Renting Forms & Bracing

[Cobalt]

Where can I rent forms in Southern California for poured walls? Is it even done? The walls will be 8" thick and vary in height from 2 to 6 feet. Also, can they be braced only on one side? Thanks in advance.

[Rich]

There should be many different rent-a-centers in your area. Gates or Symons may rent forms also. The stuff you will need to purchase is the ties, and the bracing lumber. See if you can rent some turnbuckles - then you should be able to only brace the outside wall.

[roger g]

A company called Economy Forms (EFCO) huge company with plants making forms, all over the world. They might be able to help you. Check on the internet. I used to be a draftsman for them 35 years ago.

Roger

[mreynolds]

Have you considered purchasing insulated concrete forms for your project? Here is one to check out www.polysteel.com. We are building a house and I have looked at the the options and these are cool. When I am finished I will have a basement wall, that is virtually waterproof, have an r value of 30 or better depending on thermal mass and be ready to finish from the inside. The forms have built in furring strips for you screw right in. The aspect that I am finding apealing about these forms is they have a waffle pattern on the inside. This cuts my concrete costs by almost 10 yards compared to a standard poured wall with forms to tear away. To give you an idea of cost comparision, my basement is 54x30, 8'9 hight will cost me (doing it myself) $13,000. This includes footer materials, concrete, bracing, rebar, concrete pump rental, and my basement slab. My excavator cost is not included here. The concrete pump rental is about $80.00 per hour and according to them it will take 4-5 hours to pour the basement. I will say it is not the cheapest way to go (Block for the same job with a mason could be done @ 10,000, but there is no insulation and I would have to stud out the interior myself). But it is also not the most expensive, we have found that prefab concrete wall (they call them superior walls here) are the most expensive, but can be compeleted in a couple hours!!!!!!
-PS, Rich, does this sound like it is a reasonable cost?

[Rich]

Yep.. pretty reasonable. Typical foundation for me to come and do it would be around 20-25k. Of course that includes my markup etc.

[mreynolds]

Here are a couple more sites, www.foldform.com (Owens Corning) and www.rewardwalls.com. I also noticed at the top of the page that Quad lock was also featured. Better click on that one to help Rich pay the bills!

[Rich]

I'm a moderator (not very active in awhile) at another forum/site - www.concrete-home.com for ICF forms.