Ram Construction uses Fastfoot® for Commercial Grade Beam

Ram Construction of Surrey, BC recently completed the foundations, slabs and tilt walls for Fedex's Western Canada Distribution Center.

Ram Construction Inc., started in 1986 by current President Steve Knoblauch, has a long and successful history of building retail, commercial and institutional buidings in Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Squamish, the Interior of BC and Vancouver Island.

In the picture below the grade beam to support the dock levelers is being poured.

Set up Cribbing

Workers used 1x4 stakes, 48" on center, with a 2x4 screed board for the top of the footing. Grade beam depth was 16 to 20" in height.

A laser was used to measure the grade beam height on each stake. Three 2" duplex nails attached each stake to the screed board.

"We would have required a 2x12 plus a 2x4 to form this", said Chris Moncton, Site Supervisor. "With Fastfoot® we eliminated the 2x12 and the cost of moving and storing the concrete damaged lumber."

Unroll Fastfoot®

Fastfoot® was quickly unrolled between the screed boards. This single roll of Fastfoot®, weighing just 14 pounds, replaced 900 pounds of 2x12.

Stapling Fastfoot®

Fastfoot® was attached to the screed board using a hammer tacker with 3/8" staples. Spacing was about 4 to 6" on center.

"Worker safety is important", confirmed Chris Moncton. "Light weight fabric makes a lot of sense - why risk back injury from heavy lumber?"

Attaching 1x4 Cleats

Cleats were attached in line with each pair of stakes to ensure the fabric tension would not torque the screed board off the stake.

Reinforcing Steel

As the grade beam is bridging between load bearing caissons, there were two levels of footing steel with stirrups 12" on center.  Steel projecting above the grade beam will be imbedded in a 5' retaining wall above used to support the dock levelers.

Steel Caissons

8" and 10" diameter steel caissons were located 15 to 18' on center to support building loads.

Fastfoot® was easily slit with a utility knife over each caisson.