Too fast! Mistakes! And good luck?
This week was ambitious and so we had to move fast. This led to mistakes, and of course problems happen even without making mistakes. And in the end we ran into a major problem… but at exactly the right time. As a result, we began a pivot and will pivot more strongly next week. The events and change are discussed below.
The first day of the week was devoted to putting up the ICF stem walls so we could pour on day two. We spent a lot of time getting the first layer flat and square. The cellar walls, especially with the steel pan decking on top, did not line up perfectly, but only moderate shimming was required. The next layers went much faster, but we were short 9 standard ICF blocks (right photo). Fortunately, the vendor had some in stock so I could pick them up early on day two for the pour. Also, at the end of the day, Logan made and installed the “Loganopper” shown below. The video below the images shows the Loganopper in action.
We had WAY too much going on during Day Two: Here’s a partial list:
I picked up 9 new ICF forms in the morning, picked up Steve, and drove up to Skookum.
Logan headed down from Skookum to pick up a load of premix gravel.
Steve and I: (1) Put up the remaining ICFs and installed the rebar; (2) Put in the through-holes (one for electrical, the second an air vent for the wood stove); (3) Arranged the table next to the mixer/pump and reinforced the legs to level it up; (4) Moved cement using the pickup to the table, 6 bags at a time, 5 runs.
Logan returned with a load of premix, and then used the Kubota to move an existing pile of premix to where we could use it. Then he re-installed the “Loganopper” (left photo) that he had built the night before. The purpose of the Loganopper was to reduce the Kubota bucket width so we could load the premix into the mixer (center photo), thereby eliminating nearly all the shoveling. This worked great!
Around 2:00 o’clock we started the pour (right photo) and it went pretty smoothly… until the cleanup. A couple of my friends showed up to check out Skookum just as we were finishing up the pour, and then the pump clogged.
We are fairly certain that there is some concrete set up inside the mixer pump. Clearly, this is not a good thing, and is likely due to moving too quickly (previously) and thus forgetting to pump the sponge balls through the system. This totally changed the plans for the week, as we were hoping to pour the floor on day five of this week. Realistically, we were not going to be ready anyway.
A thunderstorm helped reinforce the notion that we were not going to get a second pour in this week.
With a change needed, there was some time to roast brats over the fire, enjoy a cold beer, and walk in the woods. The camp looks warm and cozy with smoke from the fire wafting into the breeze.
A change
The problem with the pump actually happened at the best time it possibly could (other than not happening at all of course). Because the stem walls are poured, we can now start putting up the logs. It would be nice to have the floor and porch poured, but not essential. Therefore, we will postpone any concrete pours until the mixer/pump is repaired. We have the excavator for another week, so we’ll complete dirt work to improve the workspace around the cabin (see below), and then start with the logs.
Logan started digging out the bank on the uphill side of the cabin to create a nice slope, and (of course) the excavator chose the most difficult location to spit off a track — it actually spit a track off twice, once with a little room to work (left) but at a steep angle, and another time with the excavator almost on our freshly poured wall. More entertainment than was necessary!
Wylie got to operate the excavator on his own. He filled up the truck twice.
There’s plenty of room now on three of the four sides of the cabin. We will soon move the mixer/pump out of the way to the right-hand side in the image above.
When we finished up pouring the stem walls, we forgot to put the bolts in to hold the treated sill plate, so I used Meg’s old hammer-drill to put in bolts afterwards. The bolts are off-center to avoid hitting rebar. After starting, Logan noted that I forgot the calk gun I needed to glue them in. Fortunately, I also bought two few bolts, so I wouldn’t have been ready to glue anyway.
Week's summary and whatnot
The biggest change going forward is a shift to log work. This includes a shift in attitude. With the concrete work, we had a rigid schedule due the need for a crew (and also due to my stubbornness). Moving forward, I’m hoping we can just take each day as it comes. Hopefully this will lead to fewer mistakes, more fun, and steady progress.
During this week:
I developed some tendonitis in my left elbow from tossing cement bags;
My right knee started squawking at me again;
We discovered the mixer pump needs substantial maintenance work;
The excavator picked amusing times to spit off its track;
We forgot to install bolts after our pour;
We lost some cement in the rain because we didn’t have it stored properly.
And we are going to switch over to log-work. This is exactly when I hoped we would begin log-work, but of course I hoped the concrete work would be done. I’m sure things will get interesting quickly — I measured the width of a sill-log we want to rip in half — just over two feet thick. The chainsaw bar is 18 inches. Another interesting week is surely coming up!