PAD FOOTING DESIGN AND

CONSTRUCTION PART 2
PREPARED BY AHMAD HAKIMI BIN MAT NOR

CONSTRUCTION OF PAD
FOOTING
Construction Plan
Using the authorized construction plan, contractor will locate
the location of the footing and begin the construction works.
Excavation Work, Concreting and Curing
It is usual for the excavated surface of soil to be blinded with a
thin layer of lean concrete before the overlying structure work
takes place.
If the ground is soft and the reinforcement is heavy, blinding
layer may need to be 150 mm thick, reinforced with mesh
reinforcement.
Normal conditions blinding is 50-75mm thick grade 15 or 20
concrete, not reinforced, figure 2.1 illustrate this procedure.

Figure 2.1: Construction of blinding layer.

 In case of foundation constructed in the area where the ground

water level close to the surface, water pumped out so that the
construction work can be done, figure 2.1.

Figure 2.2: Blinding layer poured into the excavation after

water pumped out

 In case of several pad footing to be connected by an earth

beam there shall be room for the installation of earth adjacent
to the footing later on. Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3: Location of earth beam between pad footing

 Concrete should only be poured directly against the ground is

unlikely to collapse into the excavation. Generally shuttering or
temporary formwork is erected on the blinding surface. Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4: Construction of formwork for pad footing base

 At times, the steel column base with bolt is required to be

installed so as to make an easier installation of steel column
later on. Figure 2.5 show the bolt on the formwork before
concrete poured into the excavation.

Figure 2.5: Formwork with bolt as a base steel column installation

 Figure 2.6 show the schematic location of spacing block and

the whole pad footing construction.

Figure 2.6: Location of spacing block and the whole pad footing

 Figure 2.7 show the finished pad footing with base steel
column.

Figure 2.7: Finished pad footing with base of steel column

Placing of Concrete
Some keys to successful placing concrete for foundation are as
follow:
a)

Timing- anticipating the time from completion of excavation until the

time for concreting for foundation shall proceed smoothly and rapidly
within the time period.
b) Labor-arranging for the necessary labor to be available for the period
of time required, including overtime needs.
c) Concrete supply-for smaller pours, concrete is to be mixed on site but
the necessary materials will halt concreting; for larger pours off site
mixing is preferable. Concrete mixed off site (ready-mixed or premixed) is convenient to use for pours up to 100 m3
d) Concrete distribution on site- the methods of distributing are; site
truck, concrete skip, conveyor and concrete pump.

Compaction of concrete
Any incompletely compacted or porous zones, in which the
individual pieces of concrete aggregate are visibly separate
and the void between not filled, that enable any corrosive
chemicals in ground water solution to attack the concrete and
the reinforcement.
Concrete placed by tremie pipe has to have a relatively high
slump of 100-150 mm and therefore flows easily and selfcompacting. Concrete for normal structure use (including pad
footing) has low slump of 25 75 mm, and need to be
compacted into position to achieve a homogeneous deposit
with little trapped air.
In foundation work compaction is normally done by poker
vibrators, and sometimes by shutter mounted vibrators.

Curing of the concrete footing

Normal practice of curing concrete is by spraying of water and
the use of polyethylene sheets.
In Malaysia, as practiced by many is the use of gunny sacks by
constructors for their availability and cheaper cost.
Some constructors have introduced the method of spraying for
concrete curing.

Figure 2.8: Curing of concrete using poly-ethylene sheets

Figure 2.9: Curing of concrete by spraying

PREPARATION OF
REINFORCEMENT BAR
Preparation for steel reinforcement
Concrete reinforcement may take in the form of cage forming
at the bottom of the pad footing.
All reinforcement are to be arranged and hold up by spacer bar
at the correct distance. The bending of bar reinforcement is
specified by many codes such as BS 4466.
All forms of reinforcement should be supported on spacer
bocks, figure 2.6.

 Some of the dimensions that normally used for reinforcement

bar and wire mesh are as show in figure 2.30. typical of
bending and bending radius of reinforcement is shown ini
figure 2.31,

Figure 2.30: Sizes of reinforcement bar and wire mesh

Figure 2.31: Bending and bending radius

ON SITE SAFETY PROCEDURES

The most useful quick reference is the Oshas guide to the
construction engineerrs or the manual of safety by the CIDB
(Construction industry Development Board) Malaysia.
The guide by RoSPA (1982) has subsections relating to
particular aspacts of site work, of which the following are
particularly relevent to foundation construction,
General requirement ; safe working conditions; lighting; danger from
insecure structure; prevention from drowning; and explosives and
flammable materials.
Ladders
Gangways, run and stairs

 Excavations, shafts, earthworks and tunnels

Note: especially on excavations, where a person may be liable to be
struck by a fall of earth from a greater height than 1-2m, are to be
inspected every day that persons are employed there, and that trenches
deeper than 2 m are to be inspected at the beginning of every shift.
Inspections must be made by a competent person.
Scaffolding: very detailed regulation, followed by a section an special
types
Openings
Hoists.

BACKFILLING
Concrete normally achieve its adequate strength after some
period and depends on the type of cement used namely,
ordinary Portland cement or the quick hardened.
Removal of formwork is accomplished as soon as the concrete
reach the strength that enough to sustain its own weight with
other loadings attached on them.
However, concrete shall be given a minimum hardening period
to prevent it from broken during the removal of formwork.
Table 2.1 shows minimum period of formwork removal from a
particular part of a structure.
Backfilling of the excavations is done as the concrete attains
strength.

Table 2.1: Minimum period of removal

Location of formwork on
structure part

Normal Portland cement

(days)

Quick hardened Portland

cement (days)

On the side of beam and

column without loading

With support under floor

slab

Without support under

floor slab

10

With support under beam

Without support under

beam

21

END