How to make a formwork for a strip foundation with your own hands?

When building a private or country house, one of the most important stages of work is the formwork for, which can be quickly assembled and installed by hand without any problems.

It is the foundation of this type that is considered the most common in the construction of a private house, and its quality will largely depend on how the formwork itself is assembled.

Directly for foundations of this type, there are several types of formwork, namely removable and fixed.

In the first case, it is assumed that after the poured concrete rises and dries well, it will be necessary to dismantle the pre-installed shields.

In turn, a special material is used for fixed formwork, which, after pouring concrete, becomes a single monolithic structure.

The material that is most commonly used for this purpose is styrofoam blocks, which must be correctly installed in the ground, as shown in the photo below. e .

Both types of formwork for strip foundations can be built with your own hands if you install it in accordance with the developed technology.

Preliminary stage of work

The device of any formwork, both from panels and from foam polystyrene blocks for a tape-type foundation, begins with survey work.

This is done primarily in order to understand on what land and with what soil you will have to work.

In addition, with the help of engineering surveys, you can find out the maximum depth of freezing of the earth, as well as the depth of groundwater flow, which is an important point in building a house.

As a rule, this type of work is carried out by special organizations, which should be contacted for help.

If the foundation is designed and subsequently filled with concrete incorrectly, then most likely, after a certain time, cracks will appear on the walls of the house, and the structure itself will be subject to deformation and other negative phenomena.

It is also important at the very beginning of work to accurately determine the size of the future house and the thickness of the bearing walls.

All these factors affect the configuration of the future strip foundation and its technological device.

If it is planned to build a large house with powerful and fairly thick walls, then, accordingly, the foundation should be built more massive, having thought well how to make its strengthening.

It is also important at the preparatory stage to determine the material of the future formwork. With a removable type of future construction, it will be necessary to install special shields made, for example, of wood.

If a non-removable formwork is intended, then it is better to use functional blocks made of expanded polystyrene, since they are easier to work with.

Having finally decided on the size of the foundation and the type of formwork, you can proceed to its construction with your own hands.

The video below shows how to properly reinforce and formwork a shallow strip foundation.

Site marking

When the project of the house is completely ready and the necessary surveys have been carried out, work on the ground begins with marking the territory for the future foundation on the ground.

To begin with, the site should be thoroughly cleaned of debris and vegetation. Further, the walls of the future foundation are directly marked.

To do this, it is necessary to install pegs at the corners of the site, which will mark the outer boundaries of the future house.

When the pegs are installed in the ground, ropes should be pulled between them, which will mark the boundaries of the strip foundation.

In the view below you can see how to properly mark the foundation.

It is necessary to make sure that the ropes of the inner and outer edges of the foundation run strictly parallel to each other, and the distance between them is the same everywhere.

When the entire perimeter of the foundation is marked on the ground, then it is necessary to reconcile each corner.

As a result, the foundation should have a perfect rectangular contour and each corner will be ninety degrees.

In exactly the same way, the foundation is marked for the internal walls and partitions of the future structure.

After the markings on the ground are completely ready and before removing the ropes, it is necessary to dig an appropriate trench.

As a result, it should turn out to be slightly wider than the outlined contour, since space should be left for the device of the future formwork.

Dig should be from the lowest point on the ground, while the depth of the pit should provide for a compacted cushion layer, which should be made of sand and gravel.

It should be noted that the technology for marking under the strip foundation is the same, both for removable formwork assembled from panels, and for fixed formwork, when it is planned to install polystyrene blocks.

Marking the space for the arrangement of the future foundation can be done without problems exclusively with your own hands.

Arrangement of formwork for foundation

After the soil is well compacted and the layer of sand and gravel is leveled, you can begin to do the installation of the formwork itself with your own hands.

The material with which the formwork of the strip foundation is installed and its main type, everyone chooses independently.

If it is planned to install a removable formwork, then it is optimal to use wooden material, which will subsequently need to be removed.

In the case when it is supposed to assemble a fixed type of formwork, it is better to use a building material like polystyrene foam blocks.

Boards should be taken with a certain thickness so that they can withstand the pressure that concrete will put on them when pouring.

Shields should be built from them, the width of which should be slightly greater than the depth of the pit. The number of shields is determined based on the dimensions of the strip foundation itself.

After that, it is necessary to drive in wedges with the same pitch around the entire perimeter and attach to them all previously assembled wooden shields.

The entire structure of wooden panels must be additionally reinforced with appropriate lintels using special wedges, using the same material as for the formwork.

After the installation of all panels under the formwork is completed, they must be carefully checked by the level, both in a horizontal and vertical position.

It will help eliminate the possibility of leakage of moisture from the solution when pouring directly into the ground.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the film or roofing material on all walls of the formwork along its perimeter and in no case remove this material, as it will prevent possible leakage of concrete.

This operation is not performed in the case when it is being equipped. Next, we build a reinforcing cage with our own hands, as shown in the photo below.

The frame is assembled directly in the formwork itself, while making sure that the reinforcement does not touch the formwork walls.

Also at this stage of the workflow, it is necessary to make all the provided technological openings for various outlets of communications and appropriate ventilation.

After that, you can safely proceed directly to pouring the foundation with a concrete solution with your own hands, as shown in the video below.

The formwork can be removed only when the concrete solution dries well and rises.

In order to make a truly high-quality and durable, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the technology of its construction.

The space intended for the foundation of the structure being erected must be carefully cleaned and leveled.

In no case should you try to save on fixing the entire structure of the formwork being erected, since any weakness in its frame will definitely lead to severe deformation of the foundation itself, and this, in turn, will have an extremely negative impact on its strength and reliability.

To subsequently make it easier to remove the formwork, its entire inner surface should be treated with lime milk. You can also do this with the help of various hydrophobic compounds.

In any case, the wooden formwork should be removed as carefully as possible so as not to damage the integrity of the entire foundation structure.

To add stability and strength to the formwork for a tape-type foundation, additionally installed horizontal boards will help, which must be carefully fixed using special struts located at an angle.

In order for the concrete solution to be distributed as evenly as possible in the inner space of the formwork and voids do not form in it, it is best to use an electric construction vibrator.

Each action during the formwork installation should be carefully controlled and rechecked.

You should also pay attention to the reinforcement of the foundation frame, the mesh must be completely immersed in the solution.

If the formwork for the strip foundation is installed in accordance with all the rules and in strict accordance with the technology, then the result will be a reliable and durable foundation that will last for many years.