Waiting On Wood

 

When in the planning stages for this project, I was deciding how to get materials on site. I haul a lot of stuff in our minivan but it can't haul a lot and using it as a work horse of sorts is hard on the interior of it. I figured I probably could have hauled everything I needed in it but it would have taken a dozen or more trips and even then, some of the larger stuff wouldn't have fit inside and I would have to figure out how to get them home. So I made the decision to just order it all at once from our local big box store and have it delivered.

I placed a large order which was immediately broken into 17 suborders of which I get notifications on a nearly daily basis that one component or the other is ready for pickup, even though I chose and paid for delivery. I even stopped by once to verify everything but the person running their software seemed to know very little about anything and didn't leave me with much confidence. But the soonest I could get the bulk of the framing materials is still a few days away and so I wait for that day before I decide what the next move is.

Until then, I stripped the forms off the concrete and piled it up next to the slab to hopefully be reused here or there. I also moved my step into place which was a bit of a miscalculation on my part. When coming up with an extra form for overflow concrete, I just cut some boards thinking that would make a nice sized step. I wasn't wrong on that aspect. But I neglected to understand the weight of said step and how I was going to get it from point A to point B. Fortunately the concrete guy talked me into moving it from near the driveway where I had it initially to much closer to the greenhouse. Only later when I did a back of the envelope calculation did I realize that it probably weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 lbs! 

Fortunately I had laid a sheet of plastic underneath it so it wasn't adhered to the grass and dirt below it and I was able to muscle it up on end and then sort of shift it and crab walk it towards the slab where it fell into place. With a few more pries with a long rod, I was able to slide it the rest of the way into place. I had great ideas of creating a nice level bed for it using some of the extra form sand I have but it fell in such a way it has no wiggle what so ever and is only slightly off kilter to one side. Not really noticeable unless you see the form lines on the concrete. But I sure didn't feel like trying to get it upright again and hold it with one hand while making things more level and risking getting squished in the process.

Comments

  1. If you pay for my flight to Iowa, I will help you to adjust the step and get it perfectly positioned. Then you can drive me down to Bonaparte for lunch before I fly home. It will be a breeze.

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    1. Wow, something to consider when I get to installing the ridge beams!

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  2. The very first thing I thought of when I saw the picture of your slab was, "eeh...that's going to be heavy to move." But my husband loves to do things like that, and it would have involved 2 x 4s and his big old dump truck pushing things into place. Put a few plants around that, and no one will even notice except you, and if you're anything like Tim, you will spend the rest of your life fussing about how you SHOULD have done it.

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    1. If it was more visible, perhaps. But it is facing the edge of our property and not visible really unless you are coming around to enter the greenhouse. So I'm guessing it will be quickly out of mind.

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    2. Tim's a precision machinist. He's the sort that looks at some reno thing and says, 'That's 1/8 of a inch off.' He'll wonder how on earth he made such a mistake. I'll tell him that I don't even notice it. He'll decide it's too much work to rip it all out again. And then, I will listen to him complain each and every time he looks at it.

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    3. Debby - I'm pretty good at pushing things out of mind like that and not obsessing over them.

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  3. If I’ve learned anything from reading your blog over the years, it’s that you are up to challenges such as this one!

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    1. I've always wanted to build a house but this little project has me serious reconsidering that one. It just isn't a one person operation.

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  4. Being a creative problem solver helps with many conundrums, but not all. 350 pounds! Yikes. My week has been full of fixing miscommunications, misunderstandings and poor follow through.

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  5. Once everything is completed, being slightly off kilter probably won't be noticeable. Just think, it won't hold any water that way. I like the sight of a fresh, smooth slab.

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    1. I do too. I can't wait to be walking on it while puttering around with seedlings. And the smell....

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  6. You know, I can make a joke about that title but I won't do it. 😗 Anyway Ed, I hope you're being careful! I know you know what you're doing but 350 lb, you're playing with a hernia here. Well, the giant concrete slab looks terrific! Nice job!

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    1. I had that in mind a bit when I came up with it but didn't want to make it that obvious. Although it weighed 350 lbs if one were to dead lift it, I just tilted it up which maybe took 80 lbs of actual force. Still quite a bit but I kept my back straight and used my legs. Still, I didn't want to lift it any more which is why it is where it is.

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  7. Don't you feel so proud of yourself? You deserve a pat on your back, or a brush off on your shoulder.

    Btw, isn't wood super expensive now?

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    1. Actually here, it is almost down to prepandemic pricing again. There are still shortages in supplies here and there (not extensive like before) but mostly due to hurricane damage now.

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    2. I should elaborate, supplies meant for rural Iowa are getting diverted down south and out east to help repair damage from recent hurricanes. At least that is what the guy at the local big box store told me anyway.

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  8. I’d say that you managed to work that out quite well.

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    1. It got done and I hope to never have to do it again.

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  9. Ah, live and learn. I'm often amazed at how often I think I've thunk a thing through, only to discover something that never occurred to me!

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    1. I've learned a lot that probably should have been more obvious, by reading yours and other blogs over the years.

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  10. 350 Pounds??? Holey SMOKES! I can't believe you moved it, wiggling or whatever. The concrete platform looks really awesome! I'm so impressed that you're doing this all on your own. When we did our renovations, I have to tell you a bunch of friends and relatives came out to help. We couldn't have done it on our own. Well... maybe if we had 50 years to do it.

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    1. Probably a lot of it has to do with growing up on a farm where we were mostly brought up to be self sufficient. Another big part has been to the plethora of YouTube videos showing anyone how to do just about anything.

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  11. Sounds like you had the basics covered based on your comments above Ed: you know enough not to muscle 350 lbs like a Farmer's walk.

    I make minor afterthoughts like that all the time.

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