9.30.2014

Yesterday morning, the next load of bricks showed up unannounced.  They came before I got out to the land, so Jim got him set up and then he just unloaded where we had put plastic down. 



Glad they are all here now!

Jim spent all morning taking off shoring and the steel channels of the alignment system.  This is the inside of the garage doors with all of the plywood shoring off!  The steel beam will stay underneath for awhile longer to insure the concrete beam is cured.

The inside of the building looks incredible now with all of the bracing and shoring off - it feels very different standing inside now too.  Plus it looks so much bigger!



Jim took off all of the bulkheads and the concrete looks great underneath.  Look at those clean walls!



This is the last brace being removed from the outside!

Then it was onto taking off the shoring on the outside of the doors.

This is the pile of just plywood that was taken off - that doesn't include all the steel that was used in the shoring process.

Plus this is the pile of assembled pieces that I will take apart soon so we can use the wood for another purpose, another day.

The anchor bolt areas on the front came out great too - and I can't get over how good everything looks all clean!

Amazing!

 

In the afternoon, we again switched gears and started working on the membrane again.  This is the back wall after Jim power washed it last night.

 

I first did the bottom pieces for the area we wanted to do, and then it was back to vacuuming the wall first...

...and putting on the membrane.

Another wall area finished!

 

 

 

 

9.29.2014

Jim was back at work dismantling everything he spent weeks putting up!  These are the anchor bolts set in the wall that will eventually help hold up the stairwell landing.

Jim is taking out the last turnbuckle and brace!  Things inside the site now look so big without all that stuff encroaching on the space.

After lunch, it was back to work on the membrane.  This nice flat wall with no ditch made it easier, even when Jim had to work off the ladder.

Four walls completely covered in membrane now!  Jim is going to power wash the back side of the building tonight before he leaves so that we can continue working around.

A peek inside with all the bracing off.

9.28.2014

After church and some pecan pancakes, Jim headed out to the land to continue working on taking down the alignment system.  It's amazing how open it looks without all those braces and scaffolding in the space!

He's making good progress getting it all taken apart!

The beam pockets turned out great - such a relief!  They have to hold up a lot of steel so it's nice to see them coming out just the way Jim drew them up.

A close up view of the beam pocket...

The outside walls look brand new after Jim power washed them last night.

So in the afternoon, Jim switched gears and we started working on some more membrane.  We started on one of the toughest spots - a corner over a ditch!  So Jim is working off a ladder that's straddling a ditch and trying to get this sticky membrane on perfectly - but he did it.

Plus now we are working with 4-1/2 feet long pieces which makes it more difficult too.

Before each section, Jim vacuumed the wall off.  He's getting awfully good at that - wonder if he'll be interested in taking over that task at home?  Probably not!

We got quite a bit accomplished - the walls look great and they are now all protected from the sunlight.

 

As we were finishing up the membrane and starting to clean up, we had a surprise visitor - the guy who owns the barn where Jim has a lot of his tools.  He's also the husband of the realtor who helped make the deal happen for our property.  He's a retired State Highway Patrol Officer who now owns a small construction company.  This was the first time he had seen the building - he said nice things but then had to point out that he had built 2 houses since May, kind of poking fun that we weren't farther along.  That kind of comment always rankles me - when you talk to him, he doesn't even get his hands dirty.  He project manages the building that other people do.  Oh well, we have thick skin and we know what we have accomplished.  I'm so proud of Jim and all his hard work!

 

9.27.2014

What a happy start to the day - knowing that the concrete is all in place and all is well.  Jim texted me this picture of how good everything looks when he got to the land this morning.
 

Since there is still so much we want to get done before bad weather sets in, there is no time to rest on our laurels!  So after a celebration pose standing ON TOP of our concrete wall, it was back to work!

Jim spent all morning taking all the shoring off the outside walls, except over the doorways.  He'll leave those in place for probably a week to make sure the concrete is cured. 

 

The walls look so clean and amazing with no more pieces of shoring all over them!

Then it was time to move inside and start dismantling all the scaffolding and alignment systems.

Looks good to be taking things out instead of taking them inside.

This afternoon we also switched gears a bit and worked on the membrane.  We were trying to come up with a better solution - the brush I was using to get off any UV damage seemed to be too rough on the parts of the building that are really exposed to the sun - like the front.  After brushing, the membrane didn't want to stick as well as it should. 

So my ever-creative husband came up with a solution.  Last night he power washed the outside.  You can see in the picture below the difference between the foam at the very top of the picture and the rest.  Then today when it was nice and dry, he vacuumed the whole area to take off any residual dust.

