of the street, which means he just probably just took himself for a neighborhood walkabout.

He's a good boy, when he stays close by.

How much lumber did Steve order? (Or, as his mother would say, "How much lumbah did you ordah?)

Answer: 60+20 = 80 total 16'Long x 2"W x 12"H. Steve needed more mid-job.

BUILDING FOOTING STEPS

There are 1' and 2' footing steps, depending on grade height variation.

Twenty one steps in this house.

There's math rules on these steps. A 1' step must overlap the lower footing by a minimum 2'; a 2' step has to overlap the lower footing by a minimum of 3'.

More steps.

Two hundred fifty 20' lengths of 1/2" (aka #4) rebar.

Rebar.

• Insert rebar and hooks - Rebar has to be cut and bent into L-shaped hooks.

• Line with plastic - Steve wants to repurpose some lumber for the future trellis on the future deck. Why not? Lumber is expensive! In order to accomplish that, select planks (the unaltered/undamaged ones) will be lined with a layer of plastic on the inside, preventing the concrete from sticking to the wood. Apparently, concrete loves to stick to wood.

Rebar cutting station.

Steve needed to get some new tools for the job. One of the tools he did NOT have to buy is a rebar bender. Jairo said he understands rebar and concrete, and built this rebar bending station. Cool, right?!

Jairo's homemade Rebar bending station.

Perfect right angles.

L-shaped hooks.

Jairo understood the job.