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Prepping for Pouring Concrete

Bob visits Phil Truit as he pours a concrete slab in an existing building.

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Tour of Historic Homes in Richmond and Agecroft Hall Now Playing

Tour of Historic Homes in Richmond and Agecroft Hall

Pouring a Concrete Slab Now Playing

Pouring a Concrete Slab

Prepping for Pouring Concrete Now Playing

Prepping for Pouring Concrete

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Prepping for Pouring Concrete

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" You're pouring about what, 50 or 60 yards in here today?"

" Yes sir."

" And now, why do we need such an elaborate contraption, this, this fabulous pump truck?"

" Well a concrete pump delivers concrete down into the basement through what's called a system--"

" -Yes.--"

" -a concrete system. And we cannot back the truck up to it because there's no way to get in there."

" Exactly."

" So what we do is we take the boom, go into the basement, connect steel and rubber pipes--"

" -Right--"

" -and we pump the concrete to it."

" And how long is the boom itself?"

" The boom is 28 meters, 28-meter rise concrete pump--"

" -that's close to a hundred feet."

" Yes it is."

" And then you've got how many feet inside?"

" We've got another 120 feet aligned inside."

" So the payload is almost over 200 feet away, what kind of a pump is doing that?"

" It