Shop 7

I finally made the inspector happy. Well not really. I had to go to Gresham City Hall and get the city structural engineer to sign off on the changes I had made. After getting approval to pour concrete I had to get a pump, finishers and concrete trucks all lined up for Saturday. It is Wednesday when I got the inspection approved. The hardest part was getting the concrete. The ready mix companies are really independent and charge like there is no competition. Most of the batch plants have to have 100 or even 200 cubic yards minimum before they will run on a Saturday. I ended up having to go with a "mobile mix" company. The only batch plant that was running wanted $75 per truck extra for Saturday.

Mobile mix is a truck that has a hopper of sand, one of gravel and one of cement. There is a big water tank too. The concrete is mixed in the shoot by an auger. Lesson learned: If you are pouring more that 8 yards make sure to get ready mix. The mix on site is not consistent and isn't well mixed. The finishers hated it. The other problem is the trucks are not back to back. The finishers left at 8 PM! We started pouring at a theoretical 10 AM, with the first truck being 35 minutes late.

With all of the troubles it still turned out pretty good. I am working on stripping forms right now. I have to do a little leveling work where the posts bolt down.

My Uncle Greg is coming home from a job in Minnesota and is going to help me haul the building kit from Sandy, OR to my place. That should happen next week. Onward and upward. DMP