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October, 10 2021
October, 10 2021
These are the before pictures to my project.
In this photo I had just been shown how to set a grade. The grade setting machine is behind me on my left. As described in my journal, it is a tripod with a projecting laser in the box on top.
In this picture, I am moving the excess dirt that the skid loader couldn't reach. Eventually, the skid loader would begin to have problems and we would have to shovel out more dirt.
In this picture, I am assessing the ground to see if the perpendicular form is sitting flat. The ground below the form ended up being too uneven and we had to remove more dirt.
In this picture, we are using the grade setter and making sure that this end is 3 inches lower than the side closest to the house. I am looking at a box that the grade setters' laser is scanning. It is relaying heights to me so I can help Shane move the form lower.
In the picture on the left, I am snapping the grade. I pulled a string covered in florescent blue chalk out of a container. Shane is holding the other end of the string against the other form to hold it tight. I wrapped this end around a nail and went to the middle of the two forms and pulled the string and let it go so it would snap and leave a line against the house, which is pictured on the right.
Before this picture was taken, I had pulled a string from form to form. I measured from the ground to the string about every yard to make sure that the dirt was even underneath the string. It happened to be uneven, so we had to remove some more dirt.
In the picture on the left I am leveling the sand with the concrete rake. Shane used his skid loader to place lots of sand in the area surrounded by forms. We had to move all of the sand to be level to the eye. After relatively leveling it, we strung a string from form to form to make sure it was level. After ensuring it was level, I compacted the sand using the sand compactor. This is pictured on the left.
In this picture, I am measuring 6 inches from the east most form. I was marking every two feet from that point to make holes down to the foundation of the house. These holes would allow us to drill for the dowel rods.
In this picture, I am drilling holes in the foundation for the dowel rods. As you can see, I dug holes every two feet all the way down to the foundation.
In the picture on the left, I am laying the rebar down. We had to make sure they all intersected equally and went all the way to the edges. In the picture on the right, I am tying all of the rebar together with the rebar tying gun.
These were the final pictures to conclude my first day of work.
October 12, 2021
October 12, 2021
In this picture we are testing the moisture level of the concrete. If it's to dry it will dry before we smooth it and if it's too wet the smoothing process won't work as well. My concrete ended up being a bit too dry and we had to put more water in the tank before taking all of the concrete out.
In this picture, we are leveling the concrete out with our concrete rakes. We had to make sure that it filled the forms and was even a little bit fuller. If it didn't fill it up all the way, we would have to make more in the truck.
In these pictures, we are screeding the concrete. As Shane and Jackson pulled the wood board, I filled or removed concrete so it would be level and flat.
In this picture, I am bull floating the slab. This is the bigger of the two floats. This float brings the smooth liquid cream to the surface and moves the rocks towards the bottom. I had to slope the face when pushing and pulling away from me. As you can see in this photo, the end farthest away from me is angled towards the surface to make sure that there is suction.
In this picture I am doing the final touches to the wet concrete. I am edging it by using a small magnesium piece of metal and taking away the creases on the edge.
This is the final product of my second day of work.
October 14, 2021
October 14, 2021
This is a photo of the concrete as it is getting sprayed. The container that was used to spray the concrete was too heavy for me to hold, so I watched Shane as he did it. As you can tell the concrete is cut, but unfortunately I did not get a picture of this process.
This was the final product after we sprayed the whole pad. The spray darkened as it set, so as you can see we sprayed the top before the bottom. The bottom will eventually set and all become the same color.
October 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
This was the last day of my project. In this picture, I unscrewed all of the forms and hammered the steaks out. Once the forms were off, we backfilled the dirt with the concrete rakes.
My dad went and seeded around my pad and we covered that with straw. The final product was a beautifully stained, cut, and sloped concrete pad that I am so proud of.
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