Tubing and the Float

All,

I am wiped out...  3 hours sleep last night preparing tubing layout (measurements of every nook and crany). 

Hit the lot at 0800 this morning just a couple degrees above freezing.  Frost on everything.  Black "poly" slicker than snot. 

Long day,  we were able to get 3 circuits done and then an extra manifold set wired up for our next adventure. 

Float guys showed up and pretty much got the slab ready for pour.  They stayed until 2000 and worked in the dark to finish.   I held a flashlight and froze to death while they worked their rears off in short sleve shirts.  They were actually cold when they got done, but I felt sure that holding the flashlight so they could read the measuring tapes, levels, etc. and see where they were pounding was in my best interest and theirs. 

I am no ways near ready to pour concrete.  Still need to hire an electrician (long story), who has to set the floor outlets and island power.  Also don't have a temporary electric pole, so they have been working off generators.

We have probably 3 full days left of tubing work, plus some future electrical feeds I want to put in place...

1. 1.5 inch conduit in 2 places for future pool equipment
2. 1.5 inch conduit for future workshop
3. 1.5 inch conduti for aerobic septic system
4. landscape light feeds to front and rear
5. sprinkler timer electrical feeds to front, rear, and rainwater collection system pump.

Those will take me a 1/4 day if everybody leaves me alone.

I put some NO TRESPASSING signs in front.  Too much going on right now for the gawkers to step on, and the ICF is coming next.  I really don't want people even close to that stuff before it is poured.

It is interesting to see what shows up on the camera system we have in place.  Friends, and you know who you are, you are welcome. 

Ok, here are some pictures.  I'm too tired to explain anything.  You will have to figure it out on your own.  My fingers are bloody from the 600 zip ties I tied...

Oh, except for one explanation... Dad, the first picture is how they floated the garage.  Form guys couldn't figure out a good way to deal with the slope out the side of the garage for those 3 doors and then also with the slope out the back of the shop... So after some thought, we decided it would work good to make the shop actually level with no slope, but for that single garage door now has a ramp that drops 2 inches over 3 feet.  The picture shows the giant wedge they made for this purpose.   The concrete guys will actually blend all these slopes together so there isn't any sudden bumps anywhere.   These guys were amazing...

OH, and anybody that is wondering why I have green T posts in my house (8 of them acutally) they will be cut out later and the manifolds mounted to framing.


Good night...

Plumbing and "Makeup"

"Makeup"... what?? 

I have watched a lot of house from start to finish, but I guess I wasn't in the conversations.  I have learned a lot of new lingo in regards to concrete.  I should share some...

Form Setters -  A group of short, strong guys that swing 20 pound sledge hammers with ease.
Poly - Poly (something) that comes in several thicknesses measured in "mils" 
Makeup - Another group of short, strong guys that use flat shovels to dig trenches and "makeup" your slab.
Float - Put in place by the Form Setters.  Consists of more forms above the level of porches, garages, etc.

Well, today started out with a lot of questions   I knew the makeup guys were coming, but didn't know when.  I rolled in at 0805 and they all jumped out of their trucks.  Were they waiting for me, or did I just happen to be right behind them??   I say that because they obviously didn't need me for anything.  Without a whole lot of communication (other than some grumbling spanish comments about the mud), they just started digging.  30 minutes later they brought out the trencher...

The slab sits on 28 inch tall, 12 inch wide beams.  These beams are dug into the select fill pad, and then the whole mess is reinforced with cables and steel.  In a nutshell, the makeup guys are there to make this happen. 

Here is a picture of them getting started.

BEAMS...

A lot of this is dug by the trencher... Let me try to attach a video for the machine freaks...  It has a 12 inch wide chain a does a really good job of pulverizing what comes out of the trench into a fairly fine consistency.  This dirt subsequently is moved around and used to form the "pads" that make up the little islands around the beams.  On top of the pad will be 5 inches thick concrete (a little thicker than normal because of my radiant tubing taking up some space, I think the engineers were covering their rears a little here).

Well, this blog thing wouldn't let me download a video of the trencher... Sorry, how about a picture?

It has tracks, no wheels.  Makeup guys said they had not used it in about a month because everything had been so wet... 

So, at the end of the day, picture 120 foot slab x 80 foot, give or take.  A beam in each direction every 10 feet, plus a continuous beam under the perimeter of the ICF (living space).  By the time these guys left, they had this whole thing dug.  No breaks, no whining.  Smiles and jokes all day. 

Tomorrow they come back to finish some pads, and then poly, cables, and steel. 

Cool thing was that I had a much better idea of how the house lays out...  I could see where the walls were in relationship to the porch front and back, etc.  Looks great.  We are VERY happy with all our layout choices...

Bad thing was that chain trenchers and PVC pipe do not play well together.  I was briefed to anticipate this, because it just happens, but the trencher "nicked" 4 pipes.  The good news was that the plumber had just showed up to take a look at his penetrations. 

There is a long standard of fighting between plumber and concrete men as a result of the pipe issue.  But in our case, a deal was to be made...  Plumber would fix pipes without a penalty to concrete guys if concrete guys would clean up the mess about to be made by the plumber. 

So, a few hours later, 1 trip to HD for some couplers, and lots of measuring, and viola.... pipes are now where they should be. 

Everyone left in the dark, except for me, who stayed behind to pick up trash so the racoons didn't have a party out there tonight...

One more thing... At some point I was telling of the problems with rolling the radiant PEX into their respective lengths... Well, last week I finally broke down and went out and bought a sheet of plywood, had the guys cut it into two 4x4's, and turned it into a spool.  Did the ladder trick with the shovel again and much better succes....

Here is the spool...

1000 foot doesn't look like much...

Here is 4000 feet safely secure on my back patio...

Ok, it's late...

Goodnight!