Oh, by the way, the sunniest moment of Monday, was Ruth's arrival with some supplies. ("Sorry, my love," he said in a p-h-d kind of way, "you're always in my thoughts, so I overlooked the fact that you actually appeared during the day.") It's really a treat to see her wandering around the property with this blissed out expression. Yesterday, she got a chance to see the huge Sandhill Cranes foraging on the west edge of our field. Of course, today not being an "equipment day," Rebus got to join us again.
The four of us – Davis, Delaeno, Nathan & I – tucked into a focused day of prepping the piers and basement walls for concrete. Deryl Brook showed up for the mandatory inspection a few minutes after 8 a.m., just as we were getting the tools exhumed from Davis' trailer and the water pumps running. I had teased the fellas on Monday night, suggesting Deryl would insist we remove some of the rebar from the walls (we've all been thinking this wall was wayyy over-engineered – and hence, heavy on our cheque book). Davis responded with something like, "Just shoot me now," while Delaeno said something about embarking on a very long walk if such a thing were actually suggested. Deryl, of course, said he would never ask that reinforcement be removed and, other than that, he was pleased with what he saw. After taking a couple of reference photos, he was off, happy to have his associate, Dave Claussen, back as of this afternoon.
I chased back to Stonewall to pick up more screws and generator gas for the day's work. When I returned, we agreed that Wednesday would be "Pour-Day," so I coordinated another session with Kevin of A&R Concrete Pumping and ABM Concrete: 5.5 cubic yards of 30 mpa concrete for the piers, and 36 yards of 25 mpa concrete for the walls; the 30 mpa to be onsite for 10:30, with the remainder to arrive in five truckloads starting an hour later.
While Nathan & I worked on the basement walls, Davis & Delaeno focused on the piers. The Sonotube was brought out of the trailers and, over the rest of the day, D&D leveled and secured each of the 25 pier forms.
Back in the basement, Nathan & I were charged with "scabbing" – screwing wood braces to any of the Styrofoam joins that were not interlocked (due to cutting pieces down to size to fit). Way to much screwing around, to put it crudely. Tiresome work, but absolutely necessary to avoid any "blow-outs" – where the concrete bursts the form walls.
In addition to the work, we made sure to catch up on materials delivery planning. (One book I read suggested that a house build requires 1,5oo decisions. I think we passed that number a couple of weeks ago.) Delaeno & I went through the bill of materials (with the first-floor joist package having arrived on Friday). He then contacted Joe Klassen at Parkside to arrange for delivery of the materials needed for the floor and much of the first-floor walls. Davis reminded me of the need to get ABM's rock slinger in on Friday to shoot approximately 50-53 yards of crushed rock into the basement. Also, I got Ruth to pick up a huge vibrator – for the concrete, folks – at Rental Experts.
Speaking of Ruth. What a partner. She goes to work (when she's not shuffling off for granddaughter-assist duties at Riding Mountain) after preparing breakfast for Davis, Delaeno & I. She comes home and has a hot homemade meal waiting for us when we return usually well after 7 p.m. Last night it was fresh pesto and pasta, with hot French bread and salad, with banana bread for dessert. Tonight was pot roast, fresh baby potatoes, a veg medley and chocolate pudding.
For this she gets an ongoing saga of the developments up on Ruth's Ridge. Tomorrow, all things going well, she will hear the details of the basement wall and pier pour.
Let it pour, let it pour, let it pour... concrete concretely.
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