Heavy Topic: Concrete Construction

My city inspector advised me to build a doorway landing at the hanger for Code compliance.

42″ x 42″ and 7 ” high would be swell, he said.

Quick math in the Home Depot aisle said: 35″ x 35″ x 80% of a foot would be about 9 cubic feet “.

So far so good.

Inconvenient truth: One bag of concrete mix (an 80 lb bag)  is good for just 1 cubic foot of finished construction.

So … 9 bags are needed. OK. About $54. And 720 lbs of weight were loaded into the bed of the show truck.

Add 2 sheets of 3.5′ x 3.5′ re-bar mesh ($7.25) and one cutting tool for the re-bar ($21.95) and some 12′ 2″ x 8” pine and nails for a frame and I’m off to work!

… And work it is.

After measuring, cutting and assembling the frame, leveling the base and driving stakes for braces, the real work started.

Each 80 lb concrete bag was mixed with 2-1/3 gallons of water, rounding out the total weight to about 100 lbs per batch.

Repeated this 6 times (carrying 600 lbs) to fill the frame to form a 7″ step for the landing from the floor level of the door.

Difficulty Level: Medium.

But I’ll still have to wait to see if the cement cures to an acceptable concrete hardness for the inspector.

And the show truck is now wearing some work truck scratches.

Bummer.

Hard Work is Real Work.