Slab 2

We had Lisa's second annual birthday slab party today. It was a lot of fun!

 Lisa took a lamb to Halsey's meat packer in Wolf county this week. Cathryn will be taking him home in a cooler next week.

 Getting ready for the new slab. First was demolition of the extremely well constructed and overly fastened porch steps. Then I moved all the concrete patio blocks we had for a walkway. Last I leveled the outer edge and dug up all the grass. Lisa hauled the chunks of dirt and grass to one of the many low spots in the cattle pasture.

 Since I wanted the slab to drain away from the house and be higher than the yard there was a lot of filling to be done. Lisa picked up a load of rock sand on Thursday.

  The form completed and back-filled. I tamped the sand with the hand operated compactor.

 Today was concrete day.

 Allen was in town for the holiday so naturally we put him to work.

 I can't thank Allen and Andy enough for all the mixing they did.

 Getting it smooth.

 Andy worked the other end of the screed board.

 Floating the voids.

 Allen tried his hand at the float.

 Andy brought his ramps to reach the back of the slab. He left them so we could get in the house without walking around to the front.

 Almost to the end. This slab is 8' x 6' and took 24 - 80 pound bags of concrete mix. It took more than the 10' x 6' slab we poured last year. The sand base was low in the middle and the screed board was bowed. We held the board with the bow up so we wouldn't make a puddle. I'm fairly certain this is why we used so much concrete.

 Finished pour. It has a broom finish and edges now. It was getting too late for pictures.

 Louie on a float.

 Paige.