Loading…
9
Guy on my pour crew in Tulsa asked why I tap the forms with a hammer before the mud shows up, been doing it 22 years and never had a real answer
He caught me doing it on a driveway job last month. Tap tap tap along the stakes and form boards. I told him my first foreman showed me back in 2002 and I just never quit. He asked what it actually does. Stood there like an idiot. Best I could come up with is it knocks loose dirt off the form and you hear if a stake is getting soft. But honestly I think half of it is just listening. You hear a dead spot in the wood or a stake that gives a little rattle and you know to brace it before you dump 6 yards on it.
He started doing it too. Now the two of us look like a couple of woodpeckers out there. Any of you got a better reason than mine? I'd like to give the kid a real answer.
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
vera_murphy26d ago
Tapping also settles the dirt around the stakes so they don't shift when the mud hits them. That little rattle you hear is the ground giving, and finding it before the pour saves you a blown form every time.
2