I’m a third term carpenter apprentice and I have been doing siding for the entirety of my career thus far. I am actually starting with a new company Monday doing concrete and I was looking for some videos for reference purposes..very helpful and informative just to give me an idea of what is in store for me. Thank you for this video! 👍

Thanks for the video, my Dad was in construction and was the inventor of preform concreting techniques and he always said it starts with correct forms every time.

I found this much more informative to pouring concrete and checking forms than a lot of videos Ive seen, thank you for taking the time to make this video.

When I did framing work there was a spacific form crew we hated to follow, their work looked almost this good. Sure makes doing quality work just that much harder.

You do nice work, also very informative..

Thanks for this video, I like straight, perfect square etc.

You are so good at explaining things. Thank you😊

Contractors and Homeowners: I can't stress enough the importance of getting a soils report before placing a foundation. Soil preparation for a foundation is the most important step in foundation construction. If your soil strength is low, it won't matter on hoe well the concrete foundation is constructed; the house will experience differential settlement - a costly mistake.

Really interesting and informative.

With your walls, the most important thing is your wall ties. They will keep a 10" wall 10" everywhere. As far as the bracing on the wall, first you set pins. Snap a chalk line and nail a 2x4 block down to the footing against the bottom of your forms on both sides. You can form the whole wall until you get to a corner like that, then go back and plumb the ends of your walls and corners. Then you run your string line before and after you pour. When setting forms, I will start in the best corner, and set a couple of forms each way. I use aluminum forms where the big boys are 30" wide 9' tall. You snap your line from pin to pin, after that if I had a ten inch wall, I would measure 44" each way because on the inside I will have a 4" inside corner, a ten inch wall, and one 30" form each way, use a big framing square and mark a line square with your chalk line in pencil both directions your setting forms. The joint where the first and second form meet should ALWAYS be on those square lines. That way when you get to a corner, your forms are running together perfectly every time and after making a turn or two you will be in the right spot on both sides of the form and your corners will be square inside and outside too. I'm a flat work contractor, but poured footings and walks with my old man for over 15 years and you figure out that there is a lot to forming proper walls. Find a good Mason with some aluminum forms, as long as the footing is poured level and FLOATED, instead of just leveled out with a rake, then if you want a 9' wall, you will have a 9' wall level within 3/16 from corner to corner. Just need a good concrete contractor

Great tips!! Thank you for sharing!!

Thanks for all the free advice you have been dishing out for these past years. I've learned a lot. Are there any standard guidlines for bracing concrete forms? Also, have found it is usually less hassle and profitable to do your own concrete work whenever possible?

Cause of the Bulge is simple..... Gap in form work wasnt closed properly In Australia we would chip it as furing out a wall as you mention could have additional probs down the line. Specially on a prefab frame. Other reasons for this type of mistake could be relegated to the Surveyor who did the Set out. Thats why before we start we measure all pegs if theres a small discrepancy we will usually rectify it our selves if measurements are way out as we have experienced this too , we make a call to the builder and get him or her to get the site resurveyed as measurments really are critical no matter what.

I love how you call this shit out you're awesome

Yea im new to learning foundations myself...but i rather know the dont's then hear do's later...good vid. I know to double check before pouring👍

I really like the 'after' photos showing problems - it graphically drives the headache home. Is it really that difficult to get an angle grinder and cut the excess bulging off by crosshatching and knocking out the squares? I'm not suggesting one be sloppy and leave that option on purpose - just curious. I'm fairly new to concrete - trying to suck up all the knowledge I can to go with the experience. Thanks.

Greg have you tried using ICF foundation for a garage?

i live in the philippines and nobody uses wood forms for a foundation.. its basically hollow blocks to make the form.. and the inside of the forms filled with gravel.. tamped down.. add sand .. watered.. and tamped down again.. then pour the cement.. came out great.. no cracks.. no bowing of wood..

Great tips guy. Thanks

And this is really not the way to properly brace forms....you need AT LEAST 2 x 3 and rod into the ground to maintain the bracing in place if you don't have vertical walls nerby on wich you press the 2 x 3 on.

