They Finished!

This is the finished concrete pad in front of our winter home.  We are so happy to have this in place.  In a week, we can drive our car on the driveway.  In two weeks, we can move our RV onto the site.  That was a major reason we moved here.

It rained overnight. At 5 am, John heard someone outside. It turns out, Rich, the owner of the construction company that is putting in our cement, was checking to see if they could still pour today. He shoveled out the water and cancelled the cement delivery. Soon, he decided to go ahead. The cement company was able to put us back on the schedule and the first truck arrived at 9:30. By then, the workers had covered the adjoining dried concrete with paper, protected our house and put down the wire to strengthen the RV pad area. They had to put down plywood so the truck could back on our site.

They used small amounts of the cement to hold the wire in place and support the thin pieces of wood that serve as spacers between some of the sections of the driveway.

We brought a dozen donuts to treat the workers. They have all been so friendly and helpful and fun to have around.

Soon, they were filling the RV pad area with wet cement, while one man began smoothing out what had been poured.





The first truck arrived with only 6 yards of cement on board. When that truck was empty, another arrive to pour the rest of the area.

The pad and driveway have to slope down to the street level. It was interesting to see how they marked where the slope began and used the long board to keep things level from side to side.



All the cement was laid by 10:15. That part of the job goes quickly. But the last worker didn't finish picking up and stowing away all their equipment, after smoothing and smoothing the concrete, until sometime after 1:30. At times, there were two people smoothing out the concrete and pushing away the excess water. Either today's load of cement was wetter or last night's rain made it dry more slowly.

After spreading the salt on the surface, he used a roller, with a long handle, to make sure it settled into the wet cement.

By the way, why does a cement truck deliver cement for a concrete driveway? Obviously, I am not clear on the two terms and have used them interchangeably in these posts.