Concrete, heat exhaustion and lots of excitement

The concrete truck showed up today to place concrete for the foundation of my lean-to. It was exciting day all around. Not only were the boys excited about the concrete truck (me included), but I was excited to make a major step toward realizing the workshop vision.

This is what the area looked like pre-pour. I just took some concrete pavers that I had laying around and used them to support the re-bar grid. It's been a LONG time since I studied this stuff in college, but it seemed like a good idea. I'm sure it'll be fine.

As you can see, the small boys are pretty into the concrete truck. I just wish it had a longer chute. For residential jobs like this, the truck just comes with the standard chute and no extensions. Even backed up right up to the carport, the chute was nowhere near reaching the forms. I pulled out the wheelbarrow and got to work. By the way, it was pushing 100F and it took me about 30 wheelbarrow trips back and fourth to fill the forms. Not fun.

I was just finishing up smoothing the surface of the slab to the best of my ability when I started getting really, really dizzy. I'd been drinking water while I was working, but it was just a bit too much for me. I didn't want to leave the slab unfinished, but I had to step away and rest for a while. As it turns out, I was just a bit short of concrete anyway, so I was going to have to add a few bags.

I didn't get any photos of the slab after the concrete was placed, but you probably get the picture. It was a slab with some small voids on the top that needed to be filled with additional concrete.

I have a vision for this workshop and it apparently includes concrete, a wheelbarrow and some mild heat exhaustion. All part of the process.