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Got up at 4 yesterday, went to bed at 4 this morning.  Slept until twelve-freaking-thirty PM today  without waking up.

Guess I needed it.

You guys are rough on the Kitty.

Yeah, if I were doing more than shoving a little gravel around and pestering the shit out of the guys, that would make sense, wouldn't it?

It's more the stress that I've effed up in a major way and this building is not going to work.  

This week I've had to just not sweat the small stuff.  Mistakes you make become more obvious when the concrete is hard.

ETA:  Oh, and realized I crashed so hard because I was getting sick.

Neighbor came over on Fill Day (I think that was Thursday) while AFC was laying that last run of block, and got all up in my face to show me photos of his daughter's wedding on his phone

Poof, Friday night I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.  Saturday afternoon here came the cold symptoms.

Fill Day

Thursday morning before it got light, Erik showed up with the skid steer to start moving gravel into the block form while AFC finished some work on footers for another customer.  

First scoop of fill going in:








A little later, AFC and Ian came back and the whole thing started rocking.

AFC used the trackhoe to move in the big chunks of concrete he'd brought, while Ian sifted gravel over and around them to make a tight fill.  It was impressive to watch these two guys move the machines around a foot from one another with no issues at all.  Comes from working together for a while I guess.






Then they finished the end of the wall.  Last block going in.



They took a lunch break and checked on the footers they'd poured for the other customer that morning, then came back, giving the mortar in the blocks time to set a little , then backfilled some so it was supported for the rest of the fill.



Then the rest of the fill went in.

End of the day

Friday--Pour Day

AFC had told me that the pour was set for 10:00, which meant he had told the quarry 9:30, because they've been so far behind.  (They're short drivers I guess, because it's so hard to keep them.  And they've  lost a bunch more recently, including Kevin(not his real name, btw), the "eye of the needle" guy who did such a great job with the footers, when they made them take a surprise drug test sometime during the past few days. )

It's an interesting look into the state of things--people just not wanting to work, or having a work ethic--to learn that these drivers get a $50 cash bonus in their paychecks every week just because they've shown up for work five days in a row.   And the concrete is so stupidly expensive because they have to pay these drivers so much per hour.  Yet STILL, they can't find people willing to show up and work.

Anyway..with the pour set for midmorning, just as the sun was coming up (about 7, this time of year) termite guy rolls into the back yard.

Soaked the pad and the outside of the walls with 50 gallons of something.  Paid special attention around the pipes.







He will come back to rod around the outside of the building once we are done digging and filling.



The day before, AFC had told me he was bringing in a special guy, Vic, to help finish this concrete, in case AFC had to be split between this job and a footer job he was doing.

Vic is the guy who taught AFC most about concrete, and is retired now, technically, but would come in to help with this pour.

At about 9:30, Vic rolled into the yard and started raking gravel, making sure there were no high spots where the pad would be thin.  He also adjusted the gravel in the shower pan to create the rough preslope AFC thought he could make for me, giving me more fudge room than I could get with the two-inch forms I'd put in.

AFC showed up about 10:00 with the whole crew, to lay down plastic and rebar, and get set up for the pour.

It was 11:30 before the truck showed up,  with Tim driving.  Tim had been driving a concrete truck for 21 years.  



Shower pan went in first, before they added water to the mix.






Vic moved in immediately and started floating the shower pan while the other guys moved on to the far corner of the pour.










Then he moved to the edges and started getting those set to his liking.









He kept moving back and forth from the pan to the edges, working on both, while the guys kept on filling the space with mud, pausing to lift the rebar up into the heavy mud with their rakes, and sometimes with the toes of their boots.




Marking the stake for height/depth




Once the long part of the pad was filled, with Vic still working the edges, AFC started screeding while the boys poured the side pad.




It was interesting to see what 21 years of truck experience teaches a driver, and how he could reduce the labor involved in a pour.

He swept the chute back and forth, back and forth, across the pour, spreading the mud ahead of the guys WAY better and more evenly than I could spread batter out of a pitcher.  It was cool to see.

All the boys had to do was even it out a little.




About the time the pad was full of concrete, Vic finished his first pass around the edges, washed off his boots, and while AFC finished the screed,  Vic started with the bull float.




With the mud all poured and screeded, AFC took Ian back to the footer job for a bit, and left Vic in charge of the finishing, with Erik as his minion.

I had already heard stories from Erik about how, when he was struggling to make a living at a minimum wage job a few years back, Vic had offered him work in concrete to help out, and this past spring, had gotten him the full time gig with AFC.

After the pad was floated once, Vic and Erik took off for a 20 minute lunch while it set up a bit.

The tree did not cooperate, but at least it was leaves, and not walnuts, dropping on the wet concrete.  Two weeks earlier it would have been a very different tale.




When Vic and Erik returned, Vic set Erik to working on edges and around pipes, and pulling form pins.




Vic started with the power trowel.



They alternated, edges, power trowel, edges, power trowel, until I lost count, as they finished the concrete,moving from area to area, working according to the way each part of the pad was drying.

When the concrete was completely slick, they packed up and went home.

I AM blessed with this crew!

I really hope I have not pestered them to the point they won't want to work for me in future.

I'm rehabbing a home in the big town nearest me, and there is a lot of stone/masonry work.  For one thing, I need somebody to cut a big hole in the back of a stone house, to install french doors with sidelights.

I'm hoping these guys will be the ones.

Okay, moving forward....


