How to Pour Concrete Footers for Block Walls start to finish DIY

Building a 16"x16" Concrete Footer for a 8" Block wall foundation. Using homemade concrete forms, concrete pump truck, 5.25 yards of concrete and a lot of rebar.

[D.I.Y._All-in-One]

Hello everybody. When I sprayed the forms with grease @6:55 in the video I sprayed the wood only and avoided spraying any rebar using a spray can with a tiny nozzle, this requires accuracy while spraying, with that being said it would probably be easier to just grease the forms before any rebar is present. Also @6:00 in video I talk about the vertical rebar for blocks. Depending on your local building codes a small 6" bend at the bottom of vertical rebar may be needed.

[JoeGraves]

Thank you for putting yourself out there for us. It can be daunting to take on a new task BUT it’s even more daunting to listen to all the criticism you get on how you did it. If it’s any consolation, I have learned a lot from both you and the commentators!

[kofialleghana]

I know nothing about construction but now I feel like I do after watching this 101 tutorial. Thanks

[stellarhodes]

You're an excellent teacher! You explain all that is necessary, succinctly, without distraction. Thank you!

[leeackerson]

Glad to see your kid helping out. A wonderful experience working with his hands that he will remember with fondness.

[YUHJKT]

For a rookie you did a good job. If this is your first time you did a really good job. A couple of tips: make your forms a couple of inches high and hammer nails in at pour height. That way you can finish under the boards without taking them off. Second: Use a vibrator to settle the rock and aggregate during the pour. It also chases the trapped air up and out of the mud while pouring. Third: Use plywood cleats across the top with spreader blocks instead of 2x4's. As far as oiling the forms, you can buy form oil and an open top sprayer and coat the forms before you set them. Don't get any oil on the rebar. Also, after you pour the mud and vibrate it, don't monkey around with the iron. It's set in good. Plum it after the mud sets up a day by bending it. No inspector is going to soil himself if you have to bend a dowel a few degrees. Finally, any mud that spills out over the form onto the back side, , , get that shit out of there before it hardens so stripping the forms is easy. Just spread some plastic sheeting out and dump the over pour on that. As far as rebar placement, we would run a 2x4 on edge on top of the cleats the length of the pour and either tie wire or bend nails over the rebar on our layout. So you can set all the forms and put the rebar in last.

[carlottath]

A very thorough series, and luckily for me almost exactly the kind of construction I'm going to be doing! Yaaaay someone already did all the groundwork.

[brightlightabove]

Awesome seeing the family work together. Thanks for sharing this.

[jerryjones]

This is the best video on footer forms that I've seen. I can do this to save $$$ before hiring someone to work the concrete. I'm not young enough to do the pouring and finishing because it is so time sensitive.

[craigruchman]

I will be looking at building a contemporary home in 3 or 4 years. Thanks for helping me get a start on my journey.

[mikehouston]

You are really gifted at producing videos. This was an excellent video for me as I get ready to add on to my home.

[joehh]

That's a nice solid structure and the foundation is great. Great work all around! For those looking to save exponential amounts of money and especially time though you could skip all that form building, "greasing the forms" and the super high vertical rebar with the "safety caps". As you are digging it out either by hand or machine, just dig the form of the footer in the dirt itself... You're gonna want to put 2-3 adjacent, long, lines of horizontal rebar down the and length and width of the footer, regardless of whatever city or state code, and bend 90 degrees around the corners. You also need all this rebar on the ground to raise a good 3 .5 inches above the dirt for the concrete to set below it. We can do this by simply splitting regular red bricks in half and placing them beneath the rebar about every 4 feet. You don't have to buy special cuts of steel wire for this, you could even use stones from a nearby creek to make sure you rebar is high enough above ground. All this effort will almost entirely prevent cracking well beyond your great, great, grandchildren's lifespan if done properly. Don't forget the rebar tie wire that connects each individual piece to the next and double up at intersections between individual pieces of long rebar with at least a 20 inch overlap . At 4:50 in this video we're going to instead put a short 16-18 inch piece of rebar crossing our long pieces and tie those in with wire as well. Finally, every 4 feet, you drive an 18-30 inch piece of rebar vertically along the center of your footer and use a laser level to put them at the exact height you want your footer to be all the way around (about 12 inches of concrete for 1 story structures). As you are pouring concrete you have an easy height measurement with that vertical rebar that's been leaser leveled exactly, instead of a health risk you need to buy extra stuff to cap off or a huge, time intensive wooden form made from planks you can barely re-use. As a disclaimer this method requires more skill in digging, especially with machinery and you may use an extra yard of concrete or two, however it saves huge amounts on lumber, grease, plastic, and most importantly... time.

[DedicatedSpartan]

Well done. This is the best video I have seen on pouring a foundation. A lot more detail here than some of the professional videos.

This breakdown was close to ChrisFix level, as far as information and order goes.

[victornicasio]

I like that you got the family involved and the project looks very good.

[LuisMunoz-mzfc]

Nice job . The Family working together ... Priceless !!! 😊

[darthredwhiteblue]

By far the best video I've watched. Awesome family working together.

[stevenmcmanus]

Great work. Inspiring and easy to follow. Self constructing my 1200 sq ft all steel reinforced concrete extension and among all the videos out there, your work is a good guide to follow. Thanks from the island of Guam.

[usmcpatriot]

I have to say that the lady in that video worked harder than anybody else on that project. 👍🏻

[WillowWcue]

I love concrete as a building material. Great Video.

[iantaylor]

good to see all the family working on it... great team work