Finally, the latest progress report.
Last weekend, we engaged in the digging and pouring of the footing for the observatory. My youngest son and I laid out where the slab would go in the horse pasture. From there, we measured, based on my mock-up floor plan in my garage, where the footing and pedestal would be located on the slab. Once that was done now it was just a matter of digging a square hole 36” X 36” X 30” whole. 6 hours later we made it all the way down to 29” and called it quits before somebody had a coronary!
The wooden form was previously made and ready to be put in the hole. Once in the hole we staked all four sides for support and left it for the night.
The next day (Sunday) we made ready for a day of concrete mixing and dumping. My wheelbarrow could only hold 2 bags at a time which, in retrospect, made the "hole" experience a little easier. Ten bags of concrete later, we had a form filled with concrete, 2 metal support matrices, and vertical rebar for the sono tube. Another 8-hour day finished with positive results and two happy construction workers.
The following day I went out and removed the form boards. I used a small sledgehammer (5 pounder) to bust the form boards away from the concrete. It went as easily as I hoped.
I was quickly getting everything ready because the concrete slab contractor asked if he could come 2 days early to help his scheduling, I agreed to the earlier pouring date which moved the pouring up from last Friday to last Wednesday.
I now filled the gap between the sides of the dirt hole and the footing with some of the dirt we extracted from the hole. I watered it down to pack it in so there were no air gaps. Next came the placing of the sono tube centered over the rebar and “nearly” on the footing.
My handyman told me a week prior to use the expanding Styrofoam sealant in a can to hold the sono tube in place and seal the bottom so the concrete wouldn’t rush out the bottom. Once the foam was dry (it worked really well) I then used pea gravel on top of the footing and surrounding the sono tube.
I was now ready to pour the concrete into the sono tube to create the pedestal onto which the permanent metal pier would be placed. I could not pour that concrete until I had my steel adapter plate that allowed the metal pier to be fastened to the pedestal and it wasn’t ready yet.
I had no choice but to go ahead with the slab pour before the pedestal was complete. I was pretty sure the concrete guys could do this without impacting the placement of the sono tube.
So as of now, I have a 16’ X 16’ slab with a sono tube and steel adapter plate waiting for me to pour the last batch of concrete, which will happen tomorrow. Lastly, the garage door will be ordered this week with delivery at the end of this month. Then all I’m left with is awaiting my obsy which should be here mid to late August.
Time for pictures.
This is a view looking north the "slab" will be poured near the gate (orange circle) and 30' inland from the wire fence, not the white fence.
This view is looking south across where the slab will be located.
This is my "position simulator" laid out in my garage. It helped me figure out where exactly the footing/pedestal should be placed. Conveniently enough, the concrete expansion lines are 10' apart (my obsy viewing area is 10' X 10')
The slab corners were marked with orange spray paint to help the concrete guys. You can see where I will dig the hole for the footing. The slab's orientation will be accurate to the cardinal points (NSEW).
6 hours of digging. My soil is very unkind! And the form box is already in place.
This is a piece of deer fence cut to size. Because the footing is not structural pretty much anything would have worked for concrete reinforcement, even chicken wire. I used two of these fence pieces during the pour. One at the 1/3 level, the second at the 2/3 level.
Reinforcement in place.
This is the template I used to make sure my pedestal rebar was space properly and vertical.
Footing poured. Yay!
Fast forward to Wednesday of last week and you see that the concrete crew has set up the forms and is currently graveling the site.
This close-up shows the sono tube in place and the electrical conduit in place.
The slab is poured and soon will be ready for a building.
These are the expansion joints showing the pedestal sono tube.
I scratched a big "N" on the north edge for those who are directionally challenged.
When the pedestal is poured it will have the adapter plate pushed into it so the metal pier has something to attach to. This operation needs to be kept very level and properly oriented to the north.
Ready for concrete.
It looks like a boxing ring, but this was put up to convince the horses to stay away from it. This needed to work for 48 hours and it did.
Well, you now know where I'm at for this project. Albeit, some back aggravating work but all in all it has progressed very smoothly. (hope I didn't just jinx myself!)
Cheers,