Hi All,
I am preparing to install 3’ and 4’ retaining walls using from liners to create a rock appearance on the exposed side of the wall. No one in our area rents concrete forms so I’ll need to build them from lumber.
I’ve done concrete work in the past but I’ve never worked with form liners and I see a couple of problems building a concrete form which will rely on wire ties. The first problem I see with using wire ties is it will require drilling holes in the form liners to run the wire ties through. The Second problem is the wire ties left in the wall will eventually rust out leaving rust lines on the finished wall.
Is there an alternative to wire ties or a form construction technique to avoid using wire ties? You experience suggestion would be helpful.
-John
Replies
I vaguely recall seeing plastic ties, to avoid the rust problem. And pre-formed wire ties come with a little widget that creates a recess so that the wire can be broken off about 3/4" deep in the wall and the recess then filled.
To completely avoid ties you need sufficient bracing to resist the force of the concrete. Depends on how much you're willing to spend on bracing.
Ditto on what DanH said. Bracing,bracing and more bracing. Before i got into commercial construction, i had never seen a tie before. I poured alot of walls growing up , working with my father and never used ties.My Dad words that i repeat till this day are"you can never overbrace!"
One should add that when you fail to brace enough sometimes the results aren't very pretty.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
So if I'm understanding you guys clearly, you feel it can be successfully done without ties but with lots and lots of bracing.Since I first posted I've done more research and found that there are stainless steel snap off ties, I didn't find any plastic ties. I'm thinking it may be possible to align the ties inside the faux grout lines of the form liners and just patch the holes once the forms and form liners are removed.Patching the holes made by the form ties may be a cost saving when compared to the material and time required to build the excessive bracing.Anyone have any general comments on using form liners, good or bad experiences?Thanks to all for your input you've likely saved me money, time and lots of work.
i might have missed how high your wall will be but...
I've had good luck bracing walls up to 48" tall with no ties using large heavy pallets as backing for my form boards.. and then bracing these off... they supply alot of backing/support for zero cost...
p:)
I did something very similar. A 40" wall with corrugated plastic panels on one side of the form. I built a 12" wide footing box out of 2"x6" with 1"x4" tying them together at 2'-0" oc. I then built a 2"x4" wall on each side with a bottom plate but no top. I used ties on the bottom below the level it would be backfilled. At the top I tied the studs on each side of the wall together by nailing a 14" piece of 2"x4" across. A 2"x4" whaler kept everything level. On the 30'-0" long wall I think I had 4 Braces.
They make a nylon tie for the application.
But, they tend to be either expensive or fard to find. Also, they do not snap off as neatly as wire, so the form setters take 30-50% longer to emplace the forms.
Now, if you can get a hold of stamping pads, parging a finish coat of the CIP walls and stamping them can work out a lot better. That's becasue the form liners telegraph every joint and mismatch in the liners, and every odd spot that does not get release oil honeycombs (and also any place with a puddle, too; after discoloring the concrete finish.
So, stamping could waind up being less work over all.