The real Thursday and the rain was not to be. “Oh woe”, said our bodies; “Yeah!” said our minds. Today’s challenge – completing everything that needed to be done before the concrete could be poured.
Putting up Styrofoam blocks to be filled with concrete sounds like a piece of cake, and it is. However….. there’s all the other stuff that also has to be done. The framing for the
doors and windows has to be secured. Bracing and scaffolding has to be erected on every wall to secure it. The building has to be squared and righted. Holes have to be cut for pipes for dryer vents and air exchangers and the like. Exterior bracing has to be put in place. Brackets to hold the second level floor joists have to be embedded in the foam. Rebar has to be dropped into all the channels – that’s in addition to the rebar that goes horizontally with every layer of block. Foam has to be sprayed in all cracks around openings, both inside and out. I’m exhausted just trying to remember.
The group even worked an extra hour today. Can you believe this fool hardy group actually decided to cut into their happy hour?! One would think when you retire over achieving would be a thing of the past, but somehow it occasionally still has a way of reaching out and grabbing you. Bottom line – the cement truck is coming at 10:30 tomorrow, not Monday as planned.
We ate out……
And finally, it’s actually Friday and the concrete truck arrives. How many supervisors does it take to pour a wall? Actually those guys are just waiting their turn for a try at the nasty job of filling the wall or, worse yet, using the vibrator to make sure no air bubbles are left. They predicted it would take 5 hours to complete the job but the guys were very happy when it was done in three.
Meanwhile, back at the pavilion in the park, the fence crew took it easy enjoying the view of the bay in the shade. Don’t you love this scooter that came by? By the way, we did have an excuse for lounging around - we had to wait for the park manager to return to turn on the power. And someone had to be there to direct folks to the Friday’s farmer’s market…
