Friday, September 6, 2013

Last concrete for a while

Today we poured what I hope will be the last concrete for a while. There are three jobs:

  1. The slab outside the dwelling and onto the shipping container;
  2. An extension to the little slab next to the pump room entrance, upon which the slimline 2kL rainwater tank will sit; and
  3. A cap on top of the retaining wall to bring it up to roof height.
The weather has been looking a little dodgy until this morning, but the Bureau is forecasting a 40% chance of up to 1mm which with any luck will translate into no rain at all. So my first job this morning was to race around and remeasure the slabs to confirm the concrete volume with the supplier - and a good thing I did, because I'd ordered 3.2m3 and it turns out we'll need closer to 3.4m3.

But while running around the place I spotted this:


There's no sign that anyone has been around the place - nothing disturbed, no food scraps, wrappers, cigarette butts, footprints even ... but someone has clearly built themselves a tiny little fire (the scar is about a foot in diameter) and cooked something over the reinforcing steel. Part of me is a little apprehensive about it, but the other part rather likes the idea that there's someone around living lightly on the land.

Anyway, back to the concreting!

So with the concrete confirmed and paid for, and the reinforcing steel finished off we waited for the concrete to arrive - "we" being myself, Shackles (a local concreter and all-round good bloke), my mate Steve and his partner Amy, and Peter the builder and architect.

Right on time the truck arrived and everyone swung into action - myself, Peter and Steve on wheelbarrows, Shackles on the screed and Amy with the vibrator.




Steve supervising, enjoying a refreshing beverage while Shackles does the real work.


The finished product. This will a nice little spot to sit and watch the countryside :)

I don't have pics, but in addition to this slab we also topped off the retaining wall and extended the water tank slab. And would you believe it, we used three-point-four cubit metres of concrete exactly. None wasted, none short. Win!

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