It’s finally time to begin pouring concrete. Again, this first pour is just for the base, which needs to be 16” wide and 8” deep, per code. Thankfully, it seems everything went pretty much as planned. The big pour will be on Wednesday, in 2 days, so tomorrow they need to come back to backfill the dirt in preparation for that.
Some key things that happened today:
Raising the Framing to Pour
The plan of action was pretty simple. The framing was set on the ground, within the trench, so what they did was cut holes into the top of the boards to slide 2x4s through, and use some of the stones to raise the boards up exactly 8”. With the boards now hanging 8” off the ground, we could pour the cement until it reaches the bottom edge of the boards, and that should give us the 8” we need. The first half of the day was spent rigging that up.
Pouring the Cement
With the framing raised, the team was ready to switch gears and begin pouring. I didn’t get a chance to take pics of the process, but Armin rented a cement mixer to mix there in the job site, and they just shoveled all of it into the trench. I think they went through every bag of cement.
Structural Concerns
I communicated that the framing looked wonky. You can see in the pictures that they’re not straight and exposing gaps here and there. Armin assured me that it’s not a problem and that right now their only concern is that it’s 8” off the ground, because all that currently matters is the foundation footers. He assured me that when they return tomorrow they will refine the framing before backfilling the dirt.
