Why do you need porch formwork and how to make it?

An important part of the construction of any private house is the construction of a porch. At the same time, great attention should be paid to what steps should be taken to it. For a solid concrete version of the steps, you will have to use formwork.

Formwork for the porch is a kind of assembled structure made of various materials. It is needed for steps made of concrete, reinforced concrete and other solutions that harden over time and need support.

The formwork gives the mortar the correct geometric shape, spatial position, the desired surface appearance. It will promote the hardening of concrete in the form of steps for the porch of any shape.

Distinguish between removable and non-removable formwork. Removable ones are used in places where the support of already hardened concrete is not required.

An important step in the manufacture of formwork is the choice of materials. It is wide enough and allows you to make structures from any available elements: edged or unedged boards, plywood, OSB and other sheet types, metal sheets, plastic panels. All of them are used for specific cases and each type of material is good in its own way.

So, the most common material is ordinary boards. They can withstand a good load, but their thickness must be at least 20 mm. Of them, it is quite simple and cheap to make ordinary rectangular steps. The biggest plus is affordability. As a rule, waste left over from other work can be excellent for making the frame of the steps.

Plywood is typically used for sidewall construction. Its peculiarity is that to give it the desired shape, you will have to use a jigsaw, while for the boards, you just need to cut off the desired piece. Plywood is used moisture resistant, with a thickness of 10-12 mm and more.

Metal or plastic are great for building semicircular steps. The fact is that to create such a formwork from boards, you will need to make very complex geometric structures. Metal, plastic and even plywood just need to be bent and secured with something.

After choosing the material from which the formwork will be made, you can proceed directly to the construction process. In order to properly build the formwork structure with your own hands, you should follow the following instructions.

• The first thing to do is mark the place. It uses concepts such as tread, riser and riser height. They can be completely different. When choosing their sizes, it is worth understanding how many people will be on the stairs at the same time, how old these people will be, how often you will have to go up and down the stairs.
• Then the width of the door is considered, and the porch is made 30-50 cm wider. Based on these figures, you can calculate how much area should be allocated for the stairs and porch.
• The corners of the future formwork are marked with pegs and the thread is pulled between them. After that, inside this area, the plant soil is cut off and additionally dug 20 cm down. In place of the excavated soil, a sand and gravel mixture is poured about 15 cm.Crushed stone is laid on top and a geomembrane is spread.
• In the manufacture of rectangular steps, board boards are used. The first of them are driven into the ground, thereby fixing themselves. For additional rigidity, you can put supporting pegs-props on all sides. Another option is to use a string that stretches from the top and holds the shield. Inside them, a frame is made of reinforcement, which is used to pour and maintain concrete.
• The second and subsequent stages are made in the same way as the first, but their size will decrease.
• The side walls are best made of plywood. With the help of them, wooden shields will be fastened. It is better to fix the boards and plywood with self-tapping screws, with the expectation that all this will subsequently be sorted out. Nails are hardly suitable for such a task.
• For the manufacture of a round porch with steps, plastic or metal formwork is used. This process is similar to making a frame from boards. But in this case, the curved metal will play the role of "shields". In order for it not to unbend during pouring and hardening of concrete, it should be well fixed.
• You can also make a semicircular porch from boards. In this case, the semicircle becomes a kind of polyhedron, at each of the corners of which there will be a peg. Between them, that is, on the edges, a small board will lie. The device of such a formwork will be a large task, divided into several small ones. In fact, each part is the construction of the simplest shape of rectangular steps, the connection of which makes it possible to obtain a semicircular formwork.

By paying attention to some tricks and tips when building porch formwork, many small but nasty mistakes can be avoided.

• If there is a large amount of work with this type of task, then it makes sense to buy a ready-made reusable formwork. Such a thing is not cheap, but over time it will pay off in the saved time.
• The materials of manufacture are quite expensive, and the construction of the entire porch is by no means cheap. To save money, it is best to use scrap materials - pieces of plywood or metal left over from other work.
• Before pouring concrete, make sure that the boards are not rotten or cracked. Water from the concrete will seep into them, which should not be.
• It is better to use an intermediate level in the form of roofing material or film. They will prevent the boards from drying out, which will help them to be removed easily later.
• When making round formwork, it is best not to use plywood if possible. To bend it and give it the desired shape without any problems, the plywood will have to be moistened, and this takes a lot of time.
• Formwork and subsequent pouring of concrete should take place at approximately the same time. This should be done in dry weather so that the concrete dries faster and the structure does not rot.

Here it is worth choosing the right material of manufacture, having decided before that with the type of porch. After that, it is worth starting to manufacture the structure and the subsequent pouring.

How to make porch formwork, see below.