Last push - forming and pouring the concrete walls.

"Last push" is me tipping my hat to the effort that was required to keep everyone involved with this foundation project on task. After the slab had been poured, I didn't want a general sense of accomplishment to derail my timeline - my parting words to the contractor that day were something to the effect of "see you in a few days". And so, a few days later the concrete guys were back to deliver a stack of forms so that they could start in on forming the walls - I think they were all starting to look forward to the end of this project as much as I was since most of their other work was back in town.

Formwork and rebar work underway. It rained for the first time in a while that day. However, the guys didn't seem to have any trouble keeping their cigarettes going despite the rain.

Before the forms could be set up, vertical rebar had to be installed. I helped cut and then tie lengths of 15 mm rebar to the vertical bars that had already been installed with the footings. Since the bars that had been installed with the footings had been spaced at 24" o.c., holes had to be drilled through the slab for additional rebar - bringing the spacing down to 12" o.c. as specified in my plans.

Vertical rebar installed 12" o.c. A 15 amp, heavy duty hammer drill made short work of drilling the extra holes. If you look closely, you can see the form ties at the near end of the forms. The horizontal rebar was laid dirrectly on top of the form ties then tied in place.

With all the vertical bars straightened, the forms could be set up on either side. We used standard wall panel forms with steel ties. Every fifteen feet or so, before continuing with the formwork, horizontal rebar was inserted into the forms and simply laid across the form ties. The forms were braced, straightened and the concrete poured the next day. A few of the guys came out again the morning after that and I helped them strip the forms from the new walls. Once the forms were stripped, I let everyone go and I spent most of the rest of that day knocking the ends of the form ties off the walls with my hammer. Good times...

In this photo you can see how the inner form rests on the slab but the outer form rests on the slab edge form while the rebar goes up the middle. Gerry, on the left, was the lead-hand on this crew and had competence to spare. Like all the Newfies I ever known, he was a great guy - he even shared some of the fresh pickerel he brought for lunch with me.

By the end of that first day the formwork was mostly complete. A few details like nailing in the "steps" adjacent to the walk-out portion had to be completed the next day, prior to the pour. Conveniently, the rain let up early that first day so it never did get too muddy - by the time the concrete trucks showed up the next day, everything had dried out nicely.

Always Keep an Edge on Your Knife - Corb Lund