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.

More Concrete Poured

Yesterday afternoon, while some of the workers watched the concrete that had been poured and continued to smooth the surface, they began preparing the area for today's concrete pour. They had to level the carport area, as well as the RV pad space.  By the time they left, the forms on the concrete posts for the carport and around the floor of the workshop had been removed, as well.



The last event yesterday was the arrival of the Zip Zap termite control man. He heavily spayed all the area that would receive concrete today. This is the first time we have had to deal with termites. It is standard procedure here. We don't have to do anything--the contractor calls Zip Zap to prepare the soil before they put in the concrete.

Some folks arrived a little after 7 am today to complete the forms. The cement truck pulled in just after 7:30.



A barrier had to be placed between the solid concrete and today's new pour. They used a wheel-barrow of concrete to hold the barrier in place. They had masked the surface of the workshop floor so no wet cement got on it today.



The next step was to pour the area behind the workshop.



Then they moved on to the rear section of the RV pad. Notice the wire mesh that provides a backing for the thicker RV pad. As they filled in that large area, it was impressive to see how well the crew chief communicated with the cement truck driver, using only small arm and hand signals to tell him to direct the shoot right or left, to pull forward or back up, and when to let cement pour out and when to stop. If John and I could communicate that well when he is backing up the RV, life would be much easier.

Finally, they poured the carport floor.



While that work was going on, one man continued to smooth the first section.



Notice how many people it takes to make sure the entire form is evenly filled with cement.



About half an hour after arriving, the cement truck pulled out while they continued to work on the last bit of cement poured.



We had workers here for several hours, smoothing the cement, marking the seam lines, and sprinkling the surface with rock salt. The seams are there to help control future cracks. The salt makes small holes in the surface to improve the appearance of our driveway.
Doesn't this look good? We can hardly wait till they finish up on Monday.

A Lot of Work

Finally, today they began laying the concrete to complete our driveway and pour the foundation for our workshop and carport. The first workers showed up just before 7 am, way before the sun came up.

It was over half an hour later when the cement truck arrived. After the truck was backed in, they had to assemble the shoot to direct the cement to the proper area.



The concrete filled the footers for the walls and then they filled the deeper spots that will support the columns at the front of the car port.



The workers were very neat--taping up paper on the walls of our house so there wouldn't be spots of concrete stuck there. Later, they even used some wet paper towel to clean up some spots on the walls.





This is the cement truck driver, turning the flow of concrete on and off.



After they finished pouring the workshop floor, it was time to start smoothing the concrete.



The cement truck drove off about half an hour after it arrived. But, that doesn't mean the day's work was done. The men were working for nearly 8 hours, the last one leaving about 4 pm. Part of that time, they did a lot more work making the workshop floor really smooth. Finally, they removed the forms around the floor and the supports for the carport columns. They also graded the driveway and put the forms in place for much of that area to be poured tomorrow.

We had no idea how much work goes into pouring an RV slab, a driveway, the floor of the carport, the workshop floor and footings. These men--some probably in their late teens, others up to maybe 40+--work really hard physically. And they know how to do things I haven't got a clue about. I know some people install their own driveways, even build their own homes. There is no way John and I would know how to do that. We have learned a lot about construction in the past 10 years of volunteering. But these fellows have knowledge we lack.

I am reminded that all kinds of skills and abilities are needed to make our lives good.

I will post about the rest of the work on our front yard later.