Fastfoot! DIY Footings for ICF! 

@@Marcusus we had a nice level excavation so it was a breeze. We dug 5’ wide and 4’ deep trenches so we had lots of room to work.

me too...cottage for me though

it's a good system. I use it almost exclusively on my ICF jobs. I recommend as stated in the video not doing a monopour as your first job. If you are inexperienced with pumping concrete you will find it moves if not poured properly, and there are enough things to worry about without adding more.

Yeah I agree I am glad I didn't do a mono pour for my first

Glad to hear it!

Happy to help! Hit us up at icfguru.com

You’re welcome!

Thanks! Glad you guys approve! I feel like I rushed it out a bit since weather and well drillers held up finishing an icf pool build I was going to post lol. Got to point out how awesome the sewn corners are and how much time and material they save! Ps, I hadn’t seen your fast foot pier pads, those look super cool, I’m going to tell Daryl to order some!

Lol thanks!

This same guy has a video like that where he builds a pool with a monopour

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wB6sXydbCEo.html

Actually now I'm not sure what is below grade there as he has a catch basin.

Yeah it was a series on Build Blocks RU-vid channel that has the below grade footers.

It’s not that bad to pull off…. We get a little fancy with the mix to plug up the footer, plasticizer to add temporary fluidity and calcium to firm it up quick…. Not to the whole order, just enough to firm up the mud in the bag! I’ve poured upwards of 19’ on top of Monopour at one time and the other guy BBC we talked about has done 24’…. So doing a normal Basement wall is pretty straight forward!

@@cuttingedgehomes9251 that's great to hear! I'm very interested in doing this myself. Would also save a step with rebar! Would it be smart to bend a small 90 in the bottom end of your vertical so you don't poke your liner? Or do you do it first and just wire it to the side of a web?

Footings I usually use 3500 psi 3/4 aggregate at a 4 slump

They make pvc water stops but you really need to be sure exactly where the water will be to center it, you can also imbed a 2x4 flat in the footing so it creates a key way that makes water have to work a lot harder to push through!

Still need the footings to go below frost line…. In low temp areas you will have a lot deeper leg on your mono than in Missouri where our frost line is 18” but still very doable

Ya I had one laying on the ground in front of me and forgot to show it... we used to have to do some fancy origami to make corners that are up a good bit of run, then they came out with a sewn 90 degree corner and it’s life changing! You can see it right in the front page at fab forms website

Saw one on the product website

Yes you can!

I have not used form a drain, nor can I speak to costs/benefits... I think it has to be considerably more but you are replacing drain pipe as well so you’d have to crunch the numbers, what I like about it is the potential radon mitigation, I’m in the ozarks and it’s a common problem on houses here... but otherwise I think I see more benefit to keeping the footing out of contact with the wet soil, at least here in Missouri, we have very karst topography and water moves laterally through the ground but a properly installed French drain is cheap and works really well if done right, but you can literally see moisture on the inside of a normal footing just wicking up into the stemwall... we do a lot of crazy stuff to our crawls these days up to spraying closed cell marine grade foam on the floor and footers and conditioning them, once you go that far you don’t absolutely need the fastfoot I suppose, but it’s so quick and easy I’ll probably always use it! You gotta love all the innovation though, annoys me so much when I see the same old dogs refusing the new tricks lol

wrong, form-a-drain does nothing to stop moisture from wicking up an icf wall. fast foot is superior especially since you can put a french drain in also with fast foot.

@@jjg1501 Thanks for your comment. How big of a problem is moisture wicking up a wall? 99.9% of footings are in contact with bare earth, right? Does Fastfoot prevent you from making an Ufer ground? Perhaps you could throw some Xypex in the footing concrete to prevent wicking.

Yes and yes

Not really, it’s all in the bracing, bag is surprisingly stable but the wall could move if not properly braced but it’s pretty straight forward

Tar paper pier pads, stitch them together with 16 penny nails and fill them up, hillbilly but effective! That said, fast foot makes killer pier pads now too so I’m retiring the tar paper!

The fastfoot comes in widths up to at least 72”, so you may be able to make one work…. You can do what you are talking about but you will want to try to attach them in the middle a little bit if you pour really wet, it will slide out from under if it’s not fixed at least somewhat, or pour it stiff, which makes for a stronger footer anyway!

Footing steps are really easy to form up…. You will use a fair amount of material so I’d order a full roll over what your linear ft dictate!

There is the same amount of flat with these as opposed to traditional footings…. And a square corner has nothing to do with a shape being less likely to sink, any footing can settle if placed on bad soil….

