My Dream - Finally started

[n74tg]

Finally I have something to show rather than just a hole in the ground.
I got the first load of footer concrete; 3 yards in a cute little 3 yard concrete truck.
Site access is limited to 8'6" wide truck, so had to use this one



My foundation walls will be dry stack method, so have to be able to secure vertical rebar while concrete cures.  Rebar holders in up position for concrete pour



And a pic after vert rebar installed, 52 feet of footers with four step downs.  A drywall screw is placed every 23" in horizontal members.  Rebar is zip-tied to each screw; goes in fast, holds tight.



From concrete arrival until finished vert rebar installed was 1-1/2 hours.
Driver smoothed off concrete with a hand float; I installed rebar.

Finally, I'm on my way.

[Amanda_931]

Truly is a cute little concrete truck.  Looks like he may have the big floater tires on the back anyway.

(says the person who used to build big trucks, including all-wheel drive concrete trucks where the company owners loved the big floater tires, because their drivers had to be soooo much more careful, couldn't just keep driving if they ruined one tire.)

and YAY!!  for getting started.  

[bil2054]

Huzzah! Way to go.
Neat job on the stepped footer.  And it is a cute little cement truck; didn't know there was such.
Keep it going, now! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
I'm on final countdown to get started, myself.
I know it's real now, because my roomy is agitating for me to move my stuff from the storage shed, already. [smiley=rolleyes.gif]

[Jimmy_Cason]

I bet Glenn will have one of those little MIXERETTES within the next six months. Can you mix cob in those things?

[peg_688]

That is a cute cement truck Handy for remodeling job's I'd bet

 I've seen a truck around here , never used it , that carries the mix in dry and you add water onsite . Great for Island work , nothing like getting the truck stuck getting off the barge with redi mix that was batched 3 hour's ago  

[glenn-k]

N74tg- great start - nice work and resourcefulness -I'll have to do that on a project soon for a basement.

Jimmy - I have looked at some like that but mostly for the friend I'm doing the basement for. I like the Bobcat for cob and use minimal amounts of concrete, but you are catching on to my way of thinking. Smiley

PEG -- we have one of the onsite mixer trucks here - you can get small amounts that way too - they just mix what you need up to about 8 or 10 yards -not sure.  --Big truck.

[n74tg]

John or Glenn:
You might want to move this thread to Owner-Builder Projects as I will continue to update it as progress continues.

Also - for everyone else - my homebuilding blog is now up to date with where I am in actual construction.  

http://n74tg.blogspot.com

[n74tg]

My second load of concrete for footers is poured and cured.  I just wish it had gone as smoothly as the first 3 yards.  In fact, the correct title for this post should now be "A Comedy of Errors".

First problem - the chute on the "cute little 3 yard concrete truck" is only 12 feet long; unfortunately it's 18 feet to the northeast corner.  I figured the truck chute wouldn't be long enough; so I built a chute extension out of OSB and 2x4's; unfortunately I only made it 5 feet long.  That wasn't the biggest problem though.  My thinking was I could set the chute up on concrete blocks.  That would make it easy to move when concrete was needed elsewhere.  Bad idea - the concrete's weight and momentum would just push the chute off the blocks, which then dumps all the concrete on the ground (not in the forms).  Had I taken the time to build an actual frame for the chute; or had I thought to tie the end of the chute to the truck with rope this all might have worked.      

After a few failed attempts with the chute we just moved over to where the truck chute WOULD reach the forms, dumped in the concrete and then I used a hoe and shovel to drag the concrete to where it was needed.  I had to drag it about 8 feet to get it all the way into the northeast corner.  What a nightmare.  Fortunately it was only 90 degrees outside.

We had taken so long screwing around with the chute extension and shoveling concrete that the driver then said he was beginning to feel a lot of heat coming from the truck; which meant the concrete was beginning to set up in the truck and that we had to get it out quicker.  Fortunately it was easy to reach all the rest of the forms, but we were working so fast trying to get it all out that we couldn't add just a little here a little there, to get it to the absolute top of the forms.  I expect we are about 1/2" low in several places; which isn't a problem; we'll just have to use a little extra mortar on the first course to get the elevation right.  

So, we fill in all the remaining forms and even had some leftover to pour some square pavers for future use.  Fortunately I had built some forms so I could pour up to 24 pavers.  Unfortunately when positioning the truck the driver ran over the corner of each form; so we only got 18 pavers.  Remember, I said this was a comedy of errors.  

So, when the truck finally left my concrete was well into it's initial set.  This meant I had to literally hammer the vertical rebar into the concrete to get it in there.  All the verticals have a 3" elle on the bottom, so I think getting them embedded 3 inches deep will be sufficient.  Finally it was all done.  I watered the forms several times that evening and called it quits.  I don't think I've ever been that tired.  

If you want to see pics of the pour; read the most recent post in my blog

http://n74tg.blogspot.com

[glenn-k]

I've been there n74tg.

Poured about 300 slabs.  Tore out a 60 x 60 that got away.   When it gets ahead of you there is not much catching up.

In a case where you can't reach everything it is sometimes better to have a small pumper come in.  Costs more though.  Otherwise, it's manpower. :-/

[JRR]

n74tg,

Congrats on getting started!  All projects have hiccoughs.

I like your precise method of locating the vertical rebar ... I intend to steal that idea.