By 7, the skies were mostly clear over Winnipeg but, as we slipped the gravitational pull of McPhillips after picking Nathan up, the Turneresque clouds segued into water-laden vessels toward the north. Sure enough, as we approached Road 88N, droplets dotted the windscreen. In my finest imitation of a genteel southern aristocrat, I had a little talk with 'Jeezus' and, dadgum if them clouds didn't slide around to the south.
By the time we'd checked all aspects of our previous days' preparation and Kevin of A&R Concrete Pumping had arrived, the sun was out, the skies were blue and we were giddily anxious about getting this pour underway. I asked Kevin about his experience with ICF pours and whether our forms looked okay. He was enthusiastic in praising the thoroughness of our set-up. He said the corners are where pours invariably blow out, and that the strapping and scabbing we'd done, in conjunction with the kicker boards along the foundation would ensure a successful pour.
While we were waiting for the first concrete truck, Pat & Earl Wynn from up the road made their daily bicycle run past our site. I managed to convince them to come in and take a look at our build. It's great to have neighbours keeping their eyes on the place when we're not there. Yesterday Ed & Ian showed up, and that's how I like it.
For Davis, it's been a bit of a transition, as he puts it, "Working out here on the asteroid." Things are different up here in the R.M. of Rockwood. It's not untold feet of rich alluvial loam like they have "back in Manitoba," as he is wont to say. Here we have a few precious inches of topsoil, then 6 feet of fine sand, based with the toughest hardpan one is likely to find this side of granite. Anyway, he was about as nervous as I, I think, about this pour. That said, he has a faultless record of successful ICF pours: 1. This basement, however, has 19 corners and odd shapes, all guaranteed to compromise the structural integrity of the form and test the skill and mettle of the concrete installer.
Davis opted to start with the piles for a couple of reasons. The sooner the concrete was set inside the paper columns, the sooner we needed no longer worry about rain affecting them. Also, because each of the columns only takes a 1/4 cubic yard of material, the stop-and-go nature of filling them could be done while he and Delaeno were still fresh. Only about 40 minutes after starting, the piers were filled, tamped and troweled. On to the walls.
Jim & Johanna showed up on the heels of the first concrete truck and got a chance to watch, at close hand, how these modern basements come together. Great friends, wonderful neighbours.
Davis decided to do a multiple rotation of the walls, filling only about 2 feet per round. This approach would stress the walls more evenly, allowing us to take action should we see any signs of weakness or a tendency to "blow out." After the first round, Delaeno took command of the concrete vibrator shaft while I acted as his caddy, following him with the electric motor. While we counted on Davis' decades of experience with concrete, it was Delaeno who did the 'heavy lifting,' pushing the 3 meter vibrating tube down the wall cavity, into the concrete, then pulling it up and clear about 10 times per minute: intense, anaerobic effort.
Fortunately for Delaeno's recovery, and unfortunately for time, money and optimal concrete setup, the concrete supplier had trouble getting product to us in a timely fashion, so we were idle for more than 1 1/2 hours of the 4-hour start-to-finish time. The concrete plant kindly acknowledged the problem with a price consideration. The breaks also gave us a chance to check the wall more carefully. We did find a couple of places where vibrating the concrete had created bulges. We scabbed the areas and, happily, by 2:30 we had increased Davis' successful ICF pour record by 100%. Just as he finished troweling the top of the wall, the skies opened and began pelting the site with rain. Delaeno & I gave up trying to tweak the level of the walls, Nathan stopped stripping the footings and we got the equipment stowed and us into the Subaru headed for Winnipeg. No celebratory beers until we sat down on Niagara Street for a delicious pasta meal.
Just a short note about the impact of this project on your humble blogger. For the past few weeks I have come home absolutely exhausted, bone weary, aching (as Leonard Cohen says) in all the places I used to play. But the past two evenings I have also experienced energy, rejuvenation and – casting around for an appropriate analogy or turn of phrase – an eagerness to be put to the plough.
Back in late May, Jim Rodger sent some of his friends an article from the New York Times entitled, "The Case for Working with Your Hands." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em
As many of you may know, I have spent my working life utilizing my cranial muscle, while my home life and recreational life have often included physical labour. I have to say that this project has brought a whole new flavour and dimension to my appreciation of physical labour. Admittedly, I'm not doing this as a career or job, but I am finding this process amazingly salvific. The woes and ills of life aside, I haven't felt this vibrant and alive in many years. Nathan has an amazing memory and an uncanny ability to throw off the most biting and hilarious – mostly cynical – aphorisms. Yesterday, as we arrived at the site I tossed off a new one: Life is way to short to be optimistic. While philosophically that statement might be seen to have validity (and often has for me over the past few years), I am so grateful for the lustre of life that has bathed me and, by extension, Ruth, our families, our friends and my coworkers through this little housebuilding project. I should always feel this grateful, this happy, this rewarded and this wonderfully work-weary.
Can't tell you how happy I am to hear you writing about yr experience like this, Pop. It sounds like this project is really beginning to shape up to be the experience you were looking for. I'm proud of you.
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