This footer has been leveled and squared to precision.
Cement footings are necessary for supporting structures such as houses, garages, and outbuildings. Until recently, footers were primarily installed by a professional concrete contractor. However, tools, materials and techniques have evolved into a user friendly format that can be implemented by the average home carpenter. You can expect to complete a project like this in one to two days, depending on the size and scope of the job.
Instructions
1. Lay out the location of all four walls for your footer. Check to make sure each corner is square, with the two walls in each corner exactly perpendicular to one another. Drive stakes in at the corners and pull nylon strings around all corners to get a representation of the footer walls. Using a can of florescent orange paint, transfer the lines onto the ground so that you can dig the footers.
2. Dig the footers 16 inches deep and 24 inches wide. This will allow for a 12-inch footer with 4 inches below ground to hide the bottom of the cement blocks where they rest on the footer. Use a 4-foot hand level to keep the footers level on the bottom. For example, begin digging on one end by measuring down from the top of grade to the bottom of the footer, which will be 16 inches. Use the level to reference off of the bottom of the footer at this point to keep the footer bottoms level.
3. Lay 2 sticks of horizontal rebar around the entire perimeter of the footer. Rest the rebar on rebar chairs, which are raised 4 inches up from the footer floor with notches for the rebar that are spaced 16 inches apart. Tie the rebar together at the connections (rebar is only 20 feet long) with steel tie wire. Lay 16-inch-long rebar across the horizontal rebar, spacing them every 24 inches. Tie these crossbars to the horizontal rebars with tie wire as well.
4. Drive rebar into the bottom of the footer, beginning at one corner and in the middle of the footer. Measure from the bottom of the foot up 12 inches to the top of the rebar; the rebar top must be 12 inches off of the bottom of the footer. Continue driving rebar every 36 inches along the footer in the center. Rather than checking the height of the rebar from the bottom of the footer on the subsequent stakes, use the 4-foot hand level to reference the remaining stakes to the first one. For example, drive the first stake at the corner, and check the height from the bottom of the footer with a tape measure. Next, drive another stake 36 inches along the footer, and level the next stake to the first one, leveling each subsequent stake to the one previous one.
5. Pour concrete to the tops of the rebar stakes. Use a hard rake to get the concrete roughly level to the top of the rebar and a trowel to add a smooth finish.
