Concrete Organization

The day dawned cloudy but with no rain in sight, so we decided to pour some of the concrete foundation for our slabs.  We started by working together to lift the 60-pound bags of concrete into our garden wagon for transportation into the back yard.  There we had a table staged to hold the bags in preparation for dumping them into the mixer. We used 13 bags (780 pounds) of concrete for the first section. Thank God we had the concrete mixer to do that part of the job.

The first 4 x 4 foot section, 4 inches deep, was
poured by mid-morning.

The first section of the base went well, so Rick asked me how I was feeling.  At that time I was not tired, so we brought in the 13 bags of concrete for the second section.  We work well together as a team, so by noon we had the second section poured as well.  This concrete job went better than the concrete we poured last year on the north side of the house because we could be on all sides of the form.  We were able to scree the mixture much more easily this time.  Sadly, the wind picked up so we had to constantly pluck small live oak leaves off the slabs until they started to harden.

Rick works on smoothing the concrete in the second section.

We completed two sections, so tomorrow we
can take out the center forms and pour the last section
of the slab.

While the concrete in the second section was setting up, we decided to stage the last bags of concrete for our work tomorrow.  We carried in 14 more bags of concrete, so all together we moved 2,400 pounds of concrete today.  While Rick worked the last section, I cleaned up some of the gear, covered the concrete to protect it from dew and morning mists, and secured our tools under the table.  Tomorrow we should be able to get an early start and to be finished with the entire job well before noon.

This afternoon we traveled back to Tampa and the Container Store to get some of the elfa shelving components re-cut.  They cut one bracket incorrectly, and they gave us the wrong sized standards for our right-hand garage wall.  The mistake was an honest error since the woman who took the order read the wrong measurement off of an earlier plan we had discussed.   In the end, they were very accommodating, and we soon were driving home before the evening rush hour started.

New shelves along the right-hand garage wall
hold just some of the items that will stay in the garage
rather than going out to sheds. We will use the bottom shelves
to hold left-over wood.

Once home, Rick just HAD to get the shelving up on the wall.  I felt no such need to continue to work, so I took a little time off to read my Kindle while he worked.  However, he called me out to the garage a couple of times to ask my opinion, so finally I just stayed out there and helped him organize the new shelves.

We still have lots of organizing to complete.  In the end, though, we will have a much better organized garage that will be fairly free of clutter.  And as an added bonus, Rick finally will have a work space at the front of the garage.