Pouring concrete: construction formwork. reinforcement.
Regardless of when concrete is being poured - in the fall, summer or winter, in order to achieve a successful result, you need the skills to properly perform these jobs. In this article, we will describe how concreting is performed during the construction of low-rise individual housing facilities.

The Importance of Proper Concrete Pouring

The use of cement-containing solutions in individual construction is becoming more common. And this is not surprising, since the structures and constructions cast using this material are distinguished by an affordable price, strength and durability.
But it is necessary to understand that the wrong approach to the implementation of concreting can negate all the advantages of this material and jeopardize the success of the construction in general.
Let us consider in more detail the stages of work with cement-containing solutions in the construction of individual housing facilities.
Features of the construction of formwork

It does not matter that you have to fill a concrete floor slab or a strip foundation device, first of all you need to take care of making durable and possibly sealed formwork.
Formwork is nothing else than the form in which the grout hardens, gains the required strength and takes on the necessary form. When concreting, formwork is needed at almost all stages of construction, except perhaps the device for floor screeds.

These forms can be divided into two main types: vertical and horizontal. The first type is used more often, as with the use of such formwork bearing walls and internal partitions are built. At the same time, horizontally oriented formwork is mainly used for the manufacture of floor slabs.
For the manufacture of concrete formwork in individual construction, various materials are used most often, such as, for example, waste OSB plywood and old boards. This approach is advisable, since most concreting forms are made for a single use.

In industrial construction, large-size metal forms of collapsible type are used. However, the purchase of such formwork for the casting of structural elements of a country house seems to be unjustified expenditure.
Important: Decking, made of improvised means and unnecessary building materials, must be not only durable, but also smooth from the inside and sealed. Carelessly made formwork will surely result in the fact that cast from concrete structures will require additional finishing.
So, the formwork is ready and it's time to find out how to make the reinforcement mating and pouring the walls with concrete.
Features of reinforcement of concrete structures
It is necessary to prepare a strong reinforcing structure, which will make the constructed house stronger and more durable, when casting with expanded clay concrete or more dense solutions is carried out.
The reinforcing structure is made of special wire-rod with a cross section of at least 10 mm. Wire or reinforcing rod is welded into a single structure, as shown in the diagram.

This type of reinforcement is sufficient for most structures used in individual construction, whether it is the manufacture of wall frames or foundations. If there is no welding machine, the reinforcement can be completely knitted by hand, but the strength and rigidity of the structure in this case will decrease.
Concrete preparation and pouring

The easiest way to order a ready-made solution in specialized organizations. In this case, you can be sure that the concrete will meet technological standards.
But during the individual construction of cement mortars, most often, are made independently using small concrete mixers. And in this case it is necessary to take a responsible attitude to the quantity and quality of the ingredients used.
Important: Detailed information on the proportions of building concrete and the characteristics of their preparation can be found in the relevant articles on our portal.
The easiest way is to fill with foam concrete and denser compositions using special concrete pumps. The use of such equipment is especially recommended when the height of the construction object is more than 2 floors.
Often, in order to save money, pouring vertical structures is done manually with buckets or a wheelbarrow. This is a time consuming and potentially dangerous job, since containers with concrete have to be brought to the height of the walls.
When performing concreting with your own hands, it is necessary to understand that this material fits into the formwork with uneven density. The result in this case may be the presence of voids and cavities in the thickness of the finished reinforced concrete structures, which will adversely affect their strength and durability.
To prevent such a development, building mortars poured into the formwork must be compacted. To do this, apply shittles. This is a special equipment equipped with electric or gasoline driven.
The device creates amplitude oscillations in the thickness of the solution, as a result of which the solution is compacted and the risk of formation of voids in the thickness of the finished structures is minimized.
Finally, we will consider the features of pouring the floor screed and the concrete strip foundation.
Manufacturing floor screed

The instruction in this case is as follows:
- Soil on the basis of leveling and ram ramming, which you can make with your own hands;
- We arrange a sand pillow 5 cm thick and ramming;
- We make filling of fine-grained crushed stone a layer of 5 cm and ram again;
- We expose beaconson which we will lay the concrete;
- Next, fill with polystyrene concrete or similar solution based on expanded clay. (layer thickness is determined in accordance with the parameters of the screed, but not less than 5 cm);
- The solution is smoothed to irregularities not more than 0.5 cm;
- After the screed grabs, lay the final layer of cement-sand mortar 2 cm thick (so-called self-leveling polymer floors can be used).
Production of the monolithic strip base

The choice of this type of foundation is not accidental. Despite the fact that the price of such a base is high, it is the monolithic strip foundation that is poured during the construction of most construction sites on standard soils.
Instruction of work is as follows:
- After the formwork has been made, a sandbag is laid at the bottom of the trench (layer thickness is 10–20 cm according to tape size).
- Sand with a rammer to the maximum compaction, after which we fall asleep mid-size rubble (layer thickness 10-15 cm).
- Rebar is laid out over tamped rubble. To do this, you need to apply stone or metal bars with a height of at least 5 cm, so that the reinforcement does not lie on the rubble.
- Next, pre-prepared concrete is poured into the formwork.
- We squeeze and level the freshly poured mortar, then we cover it with cellophane to avoid drying and cracking.
Conclusion
Now you have a general idea of how to work with the most popular and demanded mortars today. Do you have any questions? You will surely find the answers to them by watching the video in this article.