Formwork Blog
Formwork Construction and Concrete
Bridge Pier Starter Steel
February 24th, 2009
Northern Expressway Adelaide SA
Starter steel for a 7.2 meter high concrete bridge pier which will support concrete bridge spans at Healslip Road Interchange Adelaide.
Center Pier Starter Steel
Formwork will be used to box the column just as soon as the rest of the steel is lifted into position by crane. This center pier will be 13m long, 600mm wide at the bottom and 1500mm wide at the top.
Return Dodgy Plant to the Plant Hire Company
January 27th, 2009
The photo below shows a formworker using a dodgy welding unit which was supplied by a plant hire company in Adelaide. What is wrong with this picture?
Dodgy Welding Unit
It is dodgy because the handpiece cable is only 1500 mm long! Therefore, the formworker must position this stinking, petrol-powered welder right next to himself so he can breathe in exaust fumes all day long.
When this issue was raised with management, the exact reply was: “That’s all they had”. That excuse does not make this safety issue go away! Send it back and tell the plant hire company not to send out unsafe, sub-standard equipment.
When requesting plant from a plant hire company such as this petrol powered welder, you should show that you know what you are talking about by telling them to supply long handpiece cables instead of just getting what CRAP they send you.
Why pay full price for sub-standard plant?
Don’t Be A Bozo
Don’t be a bozo and breathe in petrol exaust just because management cannot organize safe plant and equipment. You are better off getting fired than breathing in that shit for a day, a week or even months.
A common excuse construction supervisors give is “that’s all they had” or “that’s all we’ve got”. That’s is not your problem! Don’t be a bozo and use dodgy, unsafe plant and equipment.
The Quick and Easy Way To Make a Z-Bar Extracting Tool
January 25th, 2009
Location: Northern Expressway Adelaide SA
When Z-Bars become difficult to extract because concrete slurry has leaked into the conduit, it may be necessary to make a heavy duty Z-Bar extracting tool.
Z-Bar Extractor
Simply cut a notch in the plate of a Prop-Inner, Screw-Jack or similar item. The notch should be slightly bigger than the diameter of the Z-Bars being extracted.
The length of the Prop Inner tube should be cut down to a manageable length while keeping in mind that the longer the tube (handle) is, the more effective it will be for extracting stubborn Z-Bars. (The longer the handle, the heaver the tool.)
Z-Bar Extractor In Action
To use the Z-Bar Extracting tool, remove the Z-Bar plate (washer) and replace only the nut. Then simply slide it along the Z-Bar towards yourself smashing the nut.
The photo above shows us using the Z-Bar Extractor to pull out a stubborn 4 meter long Z-Bar from some wall formwork. The Z-Bar Extracting tool made light work from what would otherwise have been one of those crappy never-ending jobs.
Pitfalls To Avoid
Important! Don’t be a bozo and smash your fingers into something while pulling back with the Z-Bar Extracting tool! Look around before you start smashing.
Tip: The length of the handle should be determined by your surroundings. For example, you would not have a 2400mm handle if you were working from a tight scaffold. You would cut it down to say 900mm - 1500mm max.
Tip: Using the Z-Bar Extracting tool on Z-Bars that are not so stubborn is also a good idea because it will reduce the number of times the ends need to be ground-down in order for the nut to fit properly.
Smashing Z-Bars out the regular way with a hammer will burr the ends, increase servicing requirements and produce down-time when someone goes to screw a nut onto a burred Z-Bar.
Dodgy Slab Formwork with no Bedlog
November 19th, 2008
Location: Bolivar Water Treatment Plant SA
While this slab formwork “may” hold the concrete, it could be done a bit more professionally by using plywood rips and a bedlog to straighten the edgeform instead of wire. I can’t believe the formworkers that did this job recon it was ready for concrete.
Dodgy Formwork
Using wire back to a single pin to pull the formwork into line is dodgy and time-consuming because the pin can flex (or the wire can break) and put a “dog leg” in the formwork.
Dodgy Formwork Braced without a Bedlog
Tip: If it is important to have nice straight formwork (it should be), always use a bedlog. A bedlog enables you to push and pull the formwork into the exact position, secure it properly and “walk away”.
Even if it is not important to have nice straight formwork because the crooked concrete will “never be seen”, it is not a good look to have dog-legs in a concrete slab. By the way - It will be seen before it is never seen. It will be seen by bosses and inspectors.
Thrust Block Excavation Below Water Table
November 14th, 2008
Location: Whyalla Pellet Plant South Australia
Here’s another thrust block formwork job we had to do, but this time it was below the water table which means that water would be continually pouring into the job the whole time.
