June Issue

Fastfoot® Method

Paul Menzel, an Idaho-based ICF contractor, has developed another mono-pour method using Fab-Form. “It’s a really easy to get a perfect footing,” he says.  “You don’t need to clean anything up and it’s cheaper than lumber.”

He starts by driving stakes in the ground and fastening 2x4s to them at the height of the top of the footing.  Once the boards are level, he sets the Fastfoot® fabric over boards and fastens the centerline—marked on the material—to the ground.  He then fastens the material to the 2x4s using a hammer-tacker and 3/8” staples, using the adjustment lines printed on the fabric to ensure the Fastfoot® stays centered and maintains the right width on the ground.

Next, he screws “hat-track” or sound channel across the tops of the boards every two feet on center. These are used to hang the horizontal rebar in the footing.

The Fastfoot® is then folded back over the hat-track and sheet metal angle strips are screwed on, sandwiching the Fastfoot® in between. The spacing between the angle strips is equal to the width of the ICF block. The footing is now ready for stacking.

Menzel uses plastic zip ties to secure the blocks to the hat track and eliminate float, but says screwing through the sheet metal into the furring strips would also work.

“You can ensure that your walls are laser-level, plumb, and straight before you ever pour,” says Menzel. He pours two courses with the footing.  If the wall is going taller than that, he tapes the tops of the blocks to keep the interlocks clean, and stacks and pours the rest later.

"I do know of contractors that have monolithically poured a full eight feet of block on top of Fastfoot,” he says. “The danger here is that you have a huge load of steel hanging on your forms, so they must be staked and braced sufficiently."

Once the concrete has cured, the wood can be stripped and reused. The boards should be perfectly clean because they were wrapped in fabric.  Scot Smyth, a contractor who used this method for his home in Colorado, recycled all his footing boards by using them for window bucks.

Says Menzel, “The first one takes a while, but once you get used to the system it’s simple.” Learn more about this method here.

To learn more about the different wet set and mono-pour methods, click here.