Sand a Day Early

In my last post I said the sand was going to be delivered in a couple days. I called on Tuesday and they had wanted to deliver it the next day but I had a visit planned with my grandmother that I didn't want to cancel so we agreed upon Thursday. The receptionist recapped saying they would deliver 4 ton of sand on Wednesday. I said no, I am not going to be there so you mean Thursday. She agreed and hung up.

Wednesday mid morning, right in the middle of a nice conversation with my grandmother, I get a call from my daughter saying a stranger is ringing our doorbell. I told her just to ignore it. A minute later I get a call from the receptionist asking if I was home because they had my sand in my driveway. I told her I wasn't home as we discussed yesterday and that it needed to be delivered tomorrow. She said but he already has it loaded up on a truck in your driveway.

I didn't want to wheelbarrow four tons of sand from my driveway to the forms down the hill but I wasn't sure if the truck would be able to back down the hill. I do so all the time in my minivan and dad's pickup but I didn't know what kind of truck they had brought which is why I wanted to be there. So I relayed to the receptionist that I wanted them to back down the hill behind my house and dump it into the forms and hoped for the best 240 miles away. 

When I got home it was as you see above and there was no truck tipped over or stuck partway up the hill to my driveway. I call that a success. The only thing I would have done differently is order three instead of four tons. I had calculated volume and multiplied by the weight of sand I found on the internet and game to 5.4 tons. I had planned to order six tons but their truck only held four so I was going to wait and see how that looked and ordered the rest. I'm glad they couldn't haul six tons in one go or I would have a nice big sand pile as big as the one above to find a home for.

Two days later, it looks like below. I had to make some temporary plywood bracing and some props to hold all the sand up around the edges so it didn't slump into the sides. I will have them fill those with concrete first and then remove them before pouring the main slab. The purpose of the sand is just to take up space so you don't have to use so much expensive and unnecessary concrete. I just want a nice four inch slab with slightly thicker edges that extend down into the ground a foot or so to discourage animals from digging underneath. 

Next step, obtaining reinforcement for the slab.



 

Comments

  1. This is more exciting than watching a drama on Netflix. I cannot wait for the day the concrete gets poured in. By advertising the name of the concrete supplier on this blog you might get it for free! Otherwise I guess it will cost a sack full of dollars.

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    1. Unfortunately, I'm mid way through week three of waiting for the concrete to be delivered. More on that later.

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  2. I am so impressed by what you get up to.

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    1. Well thanks but I would have gladly hired it done or assembled a purchased kit if either of those were an option. But it keeps me busy and I don't mind construction, especially when it doesn't have to be finished as nice as a house.

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  3. My god talk about man-work! That's so nice that you still have your grandmother Ed, and you spend time with her. And it figures they showed up when they damn well felt like it. Anyway, I can't wait to see this when all is said & done!

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    1. That side of my family has good life expectancy genes, except for my mom who bucked the trend.

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  4. Someone clearly wasn't listening (or didn't care) when you scheduled the time for delivery. Looks like that step worked out well, though.

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    1. It worked out for a change. I was just sure I would come home to a pile of sand exactly where I didn't want it dumped.

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  5. That would have made me angry, but it did work out and got done. Step 1 at least! Hope you had a great visit with your grandmother.

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    1. I did have a great visit. I wasn't sure when would be my next chance with our crazy school schedules and at my grandmother's age, one never knows if there will be another chance.

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  6. Really looks good! I love construction projects. Are you going to have electrical power? I have solar panels on the roof of our house that supplies more than enough for our needs. I love solar.

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    1. No power, at least hardwired power. We may add some solar at some point.

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  7. Hmm. "Yes, we will deliver it then"..."Well, that is what we discussed but he is already here ready to drop the load". How frustrating. Glad it came out (relatively) well.

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    1. Their receptionist needs to be retrained. She isn't very good at returning phone calls or writing down instructions. I'm guessing it is resulting in loss of business.

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    1. At that time, we hadn't received any rain in nearly a month so the lawn was rock hard.

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  9. We have a friend like you. He tends to get more of everything. He bought some used brick for a patio he was building. Like you, he over estimated. Which is why I have a dump truck full of bricks this very minute! His left overs will become our outdoor bread/pizza oven. We love neighbors like you, Ed!

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    1. I don't over order on most things because I am pretty close to where I can get most things. If I'm short, I just hop in the vehicle and 30 minutes later I'm back with more. But in this case, I just can't haul concrete in my vehicle and there is a time element to setting concrete so more is better. Occasionally I do order something like landscaping blocks in quantities bigger than what I think I need but that is just I can always find uses for them elsewhere should I have extra.

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