@350rocketmike?ÿ
We were running an Engineering and Survey contract for a fairly large national home builder. How where and why isn't important, but I'll never for the time we were there to form check the houses that were scheduled to be poured and my chief is being bombarded by people. Asking it's " okay to pour" and him saying rather loudly "No, No, it's not ok to pour. Your almost 5 feet out of the plans, and no you're not getting in our permission to pour anything"....
So the guy asks and gives the thumbs up..."Is Ok to pour?"
We left the site for other projects.
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When I stake foundations or write info on stakes, I do it with the dumbest guy on the crew in mind.?ÿ I typically tell this to the contractor unless it's him.?ÿ I've made CAD sketches by overlaying the blue prints, and having numbers on the blueprint corners that correspond with the stakes, but even this can create confusion.?ÿ Nowadays, for footers, I put wood stakes at the outside with no offsets then I spray paint the entire outside of footer, draw an obnoxious amount of "dig here" letters on the side they need to dig and sometimes even shovel a bit of the duff off to drive home the point.
No one in NC seems to want to dig a hole to grade, lay gravel then form up the footers with foundation drains as is best practice. They just dig trenches.?ÿ If the top of concrete is somewhat near grade, and I can get there when it's green, I use a Leica mini to stake the foundation corner, then a punch, then a cordless impact driver to put a small tapcon in, but not all the way since they'll want to snap chalk line and can hook to my screws.
@murphy Like the idea of the tapcon screws.?ÿ Thanks for that.?ÿ What's the ideal timing for their use - 24 hours after pour??ÿ And, is the idea that if you catch it green enough, you don't have to pre-drill holes?
@big-al We stake footings with 20p nails and pin conc with 1/2? conc nails. No drilling if you make it in the next couple days unless it??s extremely sunny/hot. I??ve had people pour on Friday and never drilled a hole Monday morning.
@big-al?ÿ
I try to shoot for next day but it's still possible if within 72 hours, possibly more.?ÿ Yes, I usually have to pre-drill but it's quite fast in green concrete.?ÿ If the aggregate is unusually heavy it can slow things down a bit.?ÿ I keep a handful of 3/4" masonry nails as a backup.?ÿ?ÿ
Makita makes the best 1/4" impact driver right now ($$$).?ÿ You can get a perfectly fine Milwaukee M18 1/4" impact drive for a $100 with one 2 hour battery for $100.?ÿ If this will be a dedicated tool, you can usually get better deals on the same drill in 3/8".?ÿ The batteries are the killer and when you get more than one, which you'll likely need, the price goes up.?ÿ Same thing if you opt for a 3 hour or 5 hour battery.
I learned this from watching a construction crew claw out my masonry nails and quickly replace them with tapcons.?ÿ Definitely an, "Ah ha", moment.?ÿ As a bonus, it gives off a more professional appearance than running around with a bloody thumb screaming obscenities.?ÿ
- @norman-oklahoma Rough staking for footings and rebar, then nails hammer drilled in each corner on top of the footing is the most accurate way. You can catch mistakes this way, because you do the layout twice. I always mark the walls and center of columns and I let the carpenters deal with the offsets for footings. When the walls are higher than 8' I?ÿ give them a mark on the form for each corner. Also on walls longer than 100' they lock it halfway and the top of the form gets to be checked before the pour and just right after the pour while the concrete is still fresh so the top of the?ÿ form can be moved back on the true line.?ÿ
- I sometimes use 2??4s as a support for my marks. I nail them flat to the ground with 6 inch spiral?ÿ nails preferably a little higher?ÿ than the top of footing and outside the building envelope, more like?ÿ ?ÿbatter boards. I mark the walls on these 2x4s at each end and the carpenters plumb the lines down on the ground and footing.
@350rocketmike?ÿ
Gravel that size doesn't compact at all if the mix doesn't include a range of smaller sizes.?ÿ
Good tips.?ÿ Here is another one: if you are crawling around on concrete footings 'pinning' corners, get some good knee pads, and use them!
Ken
@jim-in-az I refuse to even look at plans without dimensions, nor will I scale plans. Either give me a dimension or I won't touch it. If I stake something that I scaled and its wrong its on me. if I stake what's dimensioned and it's wrong that is on the architect.