Foundation Walls

Foundation Forms - Dining Room Area

 

 

Foundation Forms - Back of House

 

Removing the Forms after the pour

We have walls!

 

Foundation wall with Tuff -N-Dri Waterproofing

 

 

 Flashback

Dig the hole. Add foundation footings. Pour the concrete foundation walls. It was all moving rapidly.

Once the footings were all set, the forms were setup and leveled. The forms are actually two panels that face each other with a space in between for the concrete. The panels, which are coated with a biodegradable oil to keep the concrete from sticking, are held together with pins (I’m sure there’s some other construction term for them) which you’ll see on basement walls. Having these panels square and level is critical to having straight and level walls.

I wish I could have been there when they did the pour just to watch but I had to work. Lucky them.

Fortunately, I had taken day off when they removed the panels so I got to ask questions and an ever patient Ronnie who was removing them answered everything. I made a point of not asking too many (too many is more in the eyes of the answerer though isn’t it?) but learned a lot how it was all done. I had a general idea, but he helped fill in the gaps. I did learn that there are different  types of panels and that the ones they were using were the easiest to work with. They were held on a tray and lifted into place using a crane. This enabled the forms to be spread around the job which in turn minimized lifting. He also warned me that the pins used in these forms were as sharp as razor blades and to be careful when walking by them (which he said he knew I would be doing later to check things out). He also explained to me when I asked when they would be pouring the floors (always looking for the next step) that generally a different than the foundation company would do the floors. I guess they different enough that each has an expertise in their area. I never knew that.

Once the forms were off it was interesting to see the concrete a shade of green. We always think of it as gray, but that doesn’t come until later when the concrete starts to cure (dries).

Even though the soil was gravelly and well drained, we had the foundation coated with Tuff-N-Dri , which is a rubbery coating, to ensure that it stayed dry.

We now had walls and could see the exact layout of the house which was very cool.