I guess I've made everyone wait long enough! Life has been a little crazy with all the construction, the wedding in vancouver, then Drew has come and gone a couple times. The twins were born and I've been helping Andrea whenever I can, we had Christmas, etc. I guess I could go on and on with the excuses....the plain truth is...I kind of got tired of taking pictures and I got out of the habit of blogging. That's it! So, here is my attempt to start again and get everyone caught up to where we are now. I'll try to include any past pictures I may have.
Here is where we left off in the last post. Now, do you see the upside-down bottles and cans? There were a few of them placed around the wire mesh, and as far as I can tell, they were placed there so they would know when to start slanting the floor slightly so the water would flow into the drain they installed.
The first truck came and they started unloading the concrete. He backed up as far as he could but could not reach the very back of the garage so the next picture shows the solution.
That's right - wheelbarrows! I am soooo glad this was not my job. they did the back half of the garage this way and then ran out of cement.
So, the second truck arrived and they could start pouring directly from the truck. Things went a little quicker after that.
Then they smoothed it all out with the long smoothers - i don't know the 'technical' names.
Then they pulled out these fancy machines. They are like fans with flat blades that smooth out the cement in a circular motion. They did this for what seemed like FOREVER.
Here's a shot of one up close.
Then they took a long lunch break while they waited for it to dry to the right consistency. I didn't realize before the science behind cement.
When it was ready they changed the blades to smoother ones and started all over again.
This went on for the rest of the afternoon! Apparently these machines and the special smoothing blades help to push down the larger stones in the cement and pull up to the top the smooth cement and the blades smooth it down to a nice smooth, level surface.
Just like this! That's actually not a very picture...you get the idea, right?
Then, the next day after it had dried a lot more, they came back and used this cutter to make some cuts in the cement. It helps to keep it from settling and then cracking.
And they also wanted to create some channels to help the water flow to the drain.
And, VOILA! A finished Beautiful floor!
