Tips for pouring tall foundation walls that I wish I'd known sooner

Did a set of 10 footers on a shop build last fall and your point about lifts is the one I'd underline. My crew got lazy on the second wall and let one section get about 5 feet deep before moving on. The forms bowed out almost an inch at the base even though nothing actually let go. Had to chip that bulge off the outside once it cured and it still looks lumpy from the driveway. One thing I'd add on the bracing side. I ran snap ties at 24 inches on center vertically and I would not go wider than that on anything over 8 feet. Also used walers on the outside because the rental panels alone were flexing more than I liked during the first wall.

Truck scheduling bit me too. First truck showed up 40 minutes early while I was still finishing tie wires, so the driver sat there adding water to keep it workable. By the time it went in the slump was all over the place and part of the wall was soupy. Second pour I told the plant exactly what time the forms would be ready and it went way smoother.

Also keep a spare bundle of ties and wedges sitting next to the pump. When you need one mid pour you have about zero seconds to go looking for it.

The other thing tall walls taught me is how the surface looks when you strip. My first big pour I went in with no vibrator and the face came out with honeycombing all along the bottom where the mud had to work around the bar. Second time I had a buddy walking a pencil vibrator down the form as the trucks kept pace and the difference was night and day. Clean face, no patching.

Also spray the panels down with release oil the day before, not the hour before. I was sloppy once and half the peel-out stuck to the wood. Took forever to clean the panels and the wall still had scabs on it.

The thing that got me on a 9 footer last spring was backfill timing. I was itching to push dirt against the wall two days after the pour and my neighbor who does this for a living told me to hold off a full week. Glad I listened because that wall was still doing a little bit of shrink movement at the top when I checked it. A hairline crack down one corner woud have been my fault entirely. Also make sure the drainage pipe and stone are in before the dirt goes back, fishing a perforated pipe thru a finished corner is no fun at all.

The thing that got me on my own 9 footer was the keyway at the footing. I set a 2x strip down the middle of the footing before the pour and it locked the wall in so well I stopped worrying about it shifting while backfilling. Cheap strip of lumber, no fancy stuff. Also worth figuring out where your anchor bolts go before the forms are up. I marked all my plate locations on the top form and set the bolts as the concrete came up. Trying to drill into a cured 9 foot wall sideways with a hammer drill is a miserable afternoon.