Concrete Time

One of the big goals of my time back home was to pour a couple concrete pads down at the barn. I was hoping to do it on Thursday, but when I called the concrete plant, they said they were tied up on Thursday but could do it today! So I got busy framing up the last pad and finished the job today instead of tomorrow.

It doesn't take to big of job to justify a concrete truck instead of sack-crete. Though we only ordered two yards, it was still money well spent.

This little stall in the barn will be the utility room for the barn loft. To clean it up, we wanted to put a concrete floor in it.

So we took down all the stanchion walls so we could frame in a room with a fresh start. Once cleared out, we got busy setting our forms.

The second pad is right behind the tack shed. Here we wanted to pour a 4' pad-extension so that we could move the building back from it's present location. Get's it more out of the way of vehicles and also gives us a 4' patio out front. 

Once the dirt was leveled off, we set our forms.

Good idea to use metal steaks in the ground to keep the 2x4s from bowing. 

Then the truck showed us and we got busy pouring. The utility room had to be wheelbarrowed in. Not far though. I actually had my brother lined up to help with the pour on Thursday, but he couldn't today. So he sent out his farmhands instead, Ernesto and his brother. These guys made concrete look easy.

First step after getting the concrete poured, is to screed it off and make it level to the top of your forms. Good work, boys.

Then we moved over to the second pour. This one we could use the chute to get the mud right where we need it. 

Same process. Ernesto is not afraid to get dirty. 

Always good to have a place to go with the left over concrete. This should serve as a good pad for our HVAC unit.

When the concrete is just right after the pour, troweling it is the next and final step.

Clean up is necessary. The sooner you get to it the better off you and your tools will be. 

Should work.

Just what I was hoping for.

That was one of the most easy-going concrete pours I've been a part of. Special thanks to Ernesto and crew. That made my life a lot easier. In the end, I'm real pleased wit the way everything turned out. Slowly but surely, we are bringing this barnyard up-to-speed. It's fun to give it new purpose. Every scribe trained in the Kingdom of God, brings froth from his storeroom both the old and the new (Matthew 13:52). Let's ranch on!