@@cuttingedgehomes9251 how is there the same amount of flat area when the bottom of the fab form footing is rounded and the sides are rounded. Thats because its not the same as a traditional footing. And yes it all depends on the type of soil and soil bearing capacity regarding how much a footing will settle but I would put money on a traditional footing compared to a fab form shown in that video cause its rounded on the bottom and sides. Its going to sink more into any soil compared to a traditional footing with flat squared bottom justdue to the shape. If you take something square and push it into say the dirt there will be more resistance and less compression into the soil. If you take that fab form footing where its rounded on the bottom and sides it will push more into the soil just due to the mear shape. Its like a pointed edge. Not to mention as well that a tradional square bottom footing wont roll on either side if the weight is more than it can support compared to the fab form footing which is rounded on the bottom. It has the potential to roll to one side cause the bottom of the footing is rounded due to it not being able to support the weight.

If you properly compacted the surface that you will be pouring on, the bottom of the footer will be flat. The sides will not be with the Fab form product. You have to make sure the plastic is touching the ground the proper width of the footer that you want. Whatever is in contact with the flat ground will be flat.

Fast foot is a vapor barrier, you only need to add to it inside after they pour, 6-10 mil plastic or if u can swing it 2” of closed cell foam

You can generally pour as high as you need for your plan, the official answer from most block manufacturers is 12-15’ max height per pour…. That said, I know a couple contractors who exceed that when necessary and we have poured around 20’ all at one a few times

In my climate I like the waterproofing aspect of fastfoot more than I value a thermal break below the frost line but if you could do both by running fastfoot inside the other system, win win!

Yes!

I don’t know the official answer, some of the guys in bc that work for fab watch these so maybe they can comment, but I’ve had some around pools exposed for a long time with no visible degradation

You would need at least 3 months of day in, day out sunlight on Fastfoot for it to slightly damage its strength. If its taking you longer than two weeks for a set of footings you are in the wrong business!

@@FabFormIndustries I'm an owner builder using Zonts/Zuckles and yep, even I was able to build my footers under two months.

@@KipringPayne How did it all work out? Would be great for us to see some photos. Any issues?

@@FabFormIndustries Tried Posting this before links may not be working. - posting a second comment with link .

Ya, there are 2 widths, I usually get the 72” wide just so I have more flexibility in footing width!

@@cuttingedgehomes9251 Great! I will probably order some this coming week. Thanks!

They do, our frost line is 18”

Just emailed you!

Great question, only 1 municipality I deal with recognizes there’s an issue, and they have me install traditional ground rods

Yes one county I do work in has decided that since the footer isn’t truly in the ground we can’t use ufer grounds, and make us use copper ground rods, which we actually prefer, but all other places I work don’t differentiate this from traditional footers at all!

Short answer yes

They have a system like that, I forget it’s name but you use foam board in lieu of forms, it’s got a web like icf you insert your foam into, looks cool and could b valuable anywhere it gets really cold, thermal breaks wherever you can whenever you can!

Would you also put the Fastfoot on the inside too then as a waterproof barrier then pour the footing ? I guess it wouldn’t hurt putting the foam on the bottom as well as the sides then too or would it compromise the footing at all ? ? Just thinking outside the box to keep the entire footing from freezing & water proof but I know it’s got to be at least 48” below grade in those type of environments. ? ?

Fastfoot is waterproof, multiple ways to tie it into your icf waterproofing to create an unbroken barrier

Pretty sure howie mandel is pretty relevant lol

If it has a thickened edge snd you form the outside, u can still do it this way

A couple dozen holes the diameter of a nail, full of a nail, as opposed to the entire surface area of the footing…. I didn’t write the manufacturers directions, for the record we don’t use them often because it’s not super necessary…. But it’s what fabform recommends, and it’s a fraction of a fraction of a percent compared to conventional footings

@@cuttingedgehomes9251 Sorry, i was being a smart ass. This system looks really cool!

Lol

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Oops sorry I ment footing thanks again

I’m actually pouring footings on a personal project this week and the icf walls will largely be done by my wife, who has exactly 0 knowledge or interest in construction to demonstrate the inherent diy-ability of the product:). There are multiple levels of diy, some people set forms and bracing then hire somebody like me to come in and pour for much less than if I did the whole thing, some go ahead and pour it and save even more, depends on your comfort level!

Exactly, which is why we use ground rods when we use this, some municipalities haven’t wrapped their heads around the fact but most of the ones I deal with have!

That’s why this video is titled DIY…. If you don’t want to pay extra for something that costs extra, but provides more value to the home than the cost, Do It Yourself! I’m a huge advocate for sweat equity…. And several years ago, and today that price you quoted is out of line unless you were wanting decorative concrete of some type…

@@cuttingedgehomes9251 6" slab with nothing fancy Materials and labor are far less expensive in the interior states than the coastal states

The DIY aspect is pretty obvious, thank you for watching, I work hard on making these vids for everybody…. Also, I’m glad your head hurts;)

Lol