Sagebrush & Solar

I remain cautiously optimistic as I say this — but I think we’re going to pour next week. For real.

We’ve been saying “we hope to pour next week” since November. Kind of the “free crab tomorrow” sign at Joe’s Crab Shack; tomorrow is always tomorrow.

The first good weather we’ve had in a while happened to coincide with one of Keith’s three days off this month. They were able to get quite a bit done this past weekend, with more throughout the week.

It’s a little more complicated than just stacking concrete block.

For one, concrete has a way of blowing out walls and seams if it’s not properly reinforced. For structural integrity and reinforcement, we have two types of rebar we place — vertical and horizontal. Horizontal is placed in several courses and vertical runs through all of them. One of the meticulous aspects is making sure the vertical rebar is straight, which requires some adjustment.

Second, window bucks, which we’ve already talked about. We added some reinforcement to the edges.

Third, reinforcement between the stem wall and exterior walls to prevent concrete blowouts.

The next heavy lift — or as my dad describes it, a “production” — will be pour day. We’re hoping we can round up a few sets of hands to help out. Helping mostly involves standing by and staging in case something bad happens — many hands holding a wall full of concrete make light work, right?

In all seriousness, progress has been steady due to the recent good(ish) weather. I’m really hoping the next build update post talks about how the walls are finally poured.