![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Wall Update again!
Aug. 3rd, 2009 10:56 amSaturday:
Trip to Lowes
Jetta Wagon brought home 640lb of Concrete, 100lb of sand, 6 pieces of 1/2in rebar, and some concrete working tools.
Since it had rained a LOT last week, I had another 1.5 hours of digging and mucking out to remove all the collapsed dirt and mud that was back in my hole. Yay.
Poured 75lb of sand into end of hole near stairs to provide a stable base for concrete on that end. Flattened out remaining rocks and dirt.
Cement footer wall poured and hardened Saturday. 320lb of concrete used for that.
Pound Rebar into holes so there's one piece per block across the wall.
Second trip to Lowes Saturday evening for 18 cinderblocks (all I could fit in the car).
Sunday:
Back to Lowes for remaining 6 cinder blocks. Also bought three 60lb bags of Mortar mix for the blocks, and a new rubbermaid 50gal container to mix in. (old one went brittle and died, I used it Saturday only)
Finished prep work for test fit of cinder blocks for bottom layer. Didn't quite fit. Had to chip out various things to make it fit square and level. Move almost all pieces of rebar, since new cinder blocks are TWO hole, and the old ones are three hole. Make it work, somehow.
Chris Cannon comes over to help/hang out.
Mix up first batch of Mortar mix.
Reseat, mortar and orient loose "end-wall" (it was full of huge rocks which is why me and Mom could not reset it properly.
Set and Mortar first level of cinderblocks into place. Decide to only do a single layer in case my mortar job sucks.
Mix up 240lb of cement and pour down all of holes, fixing rebar in place, shoring up bottom stair, and fixing end (half) block in place by stairway. Also built small retaining pad behind short end wall.
So, that's where I am now. I'm going to need more cement (probably 2-3 more bags) to fill remaining cinderblocks. Also still want to build additional wall (half width) on current footer, but we'll see how that works out.
Chris gave me the idea of putting in some cinder block "dead men", turning 2-3 blocks sideways per level, so they'll stick out into the dirt as anchors. That means I'll probably need another 6-8 cinderblocks as well. Once wall is higher, I'll start placing rocks up against the wall and then replacing all the dirt.
Due to all the stuff I have to do (race this weekend), I probably won't finish for two weeks, but now that the base is finished, I'm more confident this'll turn out OK.
Trip to Lowes
Jetta Wagon brought home 640lb of Concrete, 100lb of sand, 6 pieces of 1/2in rebar, and some concrete working tools.
Since it had rained a LOT last week, I had another 1.5 hours of digging and mucking out to remove all the collapsed dirt and mud that was back in my hole. Yay.
Poured 75lb of sand into end of hole near stairs to provide a stable base for concrete on that end. Flattened out remaining rocks and dirt.
Cement footer wall poured and hardened Saturday. 320lb of concrete used for that.
Pound Rebar into holes so there's one piece per block across the wall.
Second trip to Lowes Saturday evening for 18 cinderblocks (all I could fit in the car).
Sunday:
Back to Lowes for remaining 6 cinder blocks. Also bought three 60lb bags of Mortar mix for the blocks, and a new rubbermaid 50gal container to mix in. (old one went brittle and died, I used it Saturday only)
Finished prep work for test fit of cinder blocks for bottom layer. Didn't quite fit. Had to chip out various things to make it fit square and level. Move almost all pieces of rebar, since new cinder blocks are TWO hole, and the old ones are three hole. Make it work, somehow.
Chris Cannon comes over to help/hang out.
Mix up first batch of Mortar mix.
Reseat, mortar and orient loose "end-wall" (it was full of huge rocks which is why me and Mom could not reset it properly.
Set and Mortar first level of cinderblocks into place. Decide to only do a single layer in case my mortar job sucks.
Mix up 240lb of cement and pour down all of holes, fixing rebar in place, shoring up bottom stair, and fixing end (half) block in place by stairway. Also built small retaining pad behind short end wall.
So, that's where I am now. I'm going to need more cement (probably 2-3 more bags) to fill remaining cinderblocks. Also still want to build additional wall (half width) on current footer, but we'll see how that works out.
Chris gave me the idea of putting in some cinder block "dead men", turning 2-3 blocks sideways per level, so they'll stick out into the dirt as anchors. That means I'll probably need another 6-8 cinderblocks as well. Once wall is higher, I'll start placing rocks up against the wall and then replacing all the dirt.
Due to all the stuff I have to do (race this weekend), I probably won't finish for two weeks, but now that the base is finished, I'm more confident this'll turn out OK.
