Let’s do it

By Dustin

With loan commitment from New Era Bank, we’ve begun our latest project at 417 Trevor Ct in Bonne Terre, MO.

I wanted to begin discussing this project by highlighting the footing forms system we’re using. But first some background on conventional footing systems.

Conventionally (at least in our area) footings formed up with two rows of 2×10 lumber outlining the perimiter of the house which are then filled in with concrete. Typically you’ll spend part of one day setting up the footing forms, part of another day pouring the concrete into the forms, and then part of yet another day removing the forms. Next you’ll form up the foundation walls (we’ll talk about this step in another post). After that, you’ll lay perforated pipe around the entire perimeter of the foundation on the ground next to the footing and cover it with gravel and either filter fabric or straw to filter out dirt particles and allow water to flow into the perforated pipe and then out to daylight.

The footing forming system we’re using eliminates some steps and guarantees a higher quality job. It’s called Form-A-Drain and it makes for a better job. A problem with traditional foundation drainage is that on the jobsite it’s very hard to ensure that the pipe remains level all around the foundation. Jobsites are rough places to be and ensuring that the pipe is level down in the trenches is difficult. FAD ensures a perfectly level drainage system all around. Another quality advantage is ensured by the straps that hold the two sides of the footing forms apart. The straps are engineered with a “U” shape that dips down into the footing. You can lay your courses of steel rebar reinforement on these straps and are again ensured perfect placement in the footing. Additionally, the forms install quickly.

Since this is the first time I’ve used this product we started out slow learning the system, but once we got going on the project and learned the ropes we could just fly around installing these…while at the same time ensuring a higher quality product.