With the Sonotubes in place, it was time! Pouring concrete for the foundation.
We originally considered mixing the concrete by hand from bags, but the number of bags required made this impractical. Cold seams were also a concern. If we didn’t mix the bags fast enough there could be a cold seam in a critical spot. Calling around, we found that the price for ready mix concrete varied substantially. We finally settled on Vermilion Ready Mix. They had the best price, plus they could deliver that weekend!
Once you start pouring concrete, you have to finish. With that in mind, we called in some favours to make sure we had enough hands to help.
We arrived at the property on Friday, the night before the concrete truck was to arrive. Weather looked good. No rain during the week. Whew! We both thought to ourselves. Then at around 2:00 am, thunder and lighting and it POURED!!
We awoke the next morning to find that some of the Sonotubes were soaked through…..BUT they were still standing. No way to find out how structurally intact they were.
Pouring Concrete for Foundation
The concrete truck was scheduled to arrive at 11:00 am. Erik arrived right on time. Allen and Sylvia were late, fortunately so was the concrete truck. We anxiously waited & waited.
Finally around 2:00 pm the truck driver called and was now on his way…….GRRR! 3 hours late and so was Allen and Sylvia. The truck plus Allen & Sylvia all arrived at the same time……..Conspiracy?
The cement truck driver backed all the way into the clearing. Then expertly maneuvered in between the Sonotubes. Right to the back of the 1st footing for the 1st pour. We used a spare Bigfoot System form turned upside down as a funnel to pour the concrete into the Sonotubes.
Then it was a mad & frenzied pace to get the concrete all poured into these 6″ diameter Sonotubes. We shook and prodded the cement down these little openings with whatever we could put our hands on.
After this was all done, all poured we dug a shallow hole for the left over concrete. We all added our hand (and paw) prints onto the concrete pad to commemorate the occasion.