Idaho 36" Build

[mongota]

Only the edges. I poured it on a Sunday and realized too late that the rental place to get the vibrator was closed... Had to use a sawzall with no blade to jiggle the outer forms and didn't feel like crawling under it to do the bottom.

DIY concrete vibrator, just tap the underside of the form with a hammer.

Things are moving along, congrats!

[rsandler]

Probably better to knock the weep holes out now (you don't need to remove the PVC, and I kinda doubt you'd be able to). It will only get harder to punch out the top as the slab gets harder, and a rougher "exit hole" is better for drainage then a clean hole anyway.

[AJH]

Did you vibrate your concrete?

Only the edges. I poured it on a Sunday and realized too late that the rental place to get the vibrator was closed... Had to use a sawzall with no blade to jiggle the outer forms and didn't feel like crawling under it to do the bottom.

[MarkJerling]

Did you vibrate your concrete?

[AJH]

I took the supporting forms under the concrete table. Looks a little chunky on the bottom, which is what I expected with the thick cement I was mixing. Heading down to SLC to pick up the Cal-Sil board and the Ceramic blanket this weekend. Can start fiddling with the dome location and maybe get some bricks cut for when the weather is nice enough to not let the mortar freeze.

Should I pull the pvc out of the weep holes and bust through the top of the table or wait till it's cured more?
Underside picture with the weep hole pvc pipes =)

[AJH]

Well, it looks like a table! =) Got the Cal-Sil board ordered and should be ready for me to pick up in a week.
Half tempted to make a box out of rigid insulation with a small electric space heater in it to cover the top of the table so that I can work on the dome over the winter...

[rsandler]

Structurally you can pull the outer forms already, though you may want to leave them on for a week to help with moisture (and heat) retention. Supports underneath, I left mine on I think a week and a half, but I have a shorter span, since I used an H-shape base. 2 weeks might be better for you.

[AJH]

JR - sent you a message about the garden beds =)

Concrete looks good so far, been keeping it wet and covered in plastic. Supposed to get below freezing on Friday... any tips for tucking it in for a week or so of cold weather? I have some blankies on top and can put a space heater under it to keep temps up. Also, how long should I wait to take off the outer forms and the supports under?

[JRPizza]

Good luck - hopefully the lower parts will wet out as you are thinking. On an unrelated subject, did you diy your corrugated garden containers? We wanted to try something other than the horse troughs that we currently are using.

[AJH]

Well, got the pour done. Turns out I'm not much of a mason... mixer was supposed to handle four 60 lb bags, but we had issues with it not mixing half of it, so had to cut back to two bags at a time. Then, I think we were not putting enough water in it as it came out way too dry. The last 4 or 5 batches I made it more pourable so that we could get a good float on top. I am a little worried that the bottom is not wet enough and will crumble when I take off the forms. Hopefully the water from the top will permeate down and bind it all together though...

Now I need to get my insulation and firebricks, but doubt I'll do much more till spring...

[rsandler]

My understanding is that the portland cement curing reaction will slow or stop below 40F, so mortaring in the cold probably won't end well. But, you don't need to wait for the slab to be self-supporting before you start putting stuff on it. Probably only need to wait a week, and even then only because you'll want to keep it wet for a week for maximum strength, and don't want to get your insulation wet.

Good luck on the pour!

[AJH]

Pouring the table top tomorrow! Figure after that it will be spring before I start working again. Can you mortar the bricks if it gets below freezing at night? By the time the table is cured enough to remove the supports, temps will probably be below freezing at night...

[AJH]

Planning on putting a half dozen or so weep holes. I have the 1/2 inch pvc sitting there ready to go, just need to drill holes in the 2x6's so that they stay put when the concrete is poured around them.
Trying to figure out if raising the cement mixer high enough to pour straight onto the form would be better than pouring into buckets and lifting them up to pour into the form... I was thinking that I might be able to make a chute to pour it into certain areas if I raised up the mixer, but then I would have to climb a few rungs on a ladder to load the mixer.... might just be easier to lift the buckets

[UtahBeehiver]

Install a few 1/2" PVC sleeves with the top covered with tape and just below the screeding surface. These will be for weep holes. When the pour is cured you can tap through the sleeves from the bottom and you have your weep holes. Or you can mark you rebar locations and drill through later. Either way, silicon a piece of window screen of the bottom hole to keep the bugs out. Weep holes will allow water to egress out from the floor.

[AJH]

Well, I finally made some more progress on the build. I got the supports put in, with shims. I laid out some 2x6's on the supports to pour the concrete table on. I got the rebar cut and bent and laid out the grid. And today, I wired all the rebar together nice and tight. Concrete table top will be about 4.5 inches thick... I'll probably hate myself before the end of the concrete pour after lifting so many bags of concrete, but oh well... I also got my cement mixer put together over the weekend. So, now I just need to put some silicone caulk in the corners and start mixing!!