Concrete Forms Selection

dakota co

Maybe I should get my head checked again. I've rented forms throught my career, but I 'm seriously looking at buying a set of forms. I sure like the idea of the Wallties and Silver aluminum forms but the cost is twice as much as steel simons and am not sure if its worth the additional cost. Then there is the european Meva forms which look very nice but is 4x as much as steel. Nobody seems to want to wheel and deal on these. Are the european forms really worth the cost?
Another thing I can't figure out how to do is to set the grade on the aluminum forms. I don't want to use a red chalk line. AND is the aluminum or Meva forms really faster than steel.
Any thoughts different forms would be helpful, but I need to be albe to pour up to 15' on occasion.

pritch

I've always felt that you just can't go wrong with a good stack of Symons. That being said, it takes a lot of foundations to pay for them. As far as aluminum goes, they are a MF to clean. Concrete really sticks to aluminum. We have alum footing forms and tilt-up forms and we spend more time cleaning than we do forming. I've heard of new release agents designed for alum, but I havn't used any yet. Myself, I'm an old plywood and whalers guy.

__________________
There's only enough money in this job for 1 guy to be goofing off. And that's me!

rbsremodeling

This is how real men form for concrete pours Never got into the aluminum thing

__________________

billy d

Passchale are about the cheapest European shutter that you can buy and I believe you can buy them in America.They are the original concrete shutter form.I've built up to 16' no problem they still use whalers, brackets and wedges stop ends and hinged corners.Just google them.

Chris Johnson

Just out of curiousity, have you looked at ICF's? You leave the form after you pour.

You might be surprised if you look at it.

It fits pretty much every market your regular and aluminum forms go.

__________________
Chris

Mitchell Const.

[quote=Chris Johnson;594508]Just out of curiousity, have you looked at ICF's? You leave the form after you pour.


Yes the ICF's are sweeeeeeeeet!
I'll never lay them friggin blocks again

by the way what kind of ICF's you using?

__________________
'06 F-350 Crew Cab Short Box V10
'04 Caterpillar 236B , Solideal rubber tracks & lots of attachments

joasis

I haven't bought any BB Plyform since we got into ICF's. Whalers need to be on the oceans, and not on the job sites!

I bet in 10 years, the old ways for forming and shoring will be over ......new guys in construction won't even know what a whaler or tie is.

__________________

wyoming 1

I agree icf forms do have a purpose and have some limitations just as conventional forms do. The real question is how many foundations a year do you pour? Can you justify spending $30,000 on a form set. I could not, we might pour 4 foundations a year we might pour 0. I bought a guy out who had a gates form set. They are 4x8's so I can lay them down or stand them up. The ties are wire ties held by a rod on the outside if you are just gtting started you can use rebar for rods. The system is relatively cheap to get into. I have less in my form set than it would have cost me to buy the icf's for one pour. My system is slower than modulars/symons but we do not pour enough to justify a capitalinvestment. We also donot have a subcontract concrete guy here so bringing one in cost a fotune thats why we do our own and also when I know I have to frame on it it's going to be square. Gates does have a web site and there forms have like a formica finish on them but again depending on how many you pour you can also buy bb form ply and cut your own slots with a router.

john1066

We bought a set of symons at auction and they can't be beat we use them from bridge abutments and things like that. when we bought our set tho it came with a cleaner that you can pull behind a pickup and will clean and oil the panels that seems to work pretty well after a big pour

Nac

I have never worked with Meva forms but have worked with Doka forms. No whalers, just 2 clamps per panel, just 2 ties per panel, universal outside corners, tha abilty to gang forms on the ground and place with a machine. It depends on the type of work you do. For residential handset is going to be the cheapest. I have done larger projects schools small stadiums and Doka forms are great.

jdenmanfish

In my opinion Wall Ties are the best,but we do about 4 basements a week usually.Just make sure you dont short cut on the form oil and you only have to clean them over the winter.They set up fast and strip fast,I wwouldn't go any other way.

Brian Ferguson

Meva Forms may cost more new but they have ALKUS Faces that last forever so find used.

JustaFramer

I have worked with doka. Not a bad system for ganging. They can be buit in place or in a staging area and flown in/out with a crane for jumping.

We used them for one sided wall forming. Now those forms were not that great for that. PERI would of been stronger. We needed to use the steel whalers, she bolts, and backbones.

jdorpaudi

plywood and whalers ftw. cheep, can go at least 15ft high. fast.
you dont need a crane on your truck to use them, and they dont cost a small fortune.

L-ENTERPRISES

We use 6 BAR RAPID FORMS & ADVANCED FORMS . Super fast and reliable . Configurations are endless . Boom truck is required for speed though ....

Attached Thumbnails

     

Cole82

I have pnly used symons steel/ply and icf. I would push for icf on any project over useing traditional forms.

Cole

__________________
Cole's Custom Creations
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

What is this "work" you speak of?