This was an immense day of work, and I'm completely zonked. A flat and smooth slab looks so simple when you walk onto it, but I have a new appreciation for the amount of work that goes into creating that deceptively-simple surface. There turned out to be a lot of action on the property today; in addition to the hectic atmosphere of a concrete pour, the lumber mill guy showed up and started to work on Diablo.
To fill the obligatory last-minute-rush slot, I noticed on Friday that my stem-wall rebar position would force me into an awkward transition at the bottom of the concrete stem-walls, where I would have a thin sliver of concrete over the foundation that would crack and chip off later. So... the solution was to untie all of the stem-wall steel (not the big retaining wall steel), and move it 1.5 inches toward the center of the slab. I started at 5PM, and was tying the last piece in place just as the last rays of daylight surrendered to night.
Screed boards set and leveled, screeds built, and all is ready to go!
The first 9-yard load got us this far. The retaining wall footing ate up a LOT of concrete.
While we were working on the second truck, Luis-the-lumber-mill-guy showed up and started work on Diablo.
Luis found a really nice 8" bolt inside the first piece of Diablo. The 1x8 boards from this one turned out beautiful!
Some of my future siding boards!
Finished with the pour, and starting to float the rest of the slab. This foundation and slab turned out to be a hair over 20 yards. two 9-yard trucks and a 3-yard cleanup load... if you're paying attention and counting, you know that means we had to dump almost a yard of concrete as waste. ...but Luis noticed what was happening and offered to put the bucket on his tractor and move the pile of concrete to a mud-hole in my driveway. I've lucked out big-time with the contractors I've hired so far: all very honest, fair, hard-working, and talented people.
Veggies and tri-tip: part of my thank-you to the two guys from work who volunteered to help me (the other part of the thank-you is a day of hard labor on a project for each of them). I didn't get a picture of the tri-tip, but just use your imagination: it was awesome.
Finished troweling the slab. Just when I thought the hard work was almost over, Danny-the-slab-guy handed me a trowel and asked "have you ever used one of these?" ...I hadn't, but I learned quickly enough to earn a "looks pretty good" from a guy who takes a lot of pride in his work and doesn't hand out complements lightly.
My family stopped by as I was stripping the forms at the end of the day, to see the progress and play outside... I can't wait to live here... good times! (Thanks to Shawna for help with the cleanup and nail-hazard-removal... you came along just when I wanted to curl up in the fetal position and sleep for a week!)
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