Good, informative video! Help me, Greg!! I am planning to buy this older, built 1978 single floor house. I am in Florida, Palm Beach County. I don't know type of soil under house, just imaging, very sandy here?? Now, I understand, that if building second floor, which I am planning to do??, the size of the footings depens from many things: soil type/ =bearing capacity (pounds per square foot), size of the house/second floor, roof type: cement tile heaviest?, asphalt singles(next?, metal roof(lightest?). Now, lets say, bearing capacity of soil is 2000 pounds per square foot ( I think this is close), and I am planning to put asphalt singles as roof, if house now has footing 16 deep, 12 wide?? ( I did not check that yet, there is no houseplan for this building!), should 2 floor building have 16 x 24?? What is kind of rule of thumb in this??/. Could this footing widening be added afterwards?? Sure hope so, how do they do that?? Thanks a lot, youtheman =)

Our very first house we bought when we were young was like your video, a "remodeled" house. The footer for the addition was poured like a parallelogram. Needless to say the block was laid on the crooked footer and the walls went on top of the block.

Down here in Ohio when we had out 9 ft basement poured they was spot on!! They were perfectly sq no void areas in concrete! All walls plumb! But they used metal wall panels and form release! Even the walkout on the basement was perfect! They had another company do all steps and flat work and they was real good also! They cut the concrete wet which I have never seen but as to today still no cracks and we are to the drywall stage now!! Also thanks for replying back when I was framing about the structural questions!!

if your patioing or paving around the hose you dont have to remove any of the concrete and a small deviencce in the forming is not that bad a massive difference yes but not a small one very informative but over critical on some aspecs

I like that your explanation

to make walls smoth tap with hammer or use a stinger to cream it up paln sander on out side of forms works also

Thanks for the video and tips. I'm not sure I seen a problem if the structure is for personal use and not to sell on the market. I understand cosmetically things could have been done different but what about the integrity of the wall? Is it still a solid foundation wall for a single story structure or am I missing something?

Do you guys not have a damp proof course? How do you keep ground water out, or is this a desert design?

Worried about a 1/4" bit of concrete from between form boards but there's not one bit of sealant on the foundations below grade. Priorities?

The formwork he shows as an example is half-assed. Guaranteed to move since the bracing is so light. And it's always terrible practice to leave wood stakes embedded in forms - a perfect pathway for termites.

I saw poor consolidation with the honey Comb. The forms will blow out at the bottom from the plastic concrete and not enough bracing.

Always get the concrete as straight as you can. level and plumb. Then everything will be easier. Even your wife will be happier.

Easy to Use and Well Made

I'm old enough to remember working with my dad making foundations from concrete block. Always straight, always level and always square and to specs. Architects back then seemed to be conscious about external dimensions on the prints so you didn't end up with a house that was say 32' 3-1/2'' long. Contractors got lazy and cheap and this is the result. The horizontal lines in the foundation concrete look like hell to me.

Thanks for video. ))

For 3000 psi-3500 psi 4” thickness driveway, can I use #3 rebar and 18” spacing? What is the chair spacing? Thank you

When we score off of foundation and pool all of our lines it becomes the framers problem to fix with the concrete guys messed up and it happens over and over and over but we do our job thank God for framers

good job

Was this in Washington? I did framing out in the seattle area and most of the concrete work that i saw was bad.

Greg, do you have an e-mail I can contact you at? I would like your perspective/thoughts on a leaking issue I am having that my condo HOA is blaming on the window and will not fix it. But I find the window impossible to be an issue. Thank You

question: throughout the video we see some framing. I am wondering why there is no bearer between the concrete floor and the sill plate? Is it a building code thing from where you're from? I live in the north and its required, just curious. I always enjoy your efforts in posting these videos and providing your thoughts and skills in the building trade. Thanks.

A cheap diamond circular saw will make short work of bulges. I put a £5 blade on my 4½" angle grinder and it cuts through normal limestone+ cement concrete like butter. You'd need a bigger one for slabs like that obviously.

I have a question they just pour the concert and made a foundation slab but now it has crack everywhere what does it mean I mean cracks from all the plumbing and some cracks are even going to foundation walls to

This is all new to me. I haven't seen anything built before, so you can laugh but I wonder if you are going to lay brick on top of this, wouldn't it be cheaper just to add a large plastic liner and pour concrete in without the form thing. also it seems that for the corners one could just put a 30 foot high steel post in and hold it still while the concrete sets up and then go to the next corner. Is the reason it is not done like this is that dried concrete wont bond to new concrete? Can you build with concrete then brick then wood for the attic? thanks

I don't know if you're missed the point of the video, but it was to double check everything and make sure that everything is reinforced correctly so that someone else doesn't have to worry about fixing anything and yes you can actually do it right the first time, I've done it plenty of times and so have others.

Thanks for the video and.... it would be a lot of help if you'd make another one regarding isolated footings in RCC framed buildings ..

we are building a home and was wondering if we do not know what to look for should we pay for another set of eyes during the entire process (inspector) from start to finish????

