Pole Barn 4: concrete pourage

Andrew's 2nd Birthday Bash!
His Aunt Ronda sent a balloon tied to a toy concrete 
truck, as well as some spectator snacks.

An experienced group of guys briefly convening before the concrete flows.
The tripod is a laser level which was used with a "smart stick" 
to level the concrete as it was put down.

The blob of concrete on the RIGHT has been leveled 
and is used in place of a form board. Randy and Chas screed the first section. 

2nd concrete "form" is in place; filling in between and screeding.
These guys were like a well-oiled machine. Everyone chose a part and knew it!

Coming across the 2nd half, filling around putsy pipes.

We had an extra YARD of concrete, so we expanded the apron in front of the doors on the east side of the pole barn, Randy's brother Ken and I built a 6x6' frame for a concrete pad, and then there was STILL more, so we had the rest poured over the side of the driveway that got washed out a bit from the rain.


Randy using the power trowel. At first it looks like he's 
ruining the smooth surface, but after 2+ hours as the concrete 
cures, we end up with a super-smooth surface! 
That's very slippery when wet!

A beautiful model for Pa's work hat

Andrew was hesitant to walk on it for a while, 
but these three now love the new floor!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December: mud, mud, mud. Let's go skating.

Image
After I had the Flu at the end of November, we jumped into taping and mudding for the whole month of December. The following pictures are self-explanatory unless captioned otherwise. A secret hiding place! Because we're new to some things, we built the rough framing for the bathrooms with 1-2 inches extra in width. Turns out, tubs usually fasten directly to the studs and you need the space to be a true 60", not 61-62. We will have slightly roomier bathrooms, but will also have a piece of PVC trim that covers the jog in the wall by the tub. Entry Thru entry into laundry room We realized afterwards that *smart* people probably install drywall and then install the stair treads and risers. But, it works this way too. We missed 2 of our homeschool co-op days due to illness, and had to finish paper mache projects at home. Andrew got to do one this way, though, so it worked out. Randy. Will fix printers in a pinch. Sorta...
Read more

August: Upper walls, ROOF! Class 5.

Image
After a bout with the REAL flu, I'm back at this catch-up thing. (Seriously, though, the Flu is no joke. I was up to nothing but lying around for about a week, and ate almost nothing for a good few days. I still have a bit of headache/sore throat/swollen lymph nodes, 2 weeks later.) August 9: Working on the upstairs walls. Once you  get to a certain height, you kinda need to put in the  window and door bucks to go further.  Looks funny like this! August 11: We HAD to make sure we were taking a "sabbath" during this house build season, so that we wouldn't work ourselves to death. It often helped to get away from the project to reduce the temptation to say "I'm just gonna do that one little thing" and then "I'm just gonna do this other little thing" and before you know it our day of rest would be quite productive and we wouldn't be ready for another week of work. On this particular BEAUTIFUL Sunday, we visited Pelican La...
Read more

Cabinets 1

Image
Do you know how to build a kitchen cabinet? I didn't either. At least, certainly not in a day! All it takes is a little planning, the right tools, and the right people. When my brother Tim and his family visited for a week in early October, he and I (and Laura, one day!) focused on getting a few cabinets built for the kitchen. Randy and I had heard about MyWorkshopSpace at a business fair, and conveniently, it's a program located at Down to Earth Woodworking, just across Pine River from our place! For $50/week, you get to use all the tools, purchase materials through the shop, AND Allan Wiener , the owner and operator, is on-site to teach you... How best to plan your project How to use the equipment How to put everything together What not to do, too, and how to fix mistakes Now, with my super-great brother Tim, Allan didn't need to help "me" much, as Tim actually went to school for woodworking and spearheaded that week of work once he was fam...
Read more