1- What do you guys use as sill gasket, if you use it, and do you flash with metal also between the concrete and the treated wood, or do you trust the new sill gasket materials?

2-What are your favorite ways to anchor to a pad?

There will be both 2 X 6 walls (the tall part of the building) and 2 X4  (the shorter, side pad) exterior walls.  I've used those sleeved anchor bolts on a rehab before and liked them for that.

I've been looking around, formed some opinions, but interested in what y'all like.

I've been so focused on the darn foundation, I've got to shift back to "wood" now, play catch up with some decisions and get materials ordered pronto.

Kitties

I don't know about that, but I want to be an easy customer.  

Not one they dread working for.

That's very cool, that you'll even let them on your job site.

Slab looks great, good luck going forward.

Thank you.


I'm really pleased with it so far.

Interesting part is that there's some water standing on it today, and most of the standing water is in the spot where Vic kept saying the concrete was drying more slowly.  Ironically it was the first corner that was poured, and the last to dry out enough to power trowel.

I think as he ran over it with the power trowel, decided it needed more time and quit to let it dry, a tiny bit of concrete was removed, thus creating a "low spot" in that area.    

Speaks to how flat the whole thing is that the water doesn't run off.  It just sits there  here and there on the pad.  Only one sizeable puddle. and it's maybe 1/32" deep.  MAYBE 1/16, but I doubt it.

So I set a level on this concrete.  

The bubble never moved.

But the water knows.  

That is the data line to the red phone in Donald Trump's office.

Not the WHITE HOUSE office.  The office in Trump Towers.

**Yes, we specifically chose to NOT use anchor bolts embedded in the concrete.  Had that discussion with Awesome Foundation Contractor.  He would have done it for me if I'd chosen that, but I did not.  I chose to anchor as though the pad were already set and I was building after-the-fact.  For a number of reasons.  Not sure it was the best choice, but it's the one I made, and my gut said yes.  

**You have used the sill gasket you linked?    That's what I was looking at around here, but was looking at some others that were not as readily available.  I was hoping you or somebody else had seen how the Pink Stuff holds up over years exposed to seasonal cycles and the wet/dry cycles of concrete.


**The composite laminate sill plate is new to me.

I see their page.  But have you built with this and like it?  If so, what is your experience?

I'd seen that last thread, incidentally, but mostly paid attention to Watercat's shed, since she was asking questions about water flow in the Landscape thread.

However, you are dead on about something that's been worrying me a little.  Honestly, I'm not certain I'd pass muster if the local Building Inspector came out to look and did not like me much.  

I'm planning to run a drain tile on that "high" side of the slab because I'm worried about water flow on that side of the building, but I am also worried about the water wicking into my building EVERYWHERE because, you know..

OMG, CONCRETE.

Very, very interested in the sill plate you've linked.  

As to the gasket...I keep looking at it, going, "that's just a thin piece of foam, packaged in a size to fit a sill application."

Which might be fine.

But I'm not going to expect much.

I think the manufactured sill might be well worth the investment on that high side, if nowhere else.  

Have you used that?  I don't see it on your block building, but maybe it's there.

I did see your photos, and studied them.

It looked like wood on the concrete.

Obviously, I missed what you were showing.  

ETA:  I think you're just lookin' for one more chance to show off your freaking AWESOME shop.  

Okay so your method was:

from top to bottom:
Studs
Regular sill plate (treated I'm guessing)
Composite sill plate
Pink Stuff
Block/concrete

Is that right?

I see a LOT of personal choice in this...

Why do you choose the construction adhesive, and by "very heavy beads" what exactly do you mean?  Are you talking 1/2" beads?  

Any input or thought on WHY you choose this would be of help.

All of you have years of experience that I do not have.  I appreciate all input.

that's a really cool view of the shop I like so much.

Okay so, I ripped off your photo.  Do I have this right?

Dude...are we on the same planet?

Nothing I asked relates to what you just said so I am clearly not communicating.

Are you saying what looks like a 2X sill plate, to me, is the manufactured sill?

Holy sh*t!

Pink foam barrier is cloaked!!!!

and wow...the manufactured sill looks very wood-like.

From the top, anyhow.

I can see, from the side, that it looks like something unnatural.  

You just made my entire week!!!!

You used it for your whole sill, so you believe in it.

I think, given how much backfill I will have even on the "low" sides of my building, that this will make sense for me.

I shall now disappear to find this product.

Guessing you used this on your own house, so....

How long do you believe it will maintain flexibility?

I know you probably can't say, and let's get real here...I'm looking at a thin piece of Pink Panther foam as opposed to something more substantial, and I have no idea what flexes and what does not.

I like Ar-jedi's manufactured sill, for my application which is too close to grade.

I am used to metal flashing between the concrete and sill, so anything is better, but not loving the thin pink foam if I could do better.

Am interested in all of it.  Seems I cannot combine it.  Not realistically, anyhow.

Interesting.  Looks like I'll have to drive to Nashville to get that exact product, but I'll do some more searching.  Might be there is a "secondary" supply source up here.

@ar-jedi

Where exactly did you BUY this jewel of an LSL sill plate?

Nobody here--and I mean NOBODY here--knows about it.

I have one lumber yard looking for me, to see if he can order it.  

Even the Weyerhauser dealer closest to me in Nashville doesn't carry it.

Home Depot here has to order it.

Found an LP product instead of Weyerhauser.  Looks like they're going go be my source for engineered lumber down here.  Nobody has it in stock, still, but at least they can get it.