I am considering building my own forms for a strip footing and short wall. I would like to recycle the forms lumber for the building framing. I have concerns about air quality and toxicity of the residual release agent left on the lumber. Some questions come to mind: 1. Is it mandatory to use a release agent on the form lumber? 2. Are there release agents that will not be toxic, off gas carcinogens, etc from the lumber? 3. What products or methods are people using for form release when recycling the lumber for construction?

Have you considered FastFoot?

http://www.fab-form.com/fastfoot/fastfootOverview.php

That is what I used for my strip footings.  It keeps the concrete off the lumber.

Here is my project:  http://www.fab-form.com/fastfoot/fa...nSmith.php

Interesting that somebody has taken the idea of using plastic sheeting and applied it to forming for footings. Considering that I will reuse my lumber and that there is considerable time to frame the fast-foot product, I think it would not be a good payoff. What are they charging for the product?

If I recall, it was somewhere around $100/roll for the fabric, but I don't remember how many feet are in a roll. I had to order 2 rolls to do my ~200 linear feet of basement footings, but I have quite a bit left over that I will use for my garage and porch footings.

You can order it directly from fab-form and they will ship it to you via UPS.

Fast foot is a woven polyethylene and much stronger than regular plastic. Installation of the fast foot is quick and easy and you only need to use 2x4s for the footing framework.

I did a quick search and it looks like the fast foot is 120' long rolls. Here is the link:

http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Fo...fault.aspx

Thanks for the link. I'll look at their information pages more closely. It looks like a good product/idea and paired up with ICFs for the mono pour would give someone the benefit of an insulated wall. My wall is short, so the cost of lumber forming may be significantly less then buying Fastfoot. I will get some cost numbers to confirm my gut feeling.

Marlow, If you do make a price comparison, please pass it on to us.

Marlow, first off I work with Fab-Form.
Keep in mind that you will only use 2x4's to form any footing. And the fabric will stay in place to prevent moisture from wicking up into the footing. It seems silly that we spend all this money waterproofing our walls, just to let all the moisture be absorbed through an unprotected footing.
Here is a link to what we like to see on any job regarding footing damp-proofing.
Through the same process we are also preventing any chemicals from the concrete leaching into the ground water table as well.

I've thought it was strange that damp-proofing measures are used for the wall, but the footing is typically touching the soil. I wonder why it is not mandated that a moisture barrier be in place for footings now? The idea of preventing leaching is appealing as well (we need to stop polluting our groundwater under homes), but are there studies that show what is leached and to what degree?
It's really interesting to see these ideas being implemented by people.

Here is a link to a website explaining Rising damp; The issue of moisture wicking up from the footing, and eventually into the home.
We are going to be covering this more in depth in an upcoming news release

Alton, I can reuse much of my lumber after I pull the forms. I'm not going to use release agent and will keep my walls covered during the cure. I will probably run my plastic sheeting right under the footing form and then join it with the sheet that will be placed under the slab.

Liquid dish detergent.

Great informative conversation. Thanks guys.

SPF Roofing