Day 2 commenced with a brief meeting with Steve Williams,
our company president. He confirmed and approved the 50’ length of the slab
diagonal, and helped us figure out the logistics for efficiently using as many
people as we could on site.
The majority of the day was spent moving sand and
dirt to bring the location of the slab to grade. After figuring out where the
high spots and low spots were, we moved the sand with a shovel and wheelbarrow.
Our goal was to avoid moving sand more than necessary; although we leveled the
sub base, we still have about ½” to take off to satisfy the specified 4” slab.
Once the 3-10’ wide strips were screeded, we
worked on the interior formwork. The key component for the interior formwork
was the keyway. Superintendent Branden Reagin and his assistants glued and
nailed the quarter rounds onto a 2x4 and then set them.
A main difficulty here was the fact that we lacked a drill to fasten the form-stakes to the forms. We had to attach 5-100’ extension cords together to bring power out to the site so that we could operate a corded drill. The team only got this line of forms completed today.
Overall, today was much more efficient than yesterday. We assigned each person to either grade the slab or help with the formwork; this allocation of jobs kept work running proficiently at all times. The only reason we did not get more done was the sudden afternoon thunderstorm.
Weather permitting, we will continue this
process tomorrow. We will also begin putting the rebar in the slab.