Recommendations for milling foundation boards

[AMBoser]

Howdy. I hope this is the right place to post this topic. If not, let me know and I'll repost in the appropriate place. My husband and I will soon begin building our cabin in the woods and are trying to create as much of the material from our 10 acres and do as much of the work ourselves as possible. The cabin is 23 x 24' and in a high snow load area (190 lb/sf), so the beams are large. The footing will be 2'4" x 2'4" plus an 8" for the walls.

We have some hemlock that came down over the winter about 14" diameter and are wondering if we can use our chain saw mill to cut the boards to hold in the footing. Obviously, the boards won't be very smooth. Does anyone have experience with milling their own boards to brace a structure footing? Tomboysawyer had a great post about ICF footing and much of that information was helpful (and I love knowing about other wife/husband teams), but we'd appreciate any input from members about doing foundations with boards.

[Jim_Rogers]

I sell rough cut pine board for footing forms to a local to me company. They use 12" tall boards and snap a chalk line on the inside at 10" tall. Then pour the concrete to that line.

I usually sell him 12' and 14' pieces.

As long as they are secured properly you should be ok.



  

Here you can see his just uses some short cleat sticks nailed to the top edges of the boards to hold them together.
I'm not sure if he puts anything in the bottom to hold them from shifting or not. I don't see anything in the picture. But you may need a stake on the side so that the bottom won't blow out.

Good luck with your project.

Jim Rogers

[Bruno of NH]

Buy a roll of the steel strapping with holes they sell at the concrete supply cos .
Run lengths under the footing boards and nail to sides with 8d duplex nails
Bruno

[fishfighter]

I used oak off my mill with no problems. Don't see any problems for you. The boards should just knock of any concrete once dry.

[AMBoser]

Thanks, Jim, Bruno, and Fishfighter, for the information and encouragement. We are glad to know that our plan is workable. Here's a photo of the northwest corner of the to-be cabin.
One of our current projects is pulling the small trees out with a truck.

[peterpaul]

When I install footing forms, I like to use a lazer to shoot in the top of the form to make sure it is level, for me it is easier to finish off.  Don't forget to install rebar.   You may also need to put in sleeves through the footing for drainage, waterlines or electrical lines etc.   Also if a building inspector is involved, check to see if a Ufor ground is required in the footing. 

[Ljohnsaw]

If I understand your original question correctly, yes, mill your own wood for the form boards.  I quickly finished up my bandmill so I could make my own form boards.  I needed about 370 linear feet of 2x12s to do my cabin footings.  I had taken down a number of trees clearing my pad as well as putting in a forest road about 2 years prior.  I did not do a good job of storing them and they were not in great shape.  Certainly not good enough to use on the cabin.  I had a bit of dry rot on some boards but they still worked great for form boards.  My first boards were a little over 2" thick - they sure didn't bend at all!  I learned a lot cutting up that wood and how hard it is to get a 12" wide board out of a 13" log ;)  I also cut wood stakes for the boards - I used steel ones where I absolutely had to because of rocks.  Also, put angled stakes to support and a tie board on top where needed to keep things in line and not bowing out.  I used a simple transit to level everything.  My engineer required three #5 rods laid in the footings (24" wide x 12" deep) with #5 vertical up through the block every foot.  So LOTS of rebar.

 

  

 

 
Oh, yeah - Make sure to take a sawsall and trim off the wood stakes flush with the top of your form boards - it makes the pour go that much easier!

[AMBoser]

Thanks PeterPaul and LJohnSaw. We appreciate all the helpful advice. Lots of good tips that we will incorporate. Our footing will be 28 inches wide and 28 inches deep. We will need to use multiple boards to reach that height, but assume that if they have straight edges we can stack them and use stakes to keep them together.

[Ljohnsaw]

Take a close look at my second to last picture.  I used some 1x2 and 1x3 scrap as a cleat to hole the planks together.  Sometime vertical, sometimes at an angle.  I found using some small galvanized nails worked well.  The rough surface keep them from working loose.  I also used a air framing nail gun and drove nails at different angles to lock the cleat on.  I would fit the planks how I wanted them, remove, cleat them together and then stake them in place.  Couldn't get a hammer down to nail them in the trenches most times.

[ozarkgem]

Thanks PeterPaul and LJohnSaw. We appreciate all the helpful advice. Lots of good tips that we will incorporate. Our footing will be 28 inches wide and 28 inches deep. We will need to use multiple boards to reach that height, but assume that if they have straight edges we can stack them and use stakes to keep them together.

why are you using such a wide footing on such a small building? Just  wondering. Here I would use 8" wide maybe 24" deep.