From engineering perspective, I agree with most of the stuff you mentioned, but there is more important things to consider during construction. 1- as per the code, make sure that you have enough cover of 5cm (2in). This will prevent steel from corrosion. 2- Use concrete vabrators when pouring concrete. This will decrease the air content in the concrete and therefore you will get stronger concrete. 3- make sure to use reinforcement chairs or even small rocks to have your steel set on before pouring.

Great vid! I would hire you in a second. Who I wouldn’t hire is all these people saying this type of work is acceptable. I guess there is very few true tradesman left in the world.

I've seen plenty of concrete crews screw up the slabs. Not many of them think about quality. I've been in construction for 35 years. If the slab starts out wrong then the rest of the subs have to fix the problems usually. It becomes fix the previous guys problem.

is sulfate resistant concrete used around the world? or just canada?

I am building a 20x20 garage. There is already an asphalt slab in place. Can I just use dirt on one side against the asphalt and wood on the other for a form?

A lot of concrete carpenters are like doctors. They bury their mistakes.

This is just one example of why I prefer to do these types of jobs by myself, rather than hire someone to do them. Because no one who I hire is gonna take the extra time that I would to make the forms perfect. The downside is that I'm a lot slower. But that's better than going back to fix mistakes that were made the first time.

i like it good work

Why were 2x used instead of Plywood? I guess it can be done either way, but seems like plywood and wailers could eliminate some of those issues. Is there any advantage of using 2x over plywood?

There should be some dpc under the timber sole plate

At 6min of the video, the foundation shows scratches, instead of bulging out, some part the concrete is missing small holes inside. Will it create any problem?

I've just started to listen to your introduction but do you give the techniques to making it straight so that people that are I'm sure we'll be able to get it right.? Not to offend looking forward to hearing from you Ken

Good video, but here's my take on this, in a hundred years from now will these minor flaws matter?. I'm working on a barn of mine and there is NOTHING!! straight or plumb but I am making walls and floors work by just covering them up the best I can and when anyone walks into the barn they will see some what straight walls. Yes it's good to try and make a good start on something when building but sometimes close is good enough.

Great things to look for with any builder or contractor you are thinking about using. Its sad that some of these builders don't employ or watch over the work of the laborers.

One thing you didn't mention in this video is the risk of forms lifting off the footing when pouring knee walls. I had that happen and it could easily been prevented with a few Tapcons or other fasteners. Sure created a panic when it happened and the guys had to remove a bunch of concrete between the wall forms to have a level knee wall top for the log walls to rest upon.

Iv'e built a few but this info is great info for the asses that build concrete foundations . I don't trust a concrete contractor

But what size door is going in that opening furring out could change the door size needed.Should be cut out.

I've seen worse,and in my own house.I own a Levit home and I have to say nothing in this house is straight.I seen the way my foundation was poured,and it looks like the outside was poured first then the floors poured inside them.Needless to say my floors settled and the outside edge stayed where they were poured.I really would like to put nice floors in my house but seeing how the floors dropped and the outside stayed where they were,I had to at least fill the huge cracks where the two surfaces separated.

Do you often pour a lot of monolithic walls/footings? As a driver I have seen that often attempted, but rarely done well without also forming the top of the footing. Usually I groan when I see that type of a set-up, especially if people are real quick with the vibrator.

I've bricked a lot of houses in my career as a brick mason. Most people would NOT be happy to know what it looks like behind the brick wall . That goes for the frame work part of the house as well.

Some kind of plastic spray after rebar and wires are in place then poor concrete? Will that work is that what you mentioned in the video?

Noob question; why does it matter if the slab sticks out farther than the wood? How is it any different than having an extended slab that sticks out for a patio?

I feel you should have mentioned "level", almost more important than straight...

more like this .thank you

best advice I've ever had is, "when you think you have enough bracing, double it"

We have that problem Colorado here apparently there's no decent concrete guys cuz our foundations are fucked up is a springer we're constantly fixing they're bulshit it sucks

I was a builder for 14 years, and the work you illustrated was truly cringe-worthy. Your comments are spot-on, and thanks.