Thrust Block Excavation
Imagine arriving at this job and they say they want a couple of thrust blocks around these pipes, and they want it quick coz it’s “just a couple of thrust blocks” 
Pumping the Water Out
Not only that, Des had to be very careful while digging out this watery goop to avoid damage to the fiber optic telecomminications and electrical cables while the pump pumps water out all day long. Des named this job The Swamp Monster 
Concrete Thrust Blocks (Pump Still Pumping)
Finally the job is done and the Concrete Thrust Blocks are in position. The formwork for this job was almost the same as this other thrust block formwork we did.
Leigh and LJ at Prominent Hill Mine SA
November 12th, 2008
Location: Prominent Hill Mining Construction Site South Australia
Mechanical Fitter Leigh (Hollywood) giving Admin LJ a few welding tips.
Leigh and LJ at Prominent Hill Mine
Bridge Bearing Formwork
November 9th, 2008
Location: Port Adelaide South Australia
This is the formwork which will be used to cast the bridge bearings into position on top of the concrete columns. Silicon sealer was used to completely seal the formwork in order to stop any grout leakage, while at the same time holding the formwork securely in position.
Bridge Bearing Grout Formwork
You’ll notice that the original holes that were voided out during the concrete pour have been filled in with grout and new holes have been core-drilled. Why? ..
This happened because either the wrong hole centers were supplied to the formworkers, or a different size Bearing Pad was supplied in the end. Every column top had to be core-drilled in this way 
You’ll also notice that the surface has been scabbled. This is specified as part of the job to ensure that the grout bonds properly to the concrete.
Tip: Don’t try and get away without scabbling the concrete if instructions were not given to do this job. Treat it as part of the job and do it without being told.
Cloudy Turner River Camp Sunset
November 5th, 2008
Camp Turner Mining Construction Camp, Pilbara Region, Western Australia
Here is another beautiful sunset at Turner River Bridge project village camp.
Cloudy Turner River Camp Sunset
No matter how beautiful the sunset is, the flies remain friendly until the sun has set completely
Joe Surveying Bridge Column Tops
November 2nd, 2008
Location: Port Adelaide South Australia
Here’s Joe surveying the exact locations of the bridge bearings which will be cast on top of the concrete bridge columns at Port River Expressway roadworks project.
Joe at Port River Expressway
Because the bridge spans will be sitting temporarily on timber packers, Joe also had to calculate the correct height of each packer for each corner of every column.
Not only that, each corner of each timber packer will be a different height because of the North/South and East/West bridge span angles.
Promise not to leave you up there when we go to lunch Joe
The Correct way to Secure Timber Formwork with Pins and Wedges
November 1st, 2008
Pins and wedges are often used to secure many types of timber formwork in order to prevent concrete blow out while at the same time define a nice straight “edge of concrete” line.
Pins and Wedges used to secure Formwork
How it works is you drill a hole into the slab, put a steel pin into the hole, then use a timber wedge to secure the formwork hard onto the previously installed fiberglass pins which define the edge of concrete.
Formwork Tip
Drilling a hole slightly larger than the pin allows for the pin to be extracted with little or no effort. For example, if you are using a 12mm pin, then the correct drill bit is 14mm. If you are using a 16mm pin, then drill an 18mm hole, etc.
To any observer, the pins and wedges in these photos look normal, however, there was extra labour involved to extract the pins because the holes were drilled the same size as the pin.
Close-up of Pins and Wedges Method
Bozo
Too often I see formworkers smashing a 12mm pin into a 12mm hole
What happens next is the pin cannot easily be extracted, so then an angle grinder, grinder blades, full face shield, generator, a crane to bring the generator, fuel for the generator, power leads, lead stands, RCD box, etc etc, must be organized just to cut the pins off.
On big mining and civil construction jobs, this “small” job could take over a day depending on the availability of all the above tools, plant and equipment. For example, the crane could be busy with much higher priority jobs, so you get no generator until the crane is free.
To me it makes much more sense to simply keep some extra drill bits in the drill box!
And Worse - On some jobs, the specifications require that the tops of those cut off pins be sealed with special epoxy resins which supposedly prevents corrosion of the slab.
This too however is incorrect because only the top of the pin is sealed which means the slab will eventually corrode due to the fact that there is steel with less than the required cover. In reality, the concrete around the pin should be jack-hammered down to the required “cover” and then epoxy sealed.
Conclusion
Taking short-cuts is not necessarily quicker!
- There is no future in being a fraud by creating the illusion of getting the job done quickly. This form of bullshitting only works on the gullible, and on those who have not been around the traps of the building industry.
- There is no freaking point in creating more work on the job.
- Credibility really goes to the formworker who takes the time to think ahead.
The above conclusions do not only apply to formworkers, they apply to all construction personnel.