...and so begins the long process of dismantling the last month's work. I'm learning a lot in this process, about what I find aesthetically pleasing once it's turned inside out, and about how to set up this kind of formwork for easy disassembly and minimizing the spalled concrete. 

This one looks strangely like a chimney to me. I didn't expect that, but I still like it.

Here's another learning experience... the little funky spot at the top of the wall was where one of the cross-ties at the top didn't allow us to trowel it smooth. Next time, I'll be sure to set up for easy finishing at the top of the forms. It's really no as bad as it looks from this angle, easy to repair if it needs any repair at all.

Getting these pieces out was more work than I expected. That seems to be a common theme with concrete work in whatever form it takes (see what I did there?), and I should have come to expect that by now... (wait... wtf just happened? where are all of these puns coming from? ...oh yeah, this was a ton of work and I'm tired.)

Yeah... now we're getting somewhere. It's surreal seeing it from this side, and it's not exactly what I imagined, but if I take a deep breath and tilt my brain a little to the side, I think it's kind of awesome! 

That center pier looks a little less like a chimney when I see it in context. 

On another note, the pressure-washing-to-expose-some-aggregate idea didn't work out at all like I planned... this concrete gained strength FAST, and a 2700psi pressure washer wouldn't even scratch the surface after 24 hours. File it away for future reference: if you want to do exposed-aggregate concrete, you have to get after it with the pressure washer after eight hours or less. As it is, I'm going to shift my expectations and come to appreciate the look and feel of the regular 2x8 form lines on the exterior. I can do that without much effort at all, in fact, it's... done. 

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Bonus guest post: a view of the project through my wife's eyes:

Same wall through different eyes, another learning experience. I kind of like it better this way.

Taking a break from building to walk down to the covered bridge and appreciate our new neighborhood... and our new neighbors!

Nice texture shot!

Action-shot... this little bit of form stripping was a lot of work!

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PPS: here's the original inspiration for my wall texture...

I think I took inspiration from it but made it my own at the same time. I count that as a success.

I woke up today feeling like a three-year-old on Christmas Morning. For the first time in quite a while I was up before the sun; I was happy to be awake and excited about the day. I got to the property at 7AM and set up the generator and tools, sprayed down the forms, and got everything ready to go when the concrete arrived.

The first load of concrete showed up at 8AM; I was moving fast for the next 11 hours.

...you see the funniest things on construction sites...

This was my only really nervous moment in the whole pour, and one where I completely expected not to encounter problems - in the low wall forms. the bottoms of the 2x8 form boards weren't braced between the uprights, so it let the board twist under the pressure of the concrete, bulging out about an inch at its worst places. I can fix this... fortunately it just means a little more pressure-washer time at these spots to remove some more concrete as I do the exposed aggregate work. I'm learning a little more with each concrete pour; fortunately the learning experiences have been relatively painless so far.

A beautiful sight: almost 18 yards of concrete in a 9-foot-tall pour, staying (mostly) where it was intended to be. 

My volume estimate was very close to reality: these four 2-foot pavers were all that was left over after the forms were filled. That's pretty much a perfect pour: far better to go slightly over on the volume then slightly under... ordering a one-yard truck is embarrasing and expensive.

I couldn't resist stripping some forms after the concrete had set up a little... I'm liking what I see here. Also, it's nice to expose it while it's still pretty soft because it's very easy to clean up by chiseling the excess off around the bolts, between the forms, at knot holes, etc. 

Another view showing the top of the ledge. I'm happy with how this is turning out!

Then... as I was sitting there taking a rest and admiring my work, I remembered where I had seen this before. I had helped the City of Eureka with some forensic engineering to figure out why the little concrete "lip" on top of one of their building's foundation walls had broken off throughout the entire project... it turns out that a form board was trapped between the concrete slab and the concrete "lip", and that board swelled while the concrete cured and shrank, and cracked the "lip" off almost everywhere. Then I realized that is what was about to happen here... if I left it alone overnight, I probably would have come back to a bunch of beautifully-formed-but-broken concrete ledges. Upon that realization, I immediately switched from resting-and-recovering mode to form-stripping-like-a-machine mode and got at least one board out of each wall to relieve the pressure.

...and then it was so much fun that I just kept going...

...and going. I got most of the outside face of the low walls stripped today. Ready to break out the pressure washer tomorrow and expose some aggregate!

The usual end-of-the-day shot from up the hill. I'm excited to be making progress again!

For each of my pours on this project, I've gone into it expecting it to be a huge amount of work, and I've come away from it with a new appreciation for just how much work goes into concrete structures.

Finally... ready to pour concrete. I had much more trouble than I expected lining up help for the wall pour. I guess I got lucky with the slab pour; I was able to get people to help and get it done in a couple of weeks. I've been trying to find help for this pour for over a month. Even when I gave up on friends and work-trade arrangements and decided to hire some help... I couldn't get any contractors to call me back. Anyway, now it's finally set up and ready to go: help procured and forms complete and braced. I'll have two hired builders, a concrete pump, concrete trucks, and a fast-paced all-business atmosphere all centered on my project on Tuesday morning at 8AM. I'm excited to get this part done and get on with the framing!