Quik-Tube Forms

Day #26

July 21, 2018 – To speed up the construction process I decided to use round Quik-Tube forms at the interior piers.  These are essentially cardboard tubes with a wax like coating. The tubes are placed in the excavated hole, backfilled and then filled with concrete. The trick with this type of form is to keep them as dry as possible during the installation and backfill. Once they encounter water they become soggy and begin to break down.

We placed, backfilled  and poured three Quik-Tube forms and one square plywood form with bagged concrete. This makes a total of seven (7) concrete piers and thirty-five (35) bags of concrete.

The piers that were poured yesterday were also stripped and backfilled. 

The weather is forecast to rain tomorrow. It’s going to be a mess!

Quik-Tube Form
Quik-Tube form is ready to be marked at the proper elevation and cut to length.
Quik-Tube Forms - Mixing Concrete
Hand mixing bagged concrete for a Quik-Tube pour.
Stripping Forms
Stripping plywood pier forms.
Backfilling Piers
Backfilling concrete piers.

Clean Up Day

Day #22

July 8, 2018 – Today after the clean up from the concrete pour we covered all the footings for the week, packed up and headed home. 

Next weekend we will begin forming up the piers.

Decided to celebrate a very good weekend with a sushi dinner at Sapporo East on the Carlisle Pike.

Clean Up - Wheel Barrows
Wheel barrows cleaned up and parked by the shed.
Expanded Parking
Seven loads of 2A modified limestone spread and leveled for the new expanded parking area.
Footer Holes Concrete Pour
All concrete footers are poured.
Footer Holes
Freshly poured footers covered from the weather.
Sushi Rolls
Sushi celebration diner at Sapporo East.
Spicy Scallop Sushi
Spicy Scallop Sushi

Preparation for Footing Concrete

Day #20

July 6, 2018 – I was up early and out to purchase reinforcing bars to place in the footers in preparation for the concrete pour.

Wolfley Excavation was on site early this morning to continue spreading stone for the new expanded parking area. He was able to get 4 more loads delivered and spread before the quarry closed. It’s looking pretty good. The concrete truck should have no problems getting in and turned around.

At noon I confirmed the delivery of 2.75 cubic yards of 3000 psi  concrete with Juniata Concrete out of Mifflintown for tomorrow at 7:00 AM.

Tied up and placed rebar all afternoon waiting on my help to show up. Left the footers uncovered all night to try and dry them out a bit.

Preparation looks good. Big day tomorrow!

 

Stone Truck - Preparation For Concrete
First stone delivery this morning.
Stone Truck - Wolfley Excavation
Stone delivery for expanded parking lot.

Excavating Footings

Day #19

July 5, 2018 – Today was a good day. Wolfley Excavating was back on site to spread stone for an expanded parking area. They managed to get three loads of 2A limestone delivered and spread before the quarry closed for the day

Around 3:30 PM they dropped the bucket on the skid loader and hooked up a 24″ diameter auger. With the auger attached they began excavating the footings.  In a little over 2 hours they completed the remaining 16 footings. 

The drilling went much better than I had expected. There were not too many roots but there was more river rock underneath the living room door. This caused the auger to jump off the marked. We will have to hand dig to correct the location. 

The front yard now looks like a mine field.

Tomorrow we will begin the installation of reinforcing bars in preparation for the concrete pour.

Once again there was a threat of a pop up rain storm. As a precaution we covered all nineteen of the footings.  Thankx to Grammy and Fannie for buying 700 traps off of the clearance rack.

2A Limestone
First load of 2A limestone arrives on site.

Expanded Parking Area
Spread stone in the expanded parking area.

Skid Loader & 24" Auger
Skid loader with 24″ auger attachment digging 3ft deep footers.

Excavating Footer At Living Room Door
Footer excavation under the living room door.

 

Front Yard Mine Field
After the footers were dug the front yard looked like a mine field.

Hand Dug Footings

Day #18

July 4, 2018 – Today was the start of the footing excavation. We hand dug the first three footers 2′-6″ × 2′-6″ × 3′ deep. Two of them are in close proximity to the underground plumbing. One footing is close to an existing pier that is slightly tilted. We did not want to risk damage to the plumbing or the tilted pier from the digging auger. 

All of the old wood from the porch roof was relocated.  It was moved from the front of the cottage and put in a neat stack by the old shed. We took the rotted picnic table over to the fire pit. There it will await the return of the #arsonsquad.

We turned over the old wooden platform that the picnic table sits on.  After a brief inspection we decided it is in great shape. There is no rot at all, so we relocated it close to the fire pit. It will serve as a stage for future nonsense.

It rained for several hours jeopardizing tomorrows planned parking lot installation. Hopefully Wolfley’s Excavating & Septic Pumping will be on site tomorrow to get it started.

Luckily we had covered the footers prior to the storm. Hopefully the covers will keep them from filling with water so that they can be prepped for the concrete pour.

 

Hand Dug Footing #1
Hand dug footing between underground plumbing lines.
Hand Dug Footing #2
Hand dug footing near the existing tilted pier.
Covered Footing Excavation
Three hand dug footings covered before the rain storm.