Cribbing

Our cribbing crew (Billy's Basements) is very efficient, they can pour multiple basements each week, all year round (weather permitting).  They use the conventional 9 ft forms and actually have a variety of crews to do the footing, crib the walls, place the concrete and eventually tear off the forms.  In addition to Billy's crew, we are using a more specialized crew to install the middle wall of the basement, and both upper levels as well. They stack the insulated concrete forms better known as ICF, use a different rebar pattern, and place the concrete.  Because the ICF needs a very flat surface, they had to get creative to account for the stepped middle footing needed to dig deep enough to go below the frost layer in our walkout.

Another issue is the weather.  February proved to be exceptionally cold and many days pouring of concrete, even the heated variety, is impossible.  Typical of Calgary construction, weather makes everything more difficult and costly.  Eventually a window of good weather opens, and the pour takes place well above the freezing mark.  Within two days the forms are stripped and we can proceed with the remaining pre-backfill construction requirements.

The inner forms are up and the outer forms will quickly follow

Walls have been poured and stripped