Plastic Paper Concrete Footing Form Hack

We are starting a new workshop build! The first step is putting in the footers.
To save time and money, we used smaller lumber lined with plastic paper to create our footer forms. This means we did NOT have to perfectly level the ground underneath the footers - the plastic paper on the bottom molded to the ground regardless of grade height.
We used 2x6 form boards instead of heavy (and very expensive) 2x10 or 2x12 lumber - half the cost, half the weight.
Stripping the forms were much easier, since the boards are much smaller, and we did not have to bury the bottom of the form to prevent concrete leaking out.
The plastic paper concrete footing forms saved us time and money. We will be doing this again!

[@garynagle3093]

I never saw this method before. Looks like it made pouring the footers much faster

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

It worked really well!

[@conniedecrescenzo7782]

Didn't realize how much we missed these construction videos. Looking forward to seeing this new project come together.

[@linshannon4480]

One of the things I most admire about your 'series' is how little you waste of your materials. The framing material in this is a perfect case in point. I'm thrilled to see the new workshop as it proceeds from here. A whole new series to look forward to.

[@TheRosahamburgo]

Self-reliance and intelligence is a good combination. Great advices. Thank

[@camilledammasch3648]

Awwww mountain goats 🐐😍😍 So thrilled you guys are gonna have a workshop! ❤️

[@cd1168]

Excellent. I like how you saved money using 2by 6s and then had a vapor barrier. Smart

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.

[@ericbeder1419]

nice footing video I introduced the plastic footing method to a company about 7 year's ago and they finally adopted it 2 years ago. no mess around pins or wood. works excellent for step footing

[@raeperonneau4941]

So stoked that you’re getting a new shop.

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Thanks, it's exciting and much needed!

[@cherylhenson2720]

My favorite people here that share great skills! God bless! We like this idea too.

[@stilcrazychris]

Thanks for the great tip. I don't ever think I will use it, but it's nice to have this in my save box just in case. Chris from Missouri

[@Clark-Mills]

Also the plastic lining for the footings will hold the water in the concrete while it cures; a good thing as you'll have stronger concrete.

[@fynbo1007]

Very interesting, looking forward to seeing more of your new dream shop, thank you for sharing your story. God bless you and your family

[@joymarierigg8406]

Thanks for sharing. You and your wife are the best!

[@MissySimpleM]

I was like: is this an old video of you building the house? And then I watched the video. Dman that's going to be quite the workshop! I'm happy you guys are going to get your dream shop

[@seek2find]

I would love to see the process how you marked the grade on the footer rebars and then attach the planks to the rebars.

[@EtherialFusion]

Awesome, looking forward to seeing the workshop being built! Good luck! :)

[@nancysnider5348]

Very interesting method and I'm glad it worked so smoothly.

[@ride-it-outtimandtoni232]

Looking forward to watching your ICF shop go up!

[@csyt4404]

Really looking forward to watching this, been wondering what you can do next after building your own house! 🙌👌

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Always a project lol!

[@twominutetips]

I can't imagine at this stage in my life I'll be building footers, but good to know for my next life 🤣

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

LOL! I'd love to hear some youngsters ask you how to build footers though!

[@IEnjoyCreatingVideos]

Nice video Jacob! Thanks for sharing the video.👍😎JP

[@bradbusch9585]

Can’t wait for this project

[@prizantsproducts4u]

WOW interesting! So, this will be the building for a workshop! Nice!

[@robertevans6481]

Its going to be one cool shop...

[@jimcooney9019]

looking forward to this project I hope this will start to finish project thanks for sharing the video

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Hi Jim, thank you! Yes, we will be filming this build. We will be trying to do more of a how-to focus as many people are asking for specifics this time around.

[@kaycevictoria9947]

Besides a home tour, will you do a video on your staining technique?! 1. Home tour 2. Staining how to. I use varathane but I'm seeing a lot of people using gel stain on pine.. but your pine always turns out so beautiful. Mine.. eh.. not as beautiful but not terrible.

[@TheAdamlans]

Great Video. In winter conditions, would that Visqueen work to prevent the concrete from contacting the frost filled ground? Wondering if the Visqueen is also a solution to prevent cracking in winter caused by the ground specifically.

[@christopherhaak9824]

Not sure why you can't spend the extra $10 and set your rebar on actual rebar chairs instead of broken blocks. You get a stronger system with completely encapsulated rebar. There is no reason to cheap out on that aspect for either footers or slabs. Those things are pennies each.

[@francoisbouvier7861]

Good job. I'm going to try using lumber tarps. I would have offset my corner bars. That way you don't have your splices at the same location. Probably over kill if you have a 2 foot + overlap.

[@gregkump3639]

I was getting ready to post using lumber tarping. What a great thing to NOT go in a dumpster!!!!👍

[@ws775]

I was wondering if you would build a stand alone workshop. Need to free up the garage space for all the kids toys, and cars.

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Agreed!

[@bkelly821]

Can some explain why he didn’t need to dig the footers past the frost line? Aren’t they in Alaska? It’s gotta be like 3 feet.

[@rchavez5056]

Great question.

[@squeekhobby4571]

Great job! Love AK

[@tucker476]

I see when you finished closed room you had problems with the loose hangers flying all over. I have the same problem and it irritate the hell and back. Will you put on line how you remedy this!! Would like to add that nothing is above the dryer that I did was build a platform about 8 inches high under the dryer. You would not believe it matters so much!!!!!

[@nevermindthebull0cks]

I'm surprised a icf building is basically going to be sitting on the ground. I figured with the frost up there the footings would have to be fairly deep? Are you far enough north for permafrost?

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

You are correct - we normally will dig down 4 feet and come back up with ICFs then backfill the entire space (as we did with our house) ... But with an 80x30 footprint with half of it just dry storage for a workshop, the cost becomes extremely unreasonable for the purpose. What we will do is insulate around the footer and horizontally out from the footer with rigid foam.

[@StuffUCanMake]

Great Advice!!

[@Beecozz7]

Cool!!! Nice work!

[@harleco1]

I'm trying on my next build thanks

[@ricknelson3607]

Have you looked at the Fastfeet mono pour solution? or a way to do this type of construction a different way?

[@Badgeweefixstuff]

Kool idea save lots of time 🇨🇦🇨🇦🛠🛠

[@mslindaloper]

Boy that little guy that’s writing on the roller with you sure looks like his mama

[@augustreil]

Here in Ct, footers have to be at least 42-48'' below grade. How come it doesn't up there ? Thanks and great video !

[@wompbozer3939]

august It’s likey a basement footer, to be backfilled

[@MichaelJordan-hn4zd]

This is a great idea! What kind of plastic paper did you use? I’m thinking about building some footers soon for a project.

[@erictompkins8226]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visqueen

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

We had leftover reinforced plastic paper that we used. There wasn't even a threat of a blow out anywhere.

[@JW-kt5ls]

Awesome! I'm just getting ready to pour my footers. This will make it MUCH easier! What is the plastic?

[@brianboehmer43]

I know this is an old video, but do you know how thick the visqueen was? 6 mil? 10mil? TIA. This is a great video!

[@SeareanMoon]

I cant wait to see the shop, where is it in location to the house?

[@dangrobots]

There is one shot where you can see the house up the hill above the shop.

[@SeareanMoon]

@@dangrobots thanks!! @ 0:05 is the shot

[@ek9772]

How do you drain water from both the inside and outside perimeter around the footing? How do you take care of Radon gas?

[@sleuth5169]

learn a lot from you all

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Thank you for watching!

[@grandma27or8]

I thought rebar had to be held up off the ground for code??

[@medicalschoollectures]

How did you attach adjacent pieces of visqueen? With cloth tape?

[@johnwithee1091]

Do you ever do slabs and footers for people? If so, please let me know

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Not at this time, thanks for the visit!

[@Kevinwbaker100]

Did you not require a frost wall along the on grade footing?

