This morning bright and early we taped plastic around the bottom of the rockwork around the porch area. it was to protect it from stray bots of concrete that were bound to splash up. It happens even though we had one of the best concrete men in the business. The concrete crew and truck arrived just before eight to begin the job.
The concrete was dark brown in color, rich and a perfect match for the heavy trees that line the front of the house. We opted for extra strength and with a fine fiber to minimise cracking. With the eight feet of well packed gravel underneath this driveway shouldn't ever settle and crack. We had left the concrete unfinished through the fall and winter just to allow extra time for packing.
The three man crew took their time wheelbarrowing the concrete into place and carefully pusing it with their hand trowels to the edge of the uneven rock and tree border. While their extra time and care will undoubtably cost me extra we happlily paid for we were much more interested in a good job than saving a few dollars.
By lunch time they had the concrete in place and it was triple trowelled to a smooth finish. They then sprayed on the retarder and took a well earned break.
I had to leave for the jobsite but when I got back after work they were just putting the tools into their trailer. The concrete had been lightly exposed and looked fabulous. We'll have the expasion lines cut in tomorrow and then our concrete man will come back to clean it one more time and acid wash it before adding the sealer and 'shark's tooth' to finish off the job. The 'shark's tooth' is a ground glass it make it non-slippery.
This coming weekend I'll remove the forms and grade the gravel and bark mulch around the concrete to finish things off. I can then measure up the trim needed for around the door and get that into production to finish this side of the house at last. Stay tuned...
-grampa dan
