Neither Jim nor I slept great last night as always happens when you have a big day. Jim had to be at the site by 6:00 to get things opened up and ready. The crew got there about 6:30 or so.
There was a 3-man crew with the pumper truck and they got everything set up. This is a different operation from the boom pumper truck we've had in the past. The concrete is pumped through this hose. They used these saucers to protect the foam and surface and to be able to move the hose around.
The first concrete went into the auto lift pad. That way it would have time to set up a little bit. This concrete came straight from the concrete truck.
Placing the concrete...
Flattening it all out...
All done! You can see their laser level in the background - they were very conscientious about checking levels throughout the pour.
Then it was time to use the pumper truck - the concrete was dumped into this chute and then pumped out through the hose.
The stairwell area is all placed. It's a good thing Jim rigged lights up - you can tell from this picture that they were needed and did a good job.
Jim was very impressed with the power screeding. They first went one direction to smooth it out...
...and then the opposite direction to flatten it.
Using the hand float...
More power screeding...
You can see that the guy on the left uses a big hook to help move the hose exactly where he wants it.
Pouring the second bay area...
...and flattening it all out.
This was a really good crew - everyone had their job and they worked very well together.
Starting to work on the auto bay...
Placing all the concrete...
They paid very close attention to our chalk lines made sure the concrete was at the right levels.
Jim was very happy to see that they also paid special attention to the edges.
Continuing to work the concrete...
More power screeding...
We had a total of 3 concrete trucks. At this point, the pumper truck was finished with their job and were cleaning and packing up as was the other concrete truck. The last one is on the left of this picture and is waiting its turn.
The rest of the job could be placed directly from the truck...
Getting ready to work on the last area - this is the area that has the slope towards the garage door.
Again...everyone had their jobs and worked together as a great team. One person is doing edges, one is screeding, the rest are placing.
Always checking the laser level...
Look at that beautiful auto bay floor!
Using a piece of wood to get the slope right...
Floating the concrete. It's so hard for Jim to just stand by and watch all this!
These guys were really good about cleaning up too - they were spraying the spilled and extra concrete outside the building to break it up a bit.
Once the concrete was all placed and flat, everyone left for a break while the concrete set up. Unfortunately, I had a big fire school mailing to get out today so I went home to work on that. Jim used his time to start laying out more rafter designs.
Because the auto bay is open at the top, the sun did its work and helped set up this area first, even though it was poured last. Using the power trowel...
Working the edges and hand troweling...
However, it was still way too wet inside the building to do anything. Because the concrete is on foam, it doesn't allow for any water to soak through as it would on a normal ground slab. Then the fact that it was cooler in the morning and most of the building was under cover made the curing process much slower. So everyone took a lunch break and basically just had to sit out the time waiting for the concrete to firm up.
After a couple hours, they finally decided they needed to skim off some of the water...
You can see that they are taking shovelfuls of the cream off and dumping it outside.
Continuing to take more water out...
Finally, everyone else left but the power trowel operator. He would continue to trowel, then wait awhile, then trowel again.
Jim breaking up some of the concrete and turning it into gravel.
It was about 6:00 in the evening and things were still not completely finished. We finally decided to order a pizza - I went and picked that up. By the time I got back, everything was finally set up and the finish troweling was all completed! We celebrated with our pizza and a beer - then the contractor took off.
It's getting dark much earlier now so after we ate, Jim had to use the lights on the Bobcat to finish breaking up the cement.
Then he had to put the curing agent/sealer on the concrete. Here he is working by the light of the Bobcat and filling up the sprayer...
Again - sure glad those lights are in place for this back section! You can see that Jim had to wear socks so that he wouldn't mar the surface. Jim is absolutely thrilled with how the floor came out - it really looks great!
By the time we finished cleaning and packing up, it was after 8:00 by the time we left for home. But what a relief to have the floor done and done so well. We've been waiting quite awhile for this but it was worth the wait - the weather was perfect and we were really happy with the concrete crew and the job they did. That's a huge block to have checked!
However, there's no rest for the weary - tomorrow will be another early day. The head guy will be at the site by 8:00 to cut the concrete!
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