Moving on up (to the first floor)! – Dec 21, 2022

Since the last posting the contractor has formed up the first (raised) floor and built the concrete block walls that enclose the first floor. This floor will contain the bedrooms and utility room. It seem to take a long time to form the floor and the support beams of poured concrete.

Due to lots of building activity I had to wait an additional week to get this concrete pour completed. The workers used five 10 yard truckloads. It was hard to believe this went into just the floor and beams! I emphasized the need for the floor to be as level as possible, as the tile layer may be me! The stairs were poured smooth to accept the rubberized flooring we will use for the ground floor and the stairs up to the living area. From there up, we will have tile floors.

After waiting about a month for work to get to this stage it only took one day for the block crew to build the four walls of concrete block. I am told that the workers are paid by the piece. The faster they work the more they make. There were 7 workers on the job that day just installing block. The subcontractor makes about $3 per block which the laborers get a portion of the per block cost. Very had work in a hot and humid climate. And all completed in one day!

Constructing concrete block walls

I go out to the construction site most days. Concrete needs about 28 days to cure properly. I go there to water the concrete and allow the concrete to cure properly. The sun and heat steal moisture from the poured concrete and does affect the strength of concrete. The concrete blocks act as a sponge, they steal moisture from the mortar used to construct the walls. I hope that each watering will strengthen the structure.

The concrete block walls will be strengthened with poured-in-place concrete columns. Those areas are at the corners and where block was not placed from the sub-floor up. The half walls will be for window openings.

I was went out today and saw the contractor remove the temporary support columns for the floor that was poured nine days ago! That is not the 28 days that I thought were needed! I’ll contact the private inspector, we’ll see if I get any response. The response was that concrete forms can be removed after the concrete is “rated 75% cured”. There was not test done for my project only a “rule of thumb”.

I’ll be home for the holidays and not sure if anything will happen on the job site between now and the new year.