Hi all
Itç—´ july in Carolina, nuff said. We had gone some 90 hours with out rain, possibly a record for 2020 but, for once on this project of mine, I got lucky.
Been 1 year and way too much $ fighting a combination of orange mud, which I knew all about and living in a rain forest, which caught me off guard.
I致e read the only 途ain forest in the continental us is in the pacific north west, makes sense, I lived there, yup. Well, We got one here. I don稚 know technically how much rain you gotta get but there痴 always reality. Rains every 50 hours.
Anyway, poured 3000 sf of concrete yesterday! Boys got here about 6:30 am, 9 guys, 4 1/2 truck loads, and weæ±*e finished by 3. The cement trucks were all Oshkosh Trucks. I worked there in the 70s. I started watering the slabs, house and garage/shop/apt, but at about 7pm the skyç—´ opened up and we got slammed. The storms here are very dramatic, lost power, went to bed.
To me, that痴 the end of phase 1. 2600 ft drive, 400 tons gravel, so far, 1 acre pad of orange mud, 16kvolt wire 4 ft under drive, 2600 ft 2 in water main (120 psi!), 2600 ft DSL internet line buried. No tv yet, been 4 months, don稚 miss it at all, no sports....... and finished foundation work on 2 structures. whew!
Side note....
I知 single and alone, by choice but.....while I was doing all the above, I was also doing everything your wife does, most my married buddies have no clue, probably much better off.
Had a guy scheduled to mulch 3 acres of weedy trees this morning. He has this monster bush hog looking machine that he pushes with a big skid steer. It has a big cylinder which I guess has different blades etc, you end up with no stumps and all mulch. He said goes thru a 6 inch tree l8e butter. Kid said over 40 gallons per minute flow. He also said it cost $15 K? The rain got me again, had to cancel the mulching but, it helped the concrete.
I read, if you can somehow keep concrete wet for 20 days it doubles the strength. Some commercial jobs require you put down burlap and keep it wet. I went with 4000 psi mix so I知 good either way but still trying to keep it wet. Also oversized footings, rebar in footings ( not required) and wire in the slabs ( not required). I guess nowadays, They put fiber glass strand in the mix and that meets code. I like to add wire and rebar. $$$
Been a long long long year!
My nephew plays for the Washington Redskins...can I say that? Wonder what the new name will be?