8.7.2014

Jim tracked down another source for a foam gun and I went off to pick that up this morning.  While I was gone, he did some more bracing and then started working on putting thimbles in the wall for various connections later on.  Again, so much planning has to go on to make things work smoothly downstream.

The first one he did was for water - he wants a lawn hydrant out in front of the carriage house.  Then the one he's working on in this picture is for electric - again, to be able to have provisions for electric outside.  He first has to determine the placement and size of the hole, and then cut through the foam.

Of course, he has to cut the hole in the exact spot on the opposite side of the wall too so that he can install the thimble.

The last one is for the sewer pipe.

Then on the other side of the building, he put in a drain pipe for an eventual floor drain in the shop.

Our last goal for the day was the foam.  Things need to be dry for the application process and unfortunately we were in an on/off stormy afternoon.  We would be ready to start, the rains would come, we would have to scramble to get everything under cover, and then it would stop.  Some of the periods were a little longer and caused things to get pretty wet. 

So while we were waiting for things to dry out a bit, we started working on some walls for the ground-level footers. 

Jim making a cut in the foam to fit.

Finally, the weather seemed to calm down and we decided to start the foam process.  Jim used the leaf blower to dry and dry the footer and the foam edges.

Whew...a foam gun!

Of course, the foam would be the same color as the Nudura blocks!

It's an expansion foam that goes in between each of the keys at the bottom to fill that void.  The purpose is for some adhesion but mostly so that when you pour concrete into the forms, it doesn't seep beneath the form and push it up.  Of course, our forms aren't going anywhere with all that bracing!

Jim got the front inside and outside all finished and down one side.  The rest will have to be finished tomorrow morning.

This was definitely a tough job.  They give you a little plastic nozzle that fits on the end of the gun - unfortunately, that little nozzle kept coming off and getting stuff in the foam.  Jim had to fish it out and try and clean it enough to get it back on.  The foam dries really quickly so it wasn't an easy task.  He eventually did the majority of it without using the nozzle.

Yes, he should have had latex gloves on and we have plenty...in some storage unit somewhere.  So for now Jim has Incredible Hulk hands!