Garage Pour

The temporary electric power setup has a box for the meter (in red), a weather head, and a circuit breaker panel similar to the panel in your house.  Some extra structural support and a wire connecting bracket will be added.  Then the inspector will come out to approve the setup (scheduled for 4/10/00), and the electric company will be requested to attach the free wires to a nearby power pole.  (The temp setup was loaned to me by Bob MacKelvey - also a former Ball employee.)

The concrete dudes show up at 7:30AM on a snow flurrying morning to tackle the garage floor.  The truck arrives at 8:00AM and we start concrete pouring.  Huge picture only for viewers with pretty fast internet connections or with lots of patience.  Note the black tar impregnated expansion joint material placed around the inside of the foundation walls.  It will allow the slab to move separately from the foundation wall and provides a gap for accommodating temperature induced changes in the slab size.

A long 2X4 is dragged across the surface of the concrete to get the slab to approximately the right level.  Then the concrete is smoothed and finished.

The finisher holds the handle low to use the near edge of a somewhat convex paddle as he pushes to smooth the concrete and knock the aggregate below the concrete surface.  When he pulls, he holds the handle high to use the far edge of the tool.