Levelling a foundation

[Adrian80]

Hi Guys,

Just about to pour the foundation, however i am now wondering what the best way to level the concrete in the foundations is.

Do i knock pegs in the middle of the trench, level them up, and the pour around the pegs leaving them in the mix.

or do you leave them long and try and pull them out come the end.

Saying all this the ground is rock hard, and is going to be hard to try and knock the pegs into the ground.

any advice is greatly appreciated.
Cheers

A

 

[3Bowls]

Blocks across the sides was popular when I looked into it, but I marked on the house foundations the height and the sides of the ground and worked to those using wood plank and spirit level and floated across to top to help it out. All worked ok and was level.

 

[^woody^]

Pegs tend to fall over

Gauge down from some pegs or markers at the top of the trench with a piece of timber, or spray-paint a line or marks along the side of the trench

 

[garyo]

I knock pegs into the side of the trench every metre or so, set around two inches above final pour level, which you can level with a spirit or laser.

Once poured and roughly flattened with a float you can soon see if you're very far out when the water comes to the top and you find you have the biggest most expensive spirit level in the world

 

[Adrian80]

So i think some pegs in the side sounds like a good plan,

I have one section where i am proably going to have to fill to the very top of the trench, I think a stringline all the way acoss and measuring down with pre set stick migth be an idea?

I see what you mean about the most expensive spirit level.

Its all quite daunting, my bank account is taking a one way trip to the bottom...

Cheers
A

 

[noseall]

Pegs will not fall over if they are put in right.

We did have to put some diagonal bracing on some 1.2m deep pegs once though. This involved screwing a slim timber from the top of one peg to the base of the next and so on.