Are my concrete forms holding the concrete?
Konrad___far_north
13 years ago
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manhattan42
13 years agoKonrad___far_north
13 years agoRelated Discussions
daisydal concrete mushroom forms
Comments (3)Dee, you are a genious! Who else woulda seen that and thought "MUSHROOM"!! THAT WAS PERFECT! Hope you didn't ruin it. Its a beautiful piece. My husband has a large family and we are "elected" alot to host get-togethers, parties and holidays and that piece just screams out serving dish for cookies, nuts or fruit. It's beautiful and so are your mushrooms, dear. Thanks for sharing that info with me!!! Now, I will hafta find one! blessings-sherri...See MoreInsulated Concrete Form Walls -Anyone??
Comments (46)Nope, don't mind. We are almost 4,000 sq. ft. Three bedroom house, not large bedrooms but the single living room, single dining area, kitchen are largish spaces with the sometimes-highly-criticized high ceilings everywhere. ;~) I love 'em! We have some square footage that most folks wouldn't want or need because we have a section of the house that consists of two office spaces and a "dog room" and a largish back entry area that also functions as mud room (partly because we work at home and partly because we live with dogs and this is what works well for us.) We also have a hugely high central hallway to be an "air chimney" with high windows that can open remote....when they are open they create a natural air flow through the house windows and up and out the high windows. Obviously our house is designed for a climate that is hot most of the year! I wish I had a better engineering answer for you about why we haven't needed the makeup air, but I suspect it is simply because our house isn't as tight as hubby wanted it originally. We did a lot of research into ICFs and SIPs and tight houses, and had originally intended to design and add a makeup air infusion system. We did see some articles indicating that while it is possible to design and build a house tight enough to need makeup air, that in general "real living" some houses would not need it. In practice, we have not needed it, and that is probably because once I got through adding the fireplace (even though we chose the tightest sealed damper we could find) and the dog doors (though we can close off that room with a weather-stripped door when we want to) and we also have two vents for the whole-house exhaust fan (which are *supposed* to be sealed but probably aren't as tight as their specs)...well, basically anyplace you have a potential pentration like that probably lets more air in than you expect. Anyway, those exposures are probably why we haven't neded the make up air. We do have very strong exhaust fans (large Panasonic whisper quiet) in the bathrooms and in the utility room where the cat boxes are, and in the kitchen.....those seem able to work great with no makeup air...probably because of our "unintended" air penetration places. If I turn on the whole-house fan to exhaust, either in the main part of the house or in the "dog room" I can feel and hear the windows and doors suck in, and doors in the house that are partly closed will close....we definitely have to open some windows...so the house IS at least that tight. Does all that make sense? It's tight enough that we have a MUCH higher comfort level during cold spells (no drafts at all, floors stay very comfortable) and during very hot spells than any house we have lived in before; our utility bills are lower, our a/c is much more efficient during humid times. I think the nice tight envelope due to the ICF and SIPS and sealed attic,good windows, etc. just go a long way to making up for our other "air penetrations" caused by how I wanted my house to live (lots of windows and glass doors, dog doors, etc.)...See MoreBuilding/forming a concrete front porch...
Comments (3)I"m not getting a clear mental picture of what your describing, you should post a pic. What I can tell you is that you don't need 12" thick solid concrete. If the need is there on the perimeter for the additional thickness fill in the center with form fill (sandy clay dirt) and dig a footer beam around the circumference then use additional steel to reinforce the beam. Inside of the form all you need is 4" of redimix for the floor. Dirt is a much cheaper filler. You can use plywood and/or dimensional lumber with kickers for your form setting. I would also say to take some post hole diggers and place some post holes down through the topsoil to some harder dirt beneath your outside beam. If the elevation of your finished floor is at a level equal to or below your existing brick ledge it doesn't matter when you pour the concrete. You should also drill into the existing concrete and use a two part epoxy to place some dowels into it across the cold joint (the spot where both concretes poured at different times meet) This is work a DIY'er homeowner can perform himself. See ya, Kelly...See Morewhat can I use as a form for making a concrete septic cover
Comments (5)Measure diameter of hole and multiply by 3.5. Cut a piece of flexiable plastic or heavy cardboard or metal roof flashing long as number found above X twice the thickness of tank cover. Work strip to snuggly fit inside tapered hole making sure lower edges line up ( top edges will miss-alighn where they meet but it doesn't matter.) Use duct or other strong tape to join ends. Wax inside ring and set on waxed plywood. Fill ring 3/4trs full of sackcrete and bury wire reinforcmet and handle in it before it sets. You might have to lightly agitate concrete to make sure ring form is round. Many people just lay flat rot resistant material over the hole which seems to work fine....See Moremanhattan42
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13 years agoKonrad___far_north
13 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
last yearMark Bischak, Architect
last yearworthy
last yearlast modified: last year3onthetree
last year3onthetree
last yearL Clark (zone 4 WY)
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8 months agoKonrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta
8 months ago
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