10.23.2024

It's Concrete Day Eve, so we spent all day getting ready to pour.  Jim started out the morning by heading to pick up the plate compactor he reserved.  Thankfully, the handle folds down so he was able to get it in the back of the 4Runner and didn't have to rent a trailer.  He got home and transferred it to the bucket of the Bobcat...

He used the forks on the Bobcat to hold the strap he put on the compactor to be able to move it to the site...

There were a few screws he wanted to replace before he got started...

Then he brought the compactor over...

Compacting the gravel...

Once the shed floor was compacted, he moved the compactor over to the pad area...

Compacting...

Compacting makes it look almost like concrete - the whole shed area looks so good tucked in the woods...

At this point it was lunchtime, so Jim ate a quick bite before returning the compactor to the rental company.  Once he got home, he did a little shopping in the pavilion attic for wood he could use for concrete forms for the pad in front of the shed...

Doing some measurements to figure out exactly where he wanted it...

Attaching some blocks to the side to hold everything in place when pouring...

Jim put together the form with a few screws and then we moved it out of the way so that we could get the right slope and get everything level...

Doing a little hand crumbing...

Then we brought the form back and Jim started securing it in place with stakes...

Now that the pad formwork is done, Jim had to finish putting screws in the plates all the way around the shed...

Next step was to spray oil on the sides, just so that the concrete has a bit of a barrier against the wood...

Spraying oil on the pad forms so that the forms come off easily after the pour...

Spraying all done!

Jim stapled on the expansion foam to help with movement between the two areas...

End-of-the-day picture - gravel all the way around the pad and everything ready.  Jim brought up some tools that he will need but will get the rest in the morning.

High 77.1/Low 53.7 7- beautiful!