I have a thousand photos of screw-ups, I should post them like you did. I would not consider that form to be braced, that was a terrible example, a 1x3 is not adequate. The pressure at the bottom is much greater, and unfortunately, most foundations in Florida are monoslab, meaning one pour for the floor and wall supports. They all have that knob of concrete spurl on the sides, no big deal, nobody fixes that, they just landscape above it. It is not a structural issue, only cosmetic. So first suggestion would be to pour a footing, that way the bottom of the form can be anchored to something. Any pour more than 18 inches is going to have lots of hydrostatic pressure, more at the bottom, and the higher you form it, the more pressure. Three feet, almost impossible to contain without real forms by a real forms company, the pressure will blow out the wall, bowed, like you described. Personally, I would always use a stemwall, meaning to have a footing down at least two feet, then just stack block, even dry stack, then only a 2X4 around the perimeter, let the crete fill the holes. that will always give you a perfectly square and plumb foundation if the interior dirt is not clay and has been compacted well. Next, be careful about load bearing. We had a huge development pour slabs for the lanais with no footing on the corners to carry the load for those block corner posts. We had over fifty houses where all the corners broke in those slabs. Footings are just deeper, compacted, and rebar in a crosshatch pattern, that will carry the load. Interior walls can be load bearing, so never forget footings under those.

I dont see any DPM under the floorplates on any of the framing,dont you need/use it in the US?

Like someone pointed out already, if you brace forms the way you show in this video in my neck of the woods, forming companies will send you home within the 1st. hour! footing forms need to be braced with braces that: don't stick out over the top, have a piece of rebar or picket to hold the pressure at the back and cleats at the top! now if you are a shoemaker rather than a carpenter, it is a different story!!

ply rips only for forms unless under 6 inch

1:39 Off topic - don't you need a DPM under the sole plate?

form lines are because u need a tiny gap for form ties to go in so u will always end up with lines. I always drive my kickers past the top of forms that is against the form for better strength and not in the way of floating. not the best form job example but close enough for this video.

Does that defect weakens the construction on top of the concrete? And if in what way ? Can make any good reason why a guy should grind a concrete tunnel with a mega grinder ? Concrete should only be used as plitnts in the ground NADA MAS.

nice

You think this will happen if I use metal formwork instead of Lumber?

I thought a possible cause for the lines on the side of a slab were caused by the difference in moisture content or temperature between the top and bottom of the slab.

Is that house in Sacramento, California

what state is this that lets you build homes with 2x4 walls and not 2x6

What difference does it make if peices hang out? Or if there's lines in it?

Dear Sir, That half inch space will be filled in with half inch plywood sheeting making the 2x4 plumb with the cement

I would just like to add one thing pertaining to this topic... It is NOT always the case where things like this occur, and it is simply because the mason didn't know what he or she was doing. It's not always the case where the lumber was shot either. You would be surprised how often the cause of something like this was another type of human error. (ie... when pouring the concrete a stupid laborer bumped into a form or something. I have even seen the guy form the masonry plant who comes to test the concrete walk past, and bump a form. The prick didn't even speak up either.) The problem is a daunting task to remedy when there is a lot of square footage involved. Either way, that's why I prefer steel forms when I can use them, and I watch the entire process like a hawk. There is nothing worse than a laborer mucking up a several thousand dollar job, or the truck driver, or a home owner stepping on a form even. Thank God for yellow caution tape!!!

There are lots of videos on building a foundation, but this is the only one (so far) that shows the results of sloppy work which creates more work by continually correcting. Getting the forms straight and at exact angles, braced strong should take the time to get everything right. Digging the trenches and pouring the cement are the easy parts. Thanks for the reminder.

What that last one for ?

foam or rubber gasket where wood meets concrete. if not wood wicker moisture from concrete

Also, at 04:13 looks like the concrete was not properly placed or vibrated since there is exposed aggregate on the surface and pockets where cement should be.

cool.

It is always cheaper to do it right the first time than having to do it over.

centred,secured and symetricly straight.....savvee.?

in mass production is not the same build a home and build 1000 homes is mass production this is common problems in our daily basis life where we have a crew just to correct any imperfection on the punch list of the project is easy to judge after finished but different when you are working and have to complete 5 or 6 in one day , one crew forming and other pouring concrete

It almost looks like the concrete sub set some of the walls for 2x6 accidentally?

Landscaping is meant to cover some of these typical poured artifacts. Finished, siding also covers some of these sort of artifacts. It wasn't that terrible overall. Skills and experience, will make the finished project perfectly fine. No doubt, a better job could have been done. Certainly this video points out where more attention to details would have been a nice thing during the concrete pouring phase/s. I think if we knew all the contractors involved, and their background and history, that would tell us that maybe these muck ups, were to be expected and we shouldn't be surprised! Lol!