Wood form boards and warping
mikeysp| Posted inGeneral Questionson
Hi. I am in zone 4a and will be forming for my slab with 2x lumber. Since I am a diy, this process may take me a couple months before I pour concrete. My concern is how to deal with warping lumber as it gets rained on and 60-100F weather variations in the time period.
Does anyone have advice or experience in how to mitigate this?
Thank you.
-Mike
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Replies
Mike,
I'll be a little blunt. Forming shouldn't take you several months. You're really doing something wrong, if you expect it to take that long. I get you want to do it yourself. I'm driven that way as well which contributes to a life of learning, but it sounds like you need to spend some more time learning how to do this. There's a ton of videos to watch on YouTube or just go out and watch a crew work.
You need to stake your forms very well, including screwing the board to the stake. I don't remember how thick your slab is or what board you're using, but to pick a number, I suggest staking every 12". This will help with keeping the boards straight over time and weather. If you're really concerned you can drape plastic over your boards to protect it from rain. But moisture will eventually get to it. If they warp a little bit, it's not a big deal and you can adjust them right before the pour.
Hope this helps,
Jamie