Help - Footer wood forms stuck!!!!

[ddurrett896]

Poured my Footer with a friend and about half of the wood forms used won’t come out. Concrete flowed under the form, so concrete is hard on both sides.

Used a excavator for pull some concrete and a few ripped out but the rest are stuck stuck! The slab won’t be poured for a week so I’ve got some time to figure it out. If not, the slab is going right over them.

First fear is termites and thinking I can treat the area by soaking with taurus SC. Second is the area rotting away leaving a void.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

 

[see pictures]

Sledge hammer or sds chipping gun. Could try prybar on back of form to break concrete also.

 

[ddurrett896]

Sledge hammer or sds chipping gun. Could try prybar on back of form to break concrete also.

Tried sledge hammer and a MARSHALLTOWN Open Angle Monster Pry Bar.

 

[matt_i]

Did you put Mazola corn oil on the forms? (or other release agent!)

I had good luck with a pinch & point prybar about 6 feet long.

 

[captaindiode]

I would not count on the taurus. It is effective, but it degrades over time, it's half life is something like 125 days.

 

[The Cobbler]

you need more force ...

 

[Jazz1]

Must be excellent cement with superior bonding agents
I used to spray all the forms with diesel/oil mix. We used 4x8 sheets of 3/4 plywood for foundation wall forms. Wedges and walers.

 

[RVDan]

Use a sawzall and cut the wood into smaller pieces

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Use a sawzall and cut the wood into smaller pieces

I used a circular saw to remove forms before. Set the depth just shy of the wood thickness.

 

[wrenchguy]

Anyone here pour footers b4? There are steps after pouring to make it easypeasy to remove forms. I'd think there'd be a youtube on it?

 

[ConCretin]

I'd love to offer some trick of the trade gleaned from 30 years of doing concrete but I'm afraid brute strength and stupidity are your only option.

The obvious solution next time is form oil and cleaning away wet concrete that would 'trap' your forms.

 

[ddurrett896]

Thanks for the input everyone. Tried an SDS chipping gun and it wasn't budging. Imagine a taco - the shell is concrete and the meat is the wood - really a tough one.

My last hail mary it maybe drilling holes and trying to burn them out. Am I crazy?

 

[mcbane]

You need to rent a large electric breaker and chip off one half of the taco shell. Get on this ASAP since the taco shell gets more crisp by the day.

And don’t try pulling the wood out with a bigger machine. An excavator might just pull your lightweight concrete footing out of the ground. That would be a costly do over.


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[PugetDude]

You're not going to get them out in one piece.
Cut into shorter lengths, use a really sharp 6' digging bar and split the 2x's down the middle. I'd aim for just inside the concrete/wood joint on the waste side. It will make prying away the spilled concrete much easier.
Good Luck!

 

[ddurrett896]

You need to rent a large electric breaker and chip off one half of the taco shell. Get on this ASAP since the taco shell gets more crisp by the day.

And don’t try pulling the wood out with a bigger machine. An excavator might just pull your lightweight concrete footing out of the ground. That would be a costly do over.


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You talking a jack hammer?

 

[Ed_Hazard]

You talking a jack hammer?

Not a full on Jack hammer, but a bigger breaker than an SDS. We refer to them as chipping guns, rivet busters and so on in pneumatic form.

Odds are HD and others will call them demo hammers. (Electric) You can rent em at HD and such, and get at least two points.

 

[EricLarsen]

Poured my Footer with a friend and about half of the wood forms used won’t come out. Concrete flowed under the form, so concrete is hard on both sides.

Used a excavator for pull some concrete and a few ripped out but the rest are stuck stuck! The slab won’t be poured for a week so I’ve got some time to figure it out. If not, the slab is going right over them.

First fear is termites and thinking I can treat the area by soaking with taurus SC. Second is the area rotting away leaving a void.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

I encountered a similar problem and spent a lot of time and effort trying to solve it. Here is what I concluded:

You are trying to remove as much wood as possible. The value of the form board is very small compared to labor time. If you can cut away most of the form board (with circular saw set to careful depth), you can likely leave the rest in place. Eventually the wood will rot or be eaten by termites. But if you can pass or cheat the inspection with some wood remaining, do it. If you really have to get all of the wood out, you should divide and conquer. Use a SawzAll to cut the stuck form board every 3 feet. Make two cuts and use a chisel to complete the separation. Busting loose a 3 foot board is possible, a longer board is not. If you can get a big pry bar under one end, maybe you can pry it up. If you cut away everything you can, you can break up the remaining wood. Use combination of flat pry bars, bigger wrecking bars, chisel, SawzAll, hammers. Maybe use one hammer to pound another hammer into position to bust out smaller pieces? Maybe you need to use a demolition hammer (small electric Jack hammer) to break away the excess concrete? Our problem was happening in a crawl space. If you have relatively free access, you got a simpler issue.

 

[Bucko]

I encountered a similar problem and spent a lot of time and effort trying to solve it. Here is what I concluded:

You are trying to remove as much wood as possible. The value of the form board is very small compared to labor time. If you can cut away most of the form board (with circular saw set to careful depth), you can likely leave the rest in place. Eventually the wood will rot or be eaten by termites. But if you can pass or cheat the inspection with some wood remaining, do it. If you really have to get all of the wood out, you should divide and conquer. Use a SawzAll to cut the stuck form board every 3 feet. Make two cuts and use a chisel to complete the separation. Busting loose a 3 foot board is possible, a longer board is not. If you can get a big pry bar under one end, maybe you can pry it up. If you cut away everything you can, you can break up the remaining wood. Use combination of flat pry bars, bigger wrecking bars, chisel, SawzAll, hammers. Maybe use one hammer to pound another hammer into position to bust out smaller pieces? Maybe you need to use a demolition hammer (small electric Jack hammer) to break away the excess concrete? Our problem was happening in a crawl space. If you have relatively free access, you got a simpler issue.

The OP is 3 years old. I think its rotted out by now....haha

 

[rayra]

Thanks for the input everyone. Tried an SDS chipping gun and it wasn't budging. Imagine a taco - the shell is concrete and the meat is the wood - really a tough one.

My last hail mary it maybe drilling holes and trying to burn them out. Am I crazy?

that is just nonsense.
Just drive a wedge between the outer concrete spill and the wood, until you get enough off that you can lever the boards out. It really should be nowhere near as difficult as you are making it out to be.
Worst case, get one end of the board exposed and get some leverage on it to pry it up and out.
Last word, get a read jackhammer. But maybe you shouldn't. You might screw things up worse.

 

[FredWanaker]

I would try this ^^^^