It worked great!  No more issues, so we were able to make lots of progress.

Looking good - Jim was going to do more power washing before he left tonight so membrane work will definitely be on the agenda for tomorrow!

9.26.2014 - Final Nudura Pour!

Concrete day was finally here - ready or not!  The truck was supposed to come at 9:00 so Jim and Kyle headed out about 8:00 to get everything set up.  Julia and I were packing up water and lunch and were getting ready to head out to buy donuts.  Kyle texts us at 8:15 and said the truck was there!  Yikes!  We flew out the door, stopping only to grab some donuts at the bakery, and headed to the land.

Thankfully, only the pumper truck was there setting up - not the concrete, so we had time to get everything organized.

 

The happy, clean crew before!

 

The first concrete truck arrives!

 

We had the same boom truck driver that we worked with last time, Kevin, so that was great.  Here he's putting the boom into place to start pouring.

Jim started in the back corner - once you got up the ladder here, the ladder didn't have to be moved much.

Just like last time, Kyle was in charge of vibrating with Julia as his faithful helper holding the motor and keeping the cord under control - great teamwork!

Jim gave me the rubber mallet and for this first go around, on each of the bulkhead areas, I pounded on the plywood areas to make sure that the concrete got down into all the corners and around all the steel.

Working on the concrete beam over the garage door.

And continuing around the building.

Kyle and Julia followed along, although their job goes much slower than Jim's since Kyle has to put the vibrator into each little cavity.  We joked that it was Brown Team (Jim & Kevin) vs the Green Team (Kyle & Julia) - check out the matching clothes!

Unlike last pour, there wasn't any down time between concrete trucks.  Kyle and Julia were still working on vibrating. 

And Jim had to do the finish work on all of the brick ledges. 

Here he is finishing the brick ledges in the back of the building.

Before you knew it, while the first concrete truck was still getting cleaned up, the second truck arrived.

So it was back to work filling up the forms...

...and vibrating the concrete!

Jim had his own rubber hammer and stopped the concrete at all of the beam pockets and did some hammering on the outside to make sure that the concrete settled in all the steel.

On the last go around, Jim filled up the forms to the very top with some to spare - unlike last time, the tops need to be finished and made flat.

No more concrete needed so Kevin emptied what was still in his boom back into the concrete truck.

Then Jim really had to press - the day was warming up and the concrete starts stiffening up pretty quickly.  Jim had to flatten the tops of the forms with his trowel...

...paying special attention to all of the beam pockets, making sure they were very clean and flat.

Then I handed him up all of the steel dowels we cut last night and he started placing them.

All of this takes time, so Jim had to move quickly to make sure the concrete stayed workable. 

As soon as Kyle was done vibrating, he started helping to trowel the tops of the forms.

Can't forget the brick ledges all around the top either!

Final finishing work - looks amazing!  Thanks to all that tedious shoring that Jim spent weeks working on, everything held perfectly and there were absolutely no issues!

By the time the "after" picture was taken, everybody but Jim had had a chance to wash the concrete off our faces so we all look clean compared to Jim!

Once the finishing work was done and the tools all cleaned up, it was time for a well-deserved lunch break.  It appears that a new family tradition after concrete is a picture of Julia with some crazy food - today it was maple bacon donuts for dessert - and they were incredible!

Time to autograph the concrete!  Jim signs our names...

...and then it's Kyle & Julia's turn.

What great teamwork once again!  This was such a great day - we were blessed with fabulous weather and had fun all working together to accomplish this last form pour.  We are so grateful to Kyle & Julia for spending the day with us - and on their anniversary as well - Happy 5 Years together!

WOW!!!  What an amazing building - looks fabulous!

Of course, Jim still had lots of cleanup work to do.  Kevin dumped over half a yard of concrete near the garage doors in case we needed any extra - which we didn't but it's still important to have some just in case.  In the picture below, Jim is using the Bobcat to clean up the cement from where the concrete trucks cleaned off - you have to keep going over and over it, waiting for it to harden in between, and turn it back into gravel.

Kyle and Julia had to head back to the city and their bus left at 5:00, so I took them back while Jim stayed and worked on cleaning everything up.  You'd never know all that cement was here - Jim got it all turned into gravel and spread out so that this area looks great too!

 

We are so relieved that this pour went so well.  We can't wait to head back tomorrow and start taking some of the shoring off.  But meanwhile...everyone will sleep well tonight!