You have to crawl before you can
walk. And you have to pour your
crawlspace foundation before you can
frame the first-floor deck, right?
Wrong, says inventor Michael Butler
of Fort Bragg, Calif. In Butler's innovative
framing and forming system,
named Fast Track, the builder first
assembles a steel deck skeleton and
suspends it in place, adjusting the
frame to make sure it's square, level,
and right where he wants it. Then he
hangs the foundation forms from
that skeleton framework, using steel
C-channel for the form boards. After
pouring the foundation to fit the
floor, the builder strips the steel forms
and uses them as joists to frame out
the remainder of the deck.
After building half a