SPRING!!! and a new project

[cvdukes]

Okay as promised, took the day off to work on the monster chimena project (henceforth known as the Beast).

Recall from first posting, the beast will be part of a retaining wall system in the back side of the pond dam. Also recall that last year I had somewhat leveled the area off and am using old pine logs to hold things in place until I complete construction. Picture 1 shows the area where the beast will go. There are 16 feet to work with between the edge of the oven complex at picture right to the walkway down to the pool.

So, this morning got out there and cut the logs out where the Beast will go. Had to do just a slight bit of digging to further level off the area (pic 2). Did a really quick form out of corrugated tin held in place by the clay dug out of the hole. Poured 4 & ½ bags of premixed concrete (360 pounds total) to about a 7 inch thickness. Then scooped out the inside of the form into a depression to aid with combustion air flow when the beast is finished (pic.3).

Finished doing all the wire tying on the Beast’s armature. Once the concrete foundation had started to set up, set the Beast in place and drove a couple of pieces of rebar down through the wire around the door opening (pic.4).

Got 6 bags of pre-mixed mortar sitting in the back of the truck and the kid’s on notice that tomorrow is mortar packing day…

So far...cost is 74 dollars (assuming I use all the mortar) and 16 hours of my time

[Acoma]

What a georgeous area. I love the lush landscape! Keep going, not a waiste of a day by the looks of it.

[cvdukes]

The boy and I spent 3 hours out there mortaring in the beast so I guess I have to count this as 6 hours more to the total ...bringing it 22 total hours. Had a few snags along the way but nothing major. Because I never use any rigid steel in the framework, there is a lot of bounce to the armature. had a few spots that wanted to develop holes in the contcrete as the wire bounced the mortar off. Once things harden up, it'll be easy enough go back an patch them. Had some sagging of the frame when we started mortaring up the chimney, so had to stick in a wood brace til things set. Also, did not dig out the dam far enough behind the beast to allow me to get my hands behind it to pack in mortar so there is a big hole in the back down low. Think I'll be okay once the rest hardens, then I can pack mortar more aggressively from the inside.

Also, didn't attempt to mortar around the door opening and the front face...left about 8 inches at the top un-mortared so I can tie in the chimney.

Used 4 of the bags of mortar so have 2 left. Figure one will take care of the hole in the back and the remaiing one will be more than enough for the chimney that I got to fabricate...love when my estimates on quantities seem to work out, but may need one more just to smooth thing up a bit.

covered with wet blankets and plastic for the remainder of the day.....
Thinking about taking off tomorrow too...don't think it'll be hardened up enough to support me putting the chimney on, but after two days at home, can't get too excited about going in for one day.

[cvdukes]

Progress on the beast:
Friday, the boy heard the surf was up, so grabbed his board and headed to the coast, leaving me to deal with the project by myself.
Added on the next two-foot section of wire armature for the chimney. Involved a lot time up on the ladder making the connections. The mortar from Thursday was still sort of soft and the ladder could only be put on the front side of the beast because of how the dam slopes behind the thing. So a lot extended reaching and balancing. This was a tricky operation and I realized halfway through that I should have added all armature while I had the frame laying down in the driveway. Live and learn.
So after the addition of the chimney section, there was about 3 feet of wire armature sticking up that needed to have mortar packed into. Always a problem with ferro-cement is that the cement has to be supported on one side while packing in from the other. Because the chimney was overhead, even if the boy had stuck around he would not have been able to help out to support the mortar. Finally hit on the solution to wrap the outside with plastic sheeting and then wrapped rope around that to give some support, but knowing that this is gonna make a pretty rough outside shape. Then mixed up some mortar and squeezed up inside the beast to pack mortar from the inside to as high as I could reach. About a third of the mortar that I was shoving in was staying, and the rest was just raining down on me. Took a few minutes to learn to keep the eyes closed… plus I should have taped my shirt pockets shut as they were filling up with wet mortar. Finished off by packing in the upper section of the chimney from the ladder…more balancing act.
Saturday did not work on the beast. The boy returned with 4 bushels of oysters so did a combination oyster roast and pizza party (19 pizzas and 3 bushels roasted).
After shucking out the remaining bushel this morning and cleaning up from the party, Unwrapped the beast. The pictures show the distinct difference in texture between the area where I was able to pack in mortar from the outside (lower 7 feet) and the inside against the plastic. Got one bag of mortar spread over part of it as the first smoothing coat. Everything’s wrapped in wet burlap and plastic again to cure slowly.

[gjbingham]

You should have gone surfing too. Good exercise! I lived to surf in So. Cal 15 years ago. The beast is coming along nicely. Great pics. Keep 'em coming.
George

[Acoma]

George, me too!

[chuckster]

Oh Wow!! I thought the SC in your location was South Carolina. Stupid me!!

[TDVT]

Originally Posted by chuckster

Oh Wow!! I thought the SC in your location was South Carolina. Stupid me!!

I don't know, looks like S(outh) C(arolina) to me. We'll find out, I guess.

[gjbingham]

Huh! Me too. (South Carolina). It may be SoCal. I didn't even consider that when I was babbling. Colder water, better waves!

[Acoma]

Colder water in S. Carolina (yes). Better wave, no. George, there is no way you lived for surfing in S.cal if you can say that?