This has been a slow week by design. We did get the slab poured last Friday with a coat of sealer on it. It was a crisp clear morning when they began pouring the slab. The first truck driver had completed his load and had pulled off to the side to wash out his truck. As it happens, he was washing it out on the topsoil pile right next to a small pine tree we were planning to save.
I asked him to stop washing out in that location as we have set aside a location on the site for washout. When he ignored my request I admit I yelled at him at which he asked me what my problem was. When I responded that concrete washwater has a PH of over 12 and it could damage the plant material, he responded with as much scorn as he could muster “Oh, you’re one of those guys!” and packed up and left. He succinctly summed up my philosophy and his in one terse statement. I’m now proud to be officially included in the “one of those guy’s club” as there are many in that clan I much admire.
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| Placing the tinted concrete |
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| Concrete sealed by end of the day |
We also began drilling the well on Friday, and got to a good quality aquifer. It was a little bit deeper than we had hoped for, but will happily settle for quality and quantity. Fortunately the soils in the region are all pervious from top to bottom, so the aquifer is in no danger of depletion. On Monday they finished piping it into the basement. Subject to having the test results and permanent power to the pump we are good to go with the water supply.
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| Getting ready to drop the well casing |
Saturday we sawcut the control joints in the slab. These joints provide a weak place in the slab for the concrete to break as it expands and contracts from temperature and shrinkage from curing. At best locating control joints in a slab will only reflect a desire that the concrete will break where you direct it. There are some age old formulas for locating control joints based on experience with concrete.
The rest of the week, the job has been without activity. Since the slab is our finish floor, we had planned for a week of cure time on the concrete slab before we put any significant activity on it. We added a dark stain to the concrete, and had a hard trowel finish placed on it to give it a near mirror finish which you can see in the pictures. The dark color will absorb sunlight during the winter months when the sun is low on the horizon and has the most exposure to the concrete slab.
We considered a number of options for protection measures against accidental damage from construction activity and rejected all of them as too costly, fragile, or a hindrance to productivity. We have settled for having the contractors just be careful. The most exposed part of the project will be during the setting of the trusses when it is not uncommon for hammers or boards to be dropped. During this phase we will use some of the rigid insulation and spread it under the work area as a protection measure.
The lumber for the framing will be delivered tomorrow, and if all goes as planned we will begin framing on Monday and potentially be in the dry by the end of the week. The windows and doors are in town, the trusses are ready to deliver, and the roofer is on tap to dry in the building as soon as the sheathing is in place.
