I cannot believe this day finally came and went. about 8 of us started at 8:00 this morning with Bojangles biscuits—my treat! (because I woke up excited about the day and I wanted everyone else to be happy with me. ☺ ) and it WAS EXCITING! we all got busy placing ladders and walk boards such that the entire top perimeter of the walls were more easily accessible.
over the next couple of hours, i made 2 trips to Lowe's for supplies--lag bolts & screws. we're always needing something on this 5.000 sq. ft. monstrosity.
before I knew it, the concrete was being poured. it sounded like heavy, heavy rain on a tin roof. there was something peaceful in it—maybe it was just the satisfaction and contentment that we had made it to the pour. I dunno. but as the concrete hose made it around the first corner of the house, the icfs started separating from the corner window buck and concrete was seeping through—uh-oh! I didn’t have a drill on me, Adrian did. I scrounged for some wood scraps and Adrian screwed them in place. it still wasn’t holding the concrete well, so we had to redo all the bracing and scabbing around the window. it was a little scary, because we had to be really careful about which ones we removed and replaced. whew! got through that one ok.
that little incident put us both on our toes, so I quickly grabbed a drill, tool belt, screws (i hoped we wouldn’t run out), and some scabs for any further incidents. we staged scabs at both ends of the house for efficiency--no time for running to the other end of the site for wood when there’s a bulging icf on this end. thankfully, that was the only real scare of the day. the rest of the pour was fairly uneventful--well, we didn't have any blowouts anyway.
the weather held up for us the first half of the day, but it started raining around noon or so. out come the raincoats for those that had them. several people didn't have a raincoat, even though an 80% chance of rain had been forecasted for days, and the pour was gonna happen--rain or shine. ???????? come on! it's $10-15 and assurance of dryness and warmth. don't get me started.
around 1:30, i called 'lunch'. the early crew had been going strong since 8am, and many were wet, cold, and hungry. since concrete won't wait to set so that we can eat, i went to jimmy johns to get lunch for robert, jason, allen, and me. i'm the only one that ate right away--oh well, it'll be there when they're ready.
the rain kept pouring, and the site was becoming a mud slick. periodically, we had to fill voids under the windows where the concrete didn’t flow well. Um, buckets of concrete are heavy! and it gets tricky carrying them in the mud and muck. I am sore, and I’m glad it’s Friday—or more glad that tomorrow’s Saturday.
we were one concrete truck load shy of finishing the pour. the top portion of the 13-course atrium walls need to be finished. jason will return tuesday with one more truck. we have the day off on monday...thank you, Robert.
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