Prep and Pain

OK, once again we both ache.  Some might say that our aches and pains are due to old age. Perish the thought!  I choose, instead, to blame my aching back on overuse of neglected muscles.  I admit to being out of shape, but never old.

We decided yesterday that we would do a "test pour" of concrete to see how difficult it would be for us someday to pour a small slab in the back yard.  We have long wanted to have a concrete base on the north side of the house on which to store the garbage can and the recycling bin.  That area is low which means that it always floods and becomes a mud patch when we get a heavy rain.  With a concrete slab on which to store the bins, rolling them out to the curb on garbage days will be much easier, and we will not have to slog through the mud to do so.

So this morning Rick started the day by framing the area in question with 2 x 4s. Our slab will be 3 feet wide by 10 feet long.  We will pour the slab in two 3 x 5 sections joined with 1/2" rebar.  Each section will take approximately twelve 60 pound bags of Sacrete which we will prepare in six 2-bag mixes.  Hopefully, the pours should be fairly quick to complete since we have the portable concrete mixer.

Rick starts to remove dirt and stone from inside
the frames for our concrete base next to the house.

Yesterday we picked up the first five bags of Sacrete. We can only get five or six bags in the car at one time.  We have the space, but we do not want to load any more weight to the back of the car.  If we had our truck here, we could pick up the Sacrete more quickly.

The framing took until about noon. We broke for lunch and then returned to our work to dig out the dirt in the center of both frames.  Thankfully, the temperatures were in the high 70's, so working outside was tolerable as long as we were in the shade.

The area is riddled with stones, so we agreed that we would take the dirt by wheelbarrow to the back garden and then sift out the stones.  Although this took a few hours this afternoon, the result was worth the effort.  We were able to fill in the corner garden with clean sifted soil to the level that we needed as a base for planting flowers.  If we had had to buy this dirt in bags from the store, it would have cost us at least $50.00.

The sifted dirt in the corner garden looks great as it awaits flowers.

We both ache as a result of all the digging and sifting, but we are happy with the results. We were able to fill the garden and to return the stone to our frames to be used as a good drainage base under where we will pour the concrete.

Tomorrow we will fill the first of these two frames
with concrete.

We still need to return to Home Depot one more time for a few more bags of Sacrete; we'll do that tonight after dinner when the traffic settles down.  Then we will hope that tomorrow dawns cool and clear, and that we both will be able to get out of bed to actually do the work.