We still had a few things to do before the concrete truck came - finishing up the foam was one. But notice the gloves! No more Incredible Hulk hands - although the remnants from yesterday will probably be there for quite awhile!
Not worrying with the little plastic nozzle made things go quicker and Jim had it all foamed in no time.
Kyle and I were on taping duty - because the next course has to snap into this first one, the keys can't be covered in concrete or there won't be a good seal. So there's a special Nudura tape for that purpose. Over the big keyed areas, it was easy to stretch long sections of the tape.
However, as you look at the inside of the forms, each of those keys needed to be covered individually. So Kyle cut the tape pieces for me while I taped the keys.
The "before" picture of the crew just waiting for the truck to arrive!
Jim had requested the same driver we have had the last two times, but we got a call saying that he wouldn't be able to come but they were sending a good driver for us. That added to the nervousness waiting for the truck because Jim felt comfortable working with Brad, our first driver. But John came and he was another great driver.
This pour had lots of hard things about it - first, the ICFs themselves. Not only was this the first time Jim has used them, but there are potentially a lot of things that can go wrong. There were more areas this time that the truck couldn't reach and because of the ICFs, you have to put the concrete in slowly and carefully. That's why Jim worked to get the Bobcat into the middle of the site - he used it to help with the pour.
The truck filled up the bucket of the Bobcat...
...and then they pulled the cement into the forms from the Bobcat.
The corners were slow going because of this. Since there is a big opening for the footers, Jim had to be careful where the Bobcat was and the corners were just really hard to reach.
Once we got that first corner and step area done, things went smoothly. Kyle worked the vibrator while I held the motor for him and we basically followed behind Jim. The truck was able to go slowly and pour right into the forms. Jim used this pole to get the concrete down to the bottom of the forms.
The first pass, Jim filled the forms up half way and then we started back at the beginning and filled them up all the way. This way, the first batch had a little time to set up and hold the next portion of concrete, causing less stress on the forms.
The front is all done.
We were able to continue working our way around pretty well until we got to the back corner. It was extremely hard to reach and took a lot of work from Jim and Kyle. I had to do the vibrating while they were placing it.
Finally - all placed and the truck is just cleaning off. While the top of these forms don't need to be real smooth, it's extremely important that the concrete is to the right level. If it is too high, the next course won't fit and we will have to chisel concrete off!
We kept some extra concrete in the bucket after we were done. Here, Kyle is using some of that concrete to fill in some low spots.
Success!
The "after" pictures....just a little dirty and tired!
A happy crew! Kyle and I have more concrete on our faces from vibrating - it splashes everywhere!
All together, Jim went around the whole area 3 different times cleaning around the keys and making sure it was at the right level.
The first ICF pour is done!
We were pretty much starved by the time we got things cleaned up, put away, got home and took showers. So we ordered a large pizza - it turned out to be crazy big! I walked over to pick it up and it was so big it was hard to carry it home! But pizza and beer were well deserved after a hard day's work. We didn't have too much time to celebrate - we had to have Kyle back to the bus station to head back to NYC. We are so grateful for his help today!
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