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News • Media Coverage
CONCRETE FACTS - THE
CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER (October 1998)
Fab-Form Fabric Formwork
'Footing forming that is in the bag'
Richard Fearn, the man behind the Fab-Form™, made
his mark in concrete. This Canadian contractor has placed more than a few cubic meters of
concrete since he poured his first foundation with his father at the age of seven. But
after making a disastrous and expensive two foot mistake while dimensioning a foundation a
few years ago, he set out to make Fastfoot®. He wanted it to be the fastest, easiest,
most foolproof footing system ever made. He may be right. This system may be as good as it
gets. You can use this pad and footing system in three different applications:
Fastbags®
Contractors who favor pad footings will like how
easy this system is to install. Simply place these bags on the ground and fill with
concrete. You don’t have to level the ground beforehand because the fabric conforms
to the soil surface. Just kick the bags to level it. There is no cross bracing, no stakes
to cut, an no ladders to build. If you need steel bracing, just zip open the bag, place
the grind on chairs, and re-zip the bag.
The amount of concrete pumped into the bag
determines the thickness of the footing. You can use steel dowels to integrate the pad
with columns. Fastbags® are extremely light – three bags weigh less than one pound. They
come in six-inch variables, from 18" to 48" square.
Fastfoot® Strip
Footing System
This system uses outside "yokes" made of
steel, 2x4 lumber and fabric. You first lay out kicker plates (2x4 lumber) for the wall
forms around the perimeter of the proposed foundation. For example, with an 8" wall
using ¾" plywood, you would build the plates 9 ½" apart. You won’t use
any lumber to form the footing itself; that’s what the fabric is for. Special 90
degree flanges and union couplings eliminate the need for 1 x 4 lumber.
Now lift up the kicker plates and place them in the
steel "yokes" which hold the lumber the correct distance apart and at the right
height. Use a drill and a laser to adjust the telescoping legs of the yokes so the kicker
plates are perfectly level. Now unroll the fabric under the yokes and lift up the edges
and staple to the 2x4 plates with a hammer stapler. You’ll notice the fabric has
special adjustment lines for positioning it to the 2 x4 plates.
As the grade drops, let out the fabric so that the
contact width remains constant. A single width of fabric can handle ground variances up to
14". You handle corners by cutting the fabric at 45 degrees. To prevent wind from
shifting the fabric, nail the center line to the ground. Pump concrete into the fabric the
same way you place it in conventional forms. Now trowel it to the bottom of the kicker
plates.
The following day, nail the plates to the concrete
with duplex nails and remove the steel yokes. The wall forms are then installed using the
kicker plates as a template. There is no second day layout.
Footing and curb wall
The inside yoke also accepts dimensional lumber in
heights from four inches to 12". This creates a small curb wall in the top of the
footing so you can pour the footing and curb in one stage.
Just how efficient is this system? The pads are
installed in seconds and there is no stripping. Figure three men can install about 100
feet of strip footing an hour with this system. And there are other savings: this footing
uses less concrete since no leakage occurs from the fabric, and the kicker plates are
protected by the fabric from concrete damage.
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