[@bigvegass]

slick

[@clydedecker765]

Knowing you're in a permafrost area and also subject to earthquakes, did you make allowances for deeper holes along the footing to secure it to the ground? I wonder about this footing "floating" along the ground. I realize the rebar will give it strength but ..??? NOT disapproving but wondering about your thoughts on these things.

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

Hi Clyde, great question! yes, when we built our house, we went the four feet down everywhere and came back up. But this is very expensive to do. We have done slab on grades this way (for garages) and there has been NO issues after almost twenty years. We will insulate around the footer horizontally out, and it will be backfilled.

[@clydedecker765]

@@AnaWhiteDIYNO aspersions here, but If I were to do this, I think I would consider digging some strategically placed holes(slits really) along the bottom (every 10 feet??) of the foundation and drill (with the PTO augur attachment) 12 inch X 36 inch deep holes and drop rebar into them and tie in to the rest. Wouldn't mean loss of concrete (blowouts) because the ground would contain it and the visqueen would mostly line the opening. Might want tucktape but no biggy. Might keep any "floating" at bay. Probably big overkill?

[@clydedecker765]

@@AnaWhiteDIY Forget what I said about making deep holes. It dawned on me that you said you have a berm in back and plan insulation horizontally --(sound of hand smacking forehead) ... "Never Mind" ..Rosanne Rosannadanna.

[@wyodanjar8170]

Came across your video and was wondering the thickness of your reinforced plastic sheeting used?

[@davidusa47]

I have read that 6 mil is code in some places.

[@Lobo-Lobo]

Chief, what's the purpose of the plastic if you got the woods holding up the shape of the footing ?

[@angelamarchbanks2621]

The plastic helps the form to be removable from the concrete. Wood absorbs water and as the concrete cures will adhere to the wood.

[@Lobo-Lobo]

@@angelamarchbanks2621 Tnx, i figured that much.... I was thinking maybe it helps it cure super strong because of the moisture. Cheers! IT'S taco Tuesday :)

[@angelamarchbanks2621]

:) Actually it does the opposite. The plastic retards (slightly) the wicking of moisture ensuring a slower cure time. It takes a little bit longer to cure but in most cases it's a good thing to have harder concrete which doesn't get to full cure until about 28 days. It is strong enough to continue your build, depending on your mix.

[@Lobo-Lobo]

@@angelamarchbanks2621 You're the best Angie ! Blessings

[@rchavez5056]

The wood was only about 4 inches high and the concrete is about 8 inches high. The forms didn't sit flush on the ground. He said that he saved by using smaller lumber.

[@truckerdaddy-akajohninqueb4793]

Why is ground humidity an issue? I don't understand why you would use a plastic membrane under the footing.

[@truckerdaddy-akajohninqueb4793]

@madison55 Yes mold I can understand. So then you wrap the entire floor under the slab with a membrane

[@Romans828girl]

I know nothing about footers, so this is probably wrong, but I thought the plastic was just part of the form for holding the concrete. After the form was removed, I thought, "Oh, duh, the concrete's too heavy...that plastic is staying there forever now."

[@rchavez5056]

@@Romans828girl you are correct for the most part. It helped keep the concrete in place.

[@JLHIBLER]

Footers?

[@777cygnus]

💪😎👍

[@williamsmith2804]

It looks like you are setting the bottom of the foundation (footer) at grade. What about the frost line in Alaska?

[@AnaWhiteDIY]

We will insulate horizontally out from the footer.

[@zwarst]

Dig it that you did it custom! Reminds me of Fastfoot commercial footing forms kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHObd3ycdqypg5I - going to be watching & learning on this build!

[@chadford7827]

This is not the best way to build a footer. Wheres the drain tile weep holes.

[@matttanglewood2522]

Drain tile weep holes? I blieve this will be similiar to a frost protected slab, so there will be rigid insulation sloping away from the structure. This will shed water away. If he wants, he can still add drain tile, just put it right next to the footer as is standard practice.