technical
The snow subsided. The mud disappeared. Blue sky reappeared. Temperatures rose.
Time to pour!
The west side of the house was poured first. This occurred on January 19. I have placed the pictures below in the order in which the action occurred and captioned them so you know more about the equipment being used.
Please note: Click on the first picture and the gallery will open. You can then navigate through larger versions of the pictures and the captions.
Steve Belardo, the architect/builder/adobe magician, was very hands-on as usual during this process. He worked with each concrete truck driver to guide them so that he in turn could guide the actual pouring of the concrete. There were at least 5 trucks for this pour, maybe more. The pour took all day. You can see it is a time-consuming and meticulous process. The video below gives you a sense of the work and the noise involved!
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- Insulation, rebar, and rebar supports are in place
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- Site is tidied up to make way for the concrete trucks
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- Concrete truck arrives
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- Steve guides the pouring of each section himself
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- The crew uses a vibrator to help settle the concrete into the footings
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- The vibrator is on the right; rakes are used to begin spreading the concrete
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- The long piece of wood is a screed and it is pulled across the top of the poured concrete to even it out
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- Concrete is pretty chunky when it is first poured
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- Working with the screed
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- The vibrator (it sounds like a vaucum cleaner)
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- The big Jitterbug
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- The Jitterbug is rolled over the concrete in long even sweeps
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- The little Jitterbug smooths out small inconsistencies (pardon my shadow)
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- Getting smoother!
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- Each section is worked on as it is poured; the crew is organized to do multiple tasks so all goes “smoothly”
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- The Bullfloat smooths out the Jitterbug lines
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- Almost done
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- We have the West side of the house poured!
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- The last step is the Papilote (I think this is Spanish for propeller). You will see this in action in the next posting!
personal
Sorry it took so long to get this and the next postings done! Technology drama (my phone camera is not going to be a good way to go after all, it seems) combined with post-holiday-and-post-snow doldrums are my excuse. I am back on track now, though, because after the second Monumental Pour, you will be seeing some adobe blocks being laid and that is the coolest thing yet!
I want to note that Steve and his crew are truly amazing to watch. They work together like the long-standing team they are–everyone pitches in and does whatever needs to be done at that moment. It was a lot of fun to watch them make this pour work so “smoothly.” 🙂
