9.5.2014 - Second Nudura Pour

It's finally here - concrete day!  Kyle and Julia got in last night and we were all excited and nervous to get started.

Of course, there are always last minute things to do - Jim and Kyle headed out earlier to get things set up while Julia and I packed lunches and went to get donuts for the drivers.  Unfortunately, our little bakery in town was closed because the owners were on vacation so we had to settle for apple cider donuts from Stewarts in town.

Here Jim is doing a little more cleaning of the forms with the leaf blower...

and then used the vacuum to get it all out since everything is all closed now.

Kyle and Julia patiently waiting!

Here's our crew "before" picture!

The pumper truck arrives!  Concrete was scheduled for about 1:00 but the pumper comes first to set up. 

It was crazy to watch - it's like a spider unfolding its legs!

And check out this boom!  It can reach 100 feet!

Kevin, the pump operator, was so good.  This is a whole new operation for us.  He has a remote control assembly he wears around his belt that operates the boom and concrete flow. 

 

After he was set up, the first concrete truck came and they dump the concrete right into the back of the pumper truck through this chute.  That driver never even gets out of his truck or interacts with us at all.

 

Then it was time to start!  There is a flexible hose that the concrete comes down and Jim had to hold onto that and guide it into the forms.  Of course, much, much easier said than done.  Since we have rebar every 12"-16" as well as all the alignment systems, there is a lot of stuff to go around!  Plus, it's heavy and you are in a position that you are constantly leaning out over the forms so it was really tough on Jim's back.  You can see that Kevin stands right next to Jim watching everything and controlling the flow of the cement.

Filling up the forms!  Because of the nature of the foam, you have to be extremely careful about how you fill them up with concrete.  So the first time around, Jim filled the forms up about one course high.  This was even hard because it's a long way down filled with webs and steel - it's dark and was hard for Jim to see how full things were.

Kyle was in charge of following behind Jim and vibrating the concrete.  Again, this first course was the hardest for vibrating too, because you had to get the vibrator to go 4 courses deep through all the innards and it's a constant down, then up, then down into the next webbed section - over and over again.  Julia held the motor and kept all the cords out of the way.  That's not an easy job either - the motor is heavy and you basically have to mimic Kyle's movements, especially again on the first course because it's so far down.

Filling up the concrete goes faster than the vibrating so before we knew it, Jim was almost around to where he started.

I relieved Julia a few times - then the person on the ground has to move the electric cord around all the stakes and obstacles on the ground as well as be in charge of the ladder.  For example, once you are done with the section on the right of this picture, you have to hand down the vibrator to the ground person, get down the ladder and reposition on the next section.  Of course, I'd catch Kevin and Jim walking on walls, jumping down - yikes!

Finally, we emptied out the first concrete truck!  It was nice - Jim had asked for 45 minutes between trucks so you had a quick breather to finish up the vibrating, get a drink, and straighten out your back muscles!  It was a gorgeous day but it was very hot - mid to upper 80s, so it definitely took its toll.

Then the second truck came and it started all over again, filling up the courses....

...and vibrating the concrete.

And repeating...

and repeating....

and repeating!  Another thing you had to keep an eye on was all the brick ledges.  As the concrete filled the forms, it oozed out into the brick ledges just like it was supposed to.  However, as Kyle vibrated it, it gushed out and you had to take the trowel and repeatedly level it off.  I did the ones that I could reach but eventually the upper ones had to be done by Kyle and Jim during breathers.

Also, between each truckload Jim checked to make sure the walls stayed straight.  This required him to make sure the end of each wall was level and then he measured at each alignment system all the way around. Most times everything was great, but occasionally he would tell me how much to twist the turnbuckle until it was perfect. 

We emptied out 3 concrete trucks - 25 yard or 50 tons of concrete!  It ended up filling up the forms up to maybe 6" from the top.  So perfect planning on Jim's part calculating the amount of concrete needed!

Here's our worn-out but happy "after" picture!

And the birds-eye view! 

Of course, after we were done pouring, there was still a lot of work to be done.  All of the concrete that splashed onto the top course of horizontal rebar had to be scraped off so that the concrete would bond to it during the next pour.  That obviously had to be done quickly before it hardened.

Then it was the final troweling of all of the brick ledges.

There was a lot of clean up to be done from the pumper truck emptying out his truck.  It gets to a certain point and it won't pump anymore, so you have to allow for almost an extra yard of concrete.  And then he cleans it out in a giant pile.  Jim had to drive over and over it to make it into gravel but you have to wait until it's firm enough to do that - so that took a couple hours.

Since all the concrete is in the forms, not much room for our signatures, but Jim managed to get them on one of the brick ledges!

After much-needed showers, it was time to celebrate!  So of course a giant pizza was in order!

What a successful day - we are so grateful to Kyle and Julia for coming up to help us.  It was great teamwork all the way around and everyone worked really hard.