ArdWrknTrk Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 Use what you got… here is how I brought home the 20’ rebar sticks for the foundation: Now to go put it in the forms! Ingenious use for those IBC totes! I'm glad to see your Bullnose is ready to lend a hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted August 11, 2023 Author Share Posted August 11, 2023 Ingenious use for those IBC totes! I'm glad to see your Bullnose is ready to lend a hand. I passed the first set of inspections this afternoon… groundwork, setbacks, and footing reinforcements. Hopefully I can schedule a concrete pour this coming week and stop worrying so much about the consequences of a monsoon storm. A poured footing can always be cleared but a cave in at this stage would be horrible. Everything is taking a lot longer than expected (of course) even when expecting it to take longer than I think. Next inspection is actually roof sheathing fastening so I have a lot of building before the county has to come back out. On to the concrete and block… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 I passed the first set of inspections this afternoon… groundwork, setbacks, and footing reinforcements. Hopefully I can schedule a concrete pour this coming week and stop worrying so much about the consequences of a monsoon storm. A poured footing can always be cleared but a cave in at this stage would be horrible. Everything is taking a lot longer than expected (of course) even when expecting it to take longer than I think. Next inspection is actually roof sheathing fastening so I have a lot of building before the county has to come back out. On to the concrete and block… Congratulations!!! Man, that looks like a lot of WORK! Hope you get the pour this week, for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted August 20, 2023 Author Share Posted August 20, 2023 I passed the first set of inspections this afternoon… groundwork, setbacks, and footing reinforcements. Hopefully I can schedule a concrete pour this coming week and stop worrying so much about the consequences of a monsoon storm. A poured footing can always be cleared but a cave in at this stage would be horrible. Everything is taking a lot longer than expected (of course) even when expecting it to take longer than I think. Next inspection is actually roof sheathing fastening so I have a lot of building before the county has to come back out. On to the concrete and block… The concrete pour happened Friday. The whole event was a feral dumpster fire. The concrete pump did not work, and after a certain point they decided to place what they could with chutes to salvage the load. The poor old guy driving the mixer couldn’t see or hear very well and they ended up getting concrete everywhere, with all hands scrambling around trying to move it where it needed to go. It was not a good situation, and to boot we had two cloudbursts downpour on us so we were soaked and fighting heavy rain. They sent a technician out to get the pump running for the second load, but by then the truck had been sitting a while and the concrete was getting thick. It didn’t pump and handle as it should. I had one other guy who was supposed to help me with screeding and finishing, but he spent most of his time helping with the hose and generally keeping the concrete inside the forms. We filled the perimeter footings with a just a couple shovel’s wort to spare. They offered to send another truck for the 13 pier footings but I had enough circus for one day. I will mix sack-Crete and fill them by hand. Since I had no time and no help for finish work, I went back thinking I could trim and even the concrete while it was leather hard. No such luck. It was setting way faster than I could trim and even up the gob job. Then came more rain and very close lighting strikes so I went inside. Saturday I went and bought a rotary hammer drill and chisel attachment. The concrete was still green enough that I was able to remove the rest of my cross pieces and even up the worst of the unfinished concrete. What a rough job. My hands are still tingly and vibrating from running that hammer drill for ~9 hrs. But the main body of the footing is DONE. It was an exercise in letting go of perfection to say the least. Thankfully the EF block is relatively forgiving. I have about 82 linear feet of CMU to lay, and I gave these parts of the footing a little extra attention. I am glad to be past this part of the build. This is not my favorite and not my area of skill ha ha… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 The concrete pour happened Friday. The whole event was a feral dumpster fire. The concrete pump did not work, and after a certain point they decided to place what they could with chutes to salvage the load. The poor old guy driving the mixer couldn’t see or hear very well and they ended up getting concrete everywhere, with all hands scrambling around trying to move it where it needed to go. It was not a good situation, and to boot we had two cloudbursts downpour on us so we were soaked and fighting heavy rain. They sent a technician out to get the pump running for the second load, but by then the truck had been sitting a while and the concrete was getting thick. It didn’t pump and handle as it should. I had one other guy who was supposed to help me with screeding and finishing, but he spent most of his time helping with the hose and generally keeping the concrete inside the forms. We filled the perimeter footings with a just a couple shovel’s wort to spare. They offered to send another truck for the 13 pier footings but I had enough circus for one day. I will mix sack-Crete and fill them by hand. Since I had no time and no help for finish work, I went back thinking I could trim and even the concrete while it was leather hard. No such luck. It was setting way faster than I could trim and even up the gob job. Then came more rain and very close lighting strikes so I went inside. Saturday I went and bought a rotary hammer drill and chisel attachment. The concrete was still green enough that I was able to remove the rest of my cross pieces and even up the worst of the unfinished concrete. What a rough job. My hands are still tingly and vibrating from running that hammer drill for ~9 hrs. But the main body of the footing is DONE. It was an exercise in letting go of perfection to say the least. Thankfully the EF block is relatively forgiving. I have about 82 linear feet of CMU to lay, and I gave these parts of the footing a little extra attention. I am glad to be past this part of the build. This is not my favorite and not my area of skill ha ha… I've been worried about you given the storm coming in. Sure glad to see you got the bulk of it done, albeit rough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 The concrete pour happened Friday. The whole event was a feral dumpster fire. The concrete pump did not work, and after a certain point they decided to place what they could with chutes to salvage the load. The poor old guy driving the mixer couldn’t see or hear very well and they ended up getting concrete everywhere, with all hands scrambling around trying to move it where it needed to go. It was not a good situation, and to boot we had two cloudbursts downpour on us so we were soaked and fighting heavy rain. They sent a technician out to get the pump running for the second load, but by then the truck had been sitting a while and the concrete was getting thick. It didn’t pump and handle as it should. I had one other guy who was supposed to help me with screeding and finishing, but he spent most of his time helping with the hose and generally keeping the concrete inside the forms. We filled the perimeter footings with a just a couple shovel’s wort to spare. They offered to send another truck for the 13 pier footings but I had enough circus for one day. I will mix sack-Crete and fill them by hand. Since I had no time and no help for finish work, I went back thinking I could trim and even the concrete while it was leather hard. No such luck. It was setting way faster than I could trim and even up the gob job. Then came more rain and very close lighting strikes so I went inside. Saturday I went and bought a rotary hammer drill and chisel attachment. The concrete was still green enough that I was able to remove the rest of my cross pieces and even up the worst of the unfinished concrete. What a rough job. My hands are still tingly and vibrating from running that hammer drill for ~9 hrs. But the main body of the footing is DONE. It was an exercise in letting go of perfection to say the least. Thankfully the EF block is relatively forgiving. I have about 82 linear feet of CMU to lay, and I gave these parts of the footing a little extra attention. I am glad to be past this part of the build. This is not my favorite and not my area of skill ha ha… What a heroic effort to salvage what you could of a bad situation! Hot loads and broken pumps are bad situations. I've experienced more of both than I care to think about, but to compound them??? All I can say is you certainly made the best of it. Sorry you had to go through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted August 21, 2023 Author Share Posted August 21, 2023 What a heroic effort to salvage what you could of a bad situation! Hot loads and broken pumps are bad situations. I've experienced more of both than I care to think about, but to compound them??? All I can say is you certainly made the best of it. Sorry you had to go through that. I am certainly breathing easier with the footing in. This hurricane seems to be missing us, and the worst of the storm may have hit *during the concrete pour… but I’m not complaining. It was better than another blistering hot day with no shade. That would have been worse. Hopefully I can get the piers poured this week. Jim, I had several factors that were not ideal, and they compounded into an emergency quite quickly. I don’t necessarily blame the concrete company… the pump had just come from another job and had been working. These things happen. The pump operator was really good at his trade, and if it had not been for his quick thinking and work ethic the whole job might have ended in failure. I want him back when I need grout pumped into the EF block. He has a very even, good natured personality and he is careful. I will have three more pours to grout everything to the top plates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 I am certainly breathing easier with the footing in. This hurricane seems to be missing us, and the worst of the storm may have hit *during the concrete pour… but I’m not complaining. It was better than another blistering hot day with no shade. That would have been worse. Hopefully I can get the piers poured this week. Jim, I had several factors that were not ideal, and they compounded into an emergency quite quickly. I don’t necessarily blame the concrete company… the pump had just come from another job and had been working. These things happen. The pump operator was really good at his trade, and if it had not been for his quick thinking and work ethic the whole job might have ended in failure. I want him back when I need grout pumped into the EF block. He has a very even, good natured personality and he is careful. I will have three more pours to grout everything to the top plates. I certainly didn't mean to disparage the company, boom operator or even the ready-mix driver. "Stuff" happens. The mark of professionalism is how you've recovered and made the best of the hand you were dealt. I was just saying pours are pressure enough, and then something -not ideal- occurs..... and then the batch isn't retarded enough or made with chilled water... and then the skies open up, the trenches start filling, the mixer gets stuck in the mud... Whatever (I have stories!!!) I'm reminded of 'The Perfect Storm' and many other words/acronyms not appropriate for this forum. Here's hoping the piers and block go more smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted November 9, 2023 Author Share Posted November 9, 2023 I certainly didn't mean to disparage the company, boom operator or even the ready-mix driver. "Stuff" happens. The mark of professionalism is how you've recovered and made the best of the hand you were dealt. I was just saying pours are pressure enough, and then something -not ideal- occurs..... and then the batch isn't retarded enough or made with chilled water... and then the skies open up, the trenches start filling, the mixer gets stuck in the mud... Whatever (I have stories!!!) I'm reminded of 'The Perfect Storm' and many other words/acronyms not appropriate for this forum. Here's hoping the piers and block go more smoothly. Progress is slow but not zero. The block was delivered yesterday which is certainly motivating… I rented an all terrain forklift to unload and place my pallets. I used it to swap an engine too while I had use of it 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted November 9, 2023 Share Posted November 9, 2023 Progress is slow but not zero. The block was delivered yesterday which is certainly motivating… I rented an all terrain forklift to unload and place my pallets. I used it to swap an engine too while I had use of it 😁 Progress is Good! At first I was a bit surprised you didn't get a telehandler, but realized how wide open your foundation is. Not much like that here in the Northeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts