Advance Concrete Forms

Toolwh@#e

I'm looking to expand my buisness into concrete forming. We've been doing a lot of underpinning and foundation work lately including pouring a few addition and garage foundations with shop built 2x4 and plywood panels. They work good but there heaving and I want something to go in faster. I've been looking at advance concrete forms and I like the system. Most of the formers use them around here or a similiar system. What are the pro's and cons. Should I get a 4 bar, 5 bar or 6 bar system. What are the setup costs? What are you guys using. Cheers Kyle.

scrapecc

Never used them, but the look cool. have you considered symons? we knocked out a 3000 square foot house with a 1500 square foot garage in one day. (granted the footings were in already. but we set it and poured it in one day with 4 guys. and it was within an 1/8th!

DJ9222

I have both a 4 bar and a 6 bar set of forms......The 6 bar system lets you stack the forms without additional clips .If I was buying a set now I would go with the 6 bar system. Good Luck....

jomama

Totally agree, plus:

6 bars are alot stronger, less bowing, last longer, less chance of broken ties (you DO NOT want broken ties!), easy transition from 4' to 8', or 9'4", or 5'4", or 2'8", etc.....

Keep in mind when pricing forms, you'll probably spend alot more on fractions, corners, whalers, turnbuckles, line-up brackets, etc.. than you will on full 24" panels.

I've set Symons a few times in my life, & they may be more common & a hair lighter, but I still prefer the Advance system. All hardware stays attached to the forms, making them fairly swift to set. Another plus is they mend well with 2x lumber for the not-so-normal jobs, as it seems like your getting into, meaning less sacrifice to the forms.

BTW, my dad bought his first set (which are 4 bars) in 1978-79. We also had some "Duraforms" thru the years, which were the same exact form, but I believe they were made in Canada. May be why they are somewhat common in your area. Definately not common in my area, but when I've been in Madison (about 1.5 hours away), I've seen a lot of crews through the years with them.

My brother decided to get into poured walls about 5-6 years ago & I helped talk him into the 6 bars. He's now happy he made that decision after all the years setting the 4 bars & the problems with the occasional blowouts.

As for pricing, I couldn't even quess anymore. Call Advance (tell Tom I siad HI ) & have them send a price sheet. As I recall, they have good deals off retail for large quantities.

Good Luck!

jomama

I thought I'd post a pic also. I also see from the pic that they have a Canadian #, so your probaly not going to talk to Tom!

Toolwh@#e

hey thanks a lot for your help. Are you setup with a boom truck and cages too or do your lug all your forms into the hole.