Cottage Life
Bright Ideas by Max Burns
Bigfoot siting at the cabin!
Much of cottage-country construction is propped up on concrete blocks – stacks of grey rectangles often relying on the mere good graces of gravity and nature to remain vertical. Blocks nervously hold up cottages, sheds, decks, boathouses, marine railways, and abandoned vehicles. (How can you spot the rich guys in my neighbourhood? They’re the ones with two cars up on blocks.) Problem is, each spring nature moves around under the blocks allowing gravity to tug at the top and soon these once-vertical props are leaning more to the right than an inebriated politician. So much for good graces.
If you’ve been cottaging with blocks, try to imagine doors that don’t jam shut or refuse to close during spring thaw – for the cottage or the ’71 Chevy lying in state on the front lawn. One of the simplest ways to make this dream come true is to replace stacks of blocks with properly constructed, poured-on-site concrete pillars – sturdy, heavy, and not easily persuaded off center. Tubular fibre forms, available in a wealth of diameters and lengths, make the task of pouring a pillar relatively easy. But a pillar (and any stack of concrete blocks for that matter) should sit on an oversized pad, called a footing, in order to spread the weight of the pillar and its load over a greater area. It’s the difference between standing on your toes or flat foot – when is it easier to push you over? So you dig a hole, level the bottom, and then convention suggests you build a footing using a wood-framed square filled with concrete, pause to let the concrete dry, stick a tubular form on top, plumb and level, backfill, then top up the tube with concrete. Unfortunately, a weak link remains between the footing and the pillar, a dry joint maintained primarily by a few pieces of rebar and those aforementioned good graces.
A better and easier way to a good footing is to forget the wood-framed square and go Bigfoot. The Bigfoot is a large upside-down-funnel-shaped form made from high-density polyethylene (the same plastic used to make gas cans and Decadent Chocolate Fudge Crack Ice Cream containers). Dig the hole as before, then attach the Bigfoot to the bottom of the tubular form with four screws, place the works in the hole, level and plumb, backfill, and then pour the concrete in one go. Footing and pillar become one, with no joint.
And – bonus – by turning an extra Bigfoot upside down so it looks like a funnel, you can use it as such during the pour. A Bigfoot can also be used above ground, and in situations when low supports may be required – marine railways, dock landings, and the like – it alone may serve admirably. The Bigfoot comes in four sizes to accommodate 6" – 18" tubular fibre forms and meets all building codes in North America, greatly expanding your pillar opportunities. Gate posts, flag poles, heck, picture two abandoned Chevy pickups proudly propped up 10, maybe 20 feet high. Now there’s my definition of conspicuous wealth. The Bigfoot is sold at most building supply stores and costs $16 - $20, size-dependent. For more info, contact F&S Manufacturing, RR#2, Mahone Bay NS B0J 2E0, 1-800-934-0393, www.bigfootsystems.com