2 Chutes, 5 Slump and you will be a Pro

So over the weekend, after we got the forms done on Friday 6/21, we marked out doors, placement of J-bolts, and laid out conduit for our septic, water and geothermal. The doors were marked out so that when the footers get poured, we could take care to smooth out where our wooden threshold/thermal break would go.

Luckily we only had to install a 2ft section of the septic line to give us enough bite on both sides to attach to the interior plumbing and septic tank outside.  For the geothermal we used a couple of 2in PVC pieces down about 36in in the trench.  For the water inlet we put a 3in piece of PVC at an angle so that it would be just inside the wall at the floor, and close to the bottom of the footer.  

We cleaned up the site and moved dirt around so the concrete trucks would be able to drive clear around the forms.  We also installed some scrap pieces of wood, carpet and plastic to cover any holes on the inside of the form and prevent concrete from spilling out. The earliest we could schedule concrete for a morning pour was Wednesday (today), so that's what we planned on.  

 

This morning the first truck arrived right on time, at 9:00am.  The guy first asked "Has anyone run a chute before?"  We all looked around at each other and made a rather awkward gesture to Al, who last poured concrete at least 20 years ago.  Well then everyone pointed at Matt to be the guy to do it.  So the driver was nice enough to give us some pointers.

Matt and Bob (Matt's dad) getting a lesson on how to run a chute!

He asked what mix we would like ("You ordered a 4 slump but 5 will flow a little better"). Asked how many chutes we wanted, "Two I think...".  He showed Matt and Bob the proper hand signals for starting, stopping, up, down and forward.  And then we got to pouring.....

You'll notice in these videos that when it comes to construction attire, Matt goes for full coverage based on scary stories that he heard... Bob (Matt's Dad) goes for mostly covered because he didn't know one way or the other... Al (Bethy's Dad) goes for no coverage because he has had only good experiences with concrete. TEHO. 

The plan was for each truck to slowly drive all around the perimeter while pouring to make one layer, which will set slightly in time for the next truck to arrive and do the same. Matt took charge on the chute, while Al helped spread things in the trench, and Bob helped shovel off the chute. Bethy filmed and filled in as needed.

The first truck was done in just under an hour, after which he cleaned up off to the side and the other truck showed up shortly after he left.  His parting words were, "Tell him you want 2 chutes and about a 5 slump and he will think you're a pro".  Thanks, first driver, for all the helpful hints and tips!!

The second driver...we'll just say he is used to more of a dump job, but we were able to accommodate, building on all our experience mere moments before.  He got around in about 35min, and just as he got done cleaning up the 3rd truck showed up.  This was the slightly more critical pour because we wanted to fill up just to the top of the form, no more, no less.  We also had to start placing the J-bolts as the concrete began to set, but of course Al wasn't going to just throw them in; he had quite the plan, which involved using his homemade fixture to place them at the proper depth, centering and angle.

Al and his precision J-bolt placement mechanism

Using the precision J-bolt placement mechanism to ensure proper placement (against the back), depth (line up the top of the bolt with the top of the mechanism), and angle (make it straight against the mechanism).

The third truck went around and actually ended up having a little extra concrete (~2yds), so we had him fill in some low spots in the driveway!

Bethy was our master screeder (yeah I kinda made that word up) and had made it almost all the way around, when the mason we were hiring to pour the slab showed up to check out the site, and even lent a hand screeding off the last little edge of the footer.  He was pretty happy with what he saw that day and sounded up for the job!

All poured

That inside form is a little wonky, but that's okay.

Well we got done around 12:30 and relaxed in the sun watching our cement cure.  We looked over the forms and all in all they looked pretty damn good on the outside edge.  A couple inside edges went a little wonky but the forms did what we needed.  Next steps are to lay the waste lines, install the geothermal inlet and outlet, and smooth out gravel and compact it.  But not today, for the rest of today we relax and celebrate our hugely successful and exciting footer pour!

Updated budget:
+ $3389.04 for 3 trucks of 9 yds concrete each
TOTAL SPENT SO FAR: $45,330.51