Day 3 – Preparation for Concrete

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017

It was very brisk morning with a temperature of -5 C ( 23 F ) and the vehicles were covered in frost, so we spent some time after breakfast warming up the trucks and cleaning the ice from the windshield.

While the crew headed to the job site, while I ventured back to Charleston to pick up some more supplies.  By the time I got back to the job site, they had made good progress.

Spencer, Bernie and Justin cut rebar and painted more of the steel.

Steve cut the old support pipes on the road side of the bridge with the welding torch and Merle assisted him.   Wendell welded the steel supports on top of the pipes to help support the beams.

Steve operated the track hoe and Justin helped him move some rocks to the base of the bridge supports.

Pat and Mary ( the newlyweds who were married 592 days ago and still counting – but that’s another story in itself ) completed the concrete forms while Peter orchestrated all of the work and assisted with each of the jobs.

Steve burned off some of the extra metal from the beams with the welding torch and then we started to make preparations for laying the corrugated  metal sheets for the concrete.  It was at this time that I realized that I had forgotten to buy the self-tapping screws at the hardware store – one of the main reasons for me to go to Charleston.  Ooops!

So, I had to drive back to  the Home Depot in Charleston at noon.   By the time I drove back to Charleston, picked up what we needed and returned to the job site, it was 2 pm.   I had spent 5 hours and driven 320 km ( 200 miles ) in making the two trips but I would have saved half the time and distance if I had remembered the screws the first time I went.

When I got back, Steve and I used the screws I had picked up, to attach 2 foot 2×4’s to the corrugated metal sheets that would be placed on the steel beams to hold the concrete.

Today we found out that, similar to paint rollers, paint brushes do not float!