What's at Stake

stake puller

Today I stripped the forms and pulled the stakes. Or at least most of them. The ones for the steps are hecka difficult to pull, even with the rented stake puller. But the path is ready for gravel, sand and pavers, and the drain for the overflow from the rain barrel is connected. Tomorrow I'll deal with those last stakes, and cut the downspout to feed into the rain barrel. More rain is due Saturday and beyond, so I doubt I'll get the path dealt with, but it's finally starting to look like a porch instead of a hodge-podge of construction detritus.

Concrete on the Way...

Which is a good thing, as rain is due for Tuesday and Wednesday. The total should be around 2.5 yards, which isn't that much in the big scheme of things. But it would be around a hundred 80 pound bags, which is way too much to mix by hand alone.

A Taste of Mexico

Yesterday I finished up building the forms for the new bit o' foundation, then 'Mixmaster K' and I mixed and placed 7.5 bags of concrete into them. Given how things were partly tucked under the existing house and set on top of the existing foundation, it was the most complicated wooden concrete form I've ever built. (The foundation for the addition was larger and on a slope, but considerably easier to build because I used ICFs.) It also made it very difficult to fill. It gave Katarina a small taste of what RLC's mission trips to Mexico are like. Except it was 1/2 a day of mixing, not 1.5 days, and we had a flush toilet and running water just inside the door. But it did give her an idea of just how back-breaking mixing concrete by hand is. Fortunately the kids have lots of energy and enthusiasm, and the older ones who have been on a trip or two quickly teach the new ones to pace themselves. So 11'x22'x4" (plus a bit for footing around the edge) gets mixed by hand in a remarkably short amount of time.

The foundation under the new floor joists was the hardest to fill. I had to get in under the house with a piece of plywood to serve as a hawk, and shove it in bit by bit. But the whole thing went pretty quickly with Katarina's help.

Today after church I pulled off the forms, and our handiwork looks pretty good. I still need to pull out some bits of 2x2 (under the new rim joist in front of me in the picture), where part of the new (pressure treated, thankyouverymuch) sill plate will sit under the new joists. And there's lots more to do before it begins looking like a regular part of the house, but after spending so much time tearing stuff out, it's a relief to be moving forward again.

I Called, They Came, We Poured

The building inspector came on Tuesday, and she was intrigued by the QuadLock ICFs. Still not that many people using them around here, I guess. They make a ton of sense in places like Florida (hurricanes, termites, hot weather) and Canada (some parts with really cold winters), but are a great way to build anywhere, I think. A few questions, some looking around, and inspection #1 passed!

I called around to find a concrete supplier and pumper. Usually they're separate companies and the concrete company will refer you to a pumper. I asked about lead time, expecting a couple of days. One place said a week. Crikey! I called another place, and asked their lead time. "Right now, or in general?" "Right now." "Thursday's the earliest I've got." Um...OK! They also do pumping. So I had 10 yards scheduled for between 12 and 1 today.

I scrambled to call people to help, because the companies provide concrete, and someone to run the pump, but they don't provide the people needed to move the hose, settle / rod the concrete, screed the top, etc. Naun was busy -- he's found work (yay!) doing painting. A couple of neighbors had offered to help, but one had plans already. I called my pastor who'd offered to help, too, and fortunately he was available and willing to shuffle his schedule to make it.

Fast forward to this morning, then hit the pause button. The pump and operator showed up at 10am to set up; apparently there was a big gap after his last job, so they just sent him here early. It took him all of 20 minutes or so to set up. Pastor Jim showed up about 11am, and then the three of us waited. And waited. Our neighbor Cynthia came to help, and we waited some more. Around 12:30 or so, Cynthia went home to get some lunch, and I made some for Jim and I. And we waited some more. I think it was close to 2 o'clock when the concrete truck came lumbering up the hill.

The pour started off with a bang. I was careful not to kink the hose, and felt a few initial pulses, and started getting concrete. A lot of concrete. The company alots 4 minutes per cubic yard (that's 27 cubic feet for the math impaired) of concrete for unloading, which means concrete goes through the 3 or 4 inch hose really fast. Which means you don't want the hose to kink lest pressure build up. But something I hadn't experienced before were plugs. Even with the water and pressure, it's possible for the hose to plug briefly. But at the rate the concrete is coming, even a brief plug means a lot of concrete builds up, and when it comes out, it comes out hard. The side of the house and my face got a concrete bath, and Jim took over while I washed up.

The rest of the pour went pretty smoothly, though Jimmy the pump operator got his own plug and a wallop on the leg by the hose. Ouch. And we had a couple of small blowouts, but a 2x4 to brace and a bit of rebar as a stake stopped the larger one.

Jim did a beautiful job screeding and smoothing the top of the wall, Cynthia and her neighbor's son Brent rodded to get rid of air pockets, and in very short order it was all done but the cleanup. Many, many thanks to you for your help, especially Jim.

Now we have a foundation, and it's starting to look like part of a house instead of fancy hole in the ground. Wahoo!