Second Pour

Since I knew we would be working very short handed (and very inexperienced). Just me, my wife and two teenagers. I decided early on to divide the slab into four sections to make the pours easier for us to handle.

Sections 2&4 were done first (previous post) and then the internal wood forms were removed in preparation for the next two pours (Sections 1&3) scheduled a few days later.

When Saturday morning came, we were ready to get it done.

The first section went extremely well and we had plenty of time to clean up the edges and finish up the bull floating. I ordered the second truck to arrive 90 minutes later, so we actually had time to sit around for a while.

The second truck arrived at 9:30 and all was going really well until the concrete decided it wanted to go UNDER the corner frame lifting it 6" (150mm)! I never considered bracing the frame against vertical movement.

<<< Panic mode had arrived! >>>

We stopped working on the other side of the slab so we could try to dig it out and push the corner back down before bracing it with some logs and back filling the concrete by hand. Meanwhile, my son was trying his best to level the curing concrete on the other side of the slab.

Oh, did I mention that we came up one yard short of materials so another truck has to be called out?
Yeah, that happened too...

When the next truck arrived, the driver saw our dilemma and grabbed a trowel to help out. He was a HUGE help and even though we still ended up with mediocre results, it would have been MUCH, MUCH worse if he had simply dropped off his concrete and drove off.
I definitely owe that guy a free meal or something!

Anyway, we did our best but I'm really disappointed with the results. It's not bad enough to rip out and start over, but I'll need to figure out some way to fix it. Right now I'm looking into spending a couple of days becoming really familiar with gas driven diamond grinder...

The punch list so far:
1) Fix the broken tile drain in the corner that got messed up.
2) Fix a cracked PVC drain pipe joint in the other corner.
3) Grind the concrete as close to level as possible
4) Drill holes for foundation bolts
5) Cut away the bowed areas of concrete on the first pour
6) Embed the foundation bolts in a special epoxy resin
7) Erect the steel structure