building the stand

[cecilB]

Hi all,
We have our stand up - no mortar or anything, just the cinderblocks. My son thinks he should pour the cement down the cinderblocks the same time he pours the top slab. I don't think he should. He's 17 and knows EVERYTHING! I'm just a mom...get it?
What do you all think?
Thanks,
Cecelia

[jmhepworth]

Re: building the stand

That's what I did and it worked fine. I was worried that the blocks might move a little in the process and not be lined up perfectly. In fact, they are not lined up quite right, but it's nothing the finishing won't cover up.

Joe

[dmun]

Re: building the stand

I'd say it's a question of how you are going to make concrete. If you're getting in premixed concrete, by all means pour all at once. If you're mixing by hand, or in a small mixer, you may want to work in batches (pour the cores first) to avoid exhaustion.

[cecilB]

Re: building the stand

Thanks everyone!
My son will be happy to know that he can say "
I told you so!"

Cecelia

[RTflorida]

Re: building the stand

No reason to give him a swelled head, just tell him he wasn't clear with his initial explanation.......and say - "if you mean we should tie the stand to the support slab, yes I think that will make things more structurally sound". Don't let him go one up so soon.......it only gets worse as he becomes more educated and experienced. Its one thing for you to know that he knows everything (or nearly so), but he is still a bit young to actually have mom or dad confirm it.
It is really refreshing to see young man want to be involved with a project with his parent(s). At his age it is usually girls, buds, and sports (not necessarily in that order).

Good luck, keep us posted

RT

[Neil2]

Re: building the stand

At a minimum, I would fill the corner cores . Also drop an "L" shaped piece of 3/8 rebar down. This will create a good structural tie with the suspended slab.

Also, don't pour cement down - pour concrete down.

[jmhepworth]

Re: building the stand

We still followed all of the directions on rebar (although like everything else on my build, we over-engineered things) by putting rebar down the cores and had all of the rebar for the hearth slab wired together before pouring the concrete. And since we had readymix delivered, we poured all of it at the same time. Actually, we poured it into wheelbarrows and then lifted it up with shovels. I had a lot of help that day, including 3-4 teenagers manning the wheelbarrows and 3-4 of us lifting it up to the forms.