March 12, 2005: Finishing the closure
Well it seems that I got it all wrong. The gap was not closed on March 11,
2005 but on March 12, 2005. I forgot about pouring the concrete between
the floor panels. So here it is from Saturday, March 12.
The last gaps
Gap details: rebar (left) and plumbing (right)
Concrete is the result of a chemical reaction involving cement, sand, gravel
and water. All chemical reactions take some time before equilibrium (in this
case, fully cured) is achieved. So how do you know if the concrete
has the correct properties when you start pouring? I was curious and watched
the test. Then this morning, I did a Google search on concrete testing
cone and found out that the cone was called a slump cone. Then
I did another Google search on tamping slump cone and found these
references. A good example of my using Google to chase my curiosity.
Wikipedia has a good
write-up about concrete.
Basically, a metal cone, known as a
slump cone,
is filled with three layers of fresh concrete from the
transport truck. Each layer is tamped to remove voids. Then the concrete
is leveled off with the top of the cone.
The slump cone is then lifted and the height of the remaining
pile of concrete is measured. Click for
a more details description.
Left - the slump cone. Right, tamping to remove voids
Lifting the slump cone (left) and measuring the height (right)
How does the concrete get from the truck to the pouring point? By
a pump - here without the feed truck.
Pouring: click for a 1 min quicktime video.
Some of the players: Guys (left) and Dave (right)
Derrick (left) and Somone (right)