The Concrete Pour of 2010…well, one of the many.

I described my lovely Memorial Day a few days ago. You may know that I have spent most of my week basking in the sun–lakeside while being served dainty drinks and fed luscious morsels.

And when I say ‘lakeside’, I mean in my neighbor’s front yard.
And the ‘dainty drinks’ were more of hurried gulps out of the cooler that leaks water all down your front.
And the ‘luscious morsels’ were protein bars. But they were s’more’s flavored, so I guess that’s pretty close….
At any rate, we were ready to pour the sucker you see above.
And this was pretty close to a day at the lake.
(See how we got to this point over Memorial Day.)

The concrete truck arrived at 8am sharp, ready to unleash its mix.

Biceps was in charge of the wheel barrow and I was in charge of raking the concrete once it had been poured into the form.
Three words: Impromptu Shoulder Workout.

This my dears, was just the beginning.
Lots of raking, sloshing of concrete onto my skin, falling into the dirt hole around the forms, etc., was happening for an undocumented couple of hours. It was better left undocumented.

The pour is now complete-now on to the finishing!
After banging the sides of the forms with a hammer to remove the air bubbles, we lightly troweled the top to bring up the cream (the smooth watery part of concrete). Then we had a soda and let the steps set up while whining about our sore muscles. Superb marital bonding time.

This little edging tool was the next step. We went around the perimeter of the forms with the edger, bringing a nice sharp line to our steps.

More troweling, then edging, then troweling, then edging….You get the idea.
(That’s Bicep’s hairy forearm, not mine, mind you.)

After we were satisfied with our edging and troweling, the moment of truth came as we removed the forms.
Drumroll, please.
Will the steps mush out everywhere and become a soupy mess?
Or are they going to be rock hard and unable to be finished?
Are you as nervous as I was at this moment?
Doubt it.

No soupy mess! And not rock hard! Just perfect.
We filled all of the holes with our excess concrete, troweling everything until it was smooth like glass…and somewhere during this process, both of my arms fell off.
I had to do the rest of the work using a trowel held in my teeth.

Finally, we ‘broom-finished’ the steps and the platform to prevent people from slipping on the concrete when it rained. Aren’t we considerate?

And TAH-DAH! Aren’t these steps exciting?
Can’t you just picture yourself running up and down them, time after time?
Yelling at people from the top step while they are on the bottom step?
Or sitting on the steps enjoying another soda during a dream sequence?
Yep, me too.

My Memorial Day with Concrete

We stayed the entire weekend on a yacht surrounded by scrumptious food, delectable drinks and servants that waited on us hand and foot.
And, it was all free! Can you believe that?

Nope. Neither can I, but I like to dream.
Below is what we really did on Memorial Day while others were out basking in the lake’s glory…

Ladies and Gentleman, may I introduce to you my neighbor’s front porch.
It was a nice front porch, but much too small. Hubby and I are making that sucker huge for her.
This is the beginning of the concrete forms. We’ve already cut out the side forms and have reinforced the sides with rebar.

Here is a disgusting and sweaty version of me at this point in the day, cutting more sections of rebar for the top step.

As you cut rebar, a scent infiltrates your nose. It smells of fireworks and burning flesh all at once.
Oh wait…that was my flesh burning.
A bad word might have escaped my lips. Please God, forgive me.

After Hubby drilled holes into the top step of the old concrete, I pounded all of the rebar in about three inches.

This here was pretty much the highlight of my day. This and when I went to Lowe’s for the bazillionith time. I love going to Lowe’s when I stink like a pig farm.
I suppose I fit in, however.

We cut pieces of 6” welded wire mesh, tying it to each piece of the rebar. This further reinforces our step and will survive a nuclear attack.
Then, we added three 2” x 8” boards which will make the steps.
I tripped over these stupid boards countless times. My legs are all scratched up and splintery. I might just take some pictures to prove it.
Tomorrow, we pour the lovely concrete. Pray that it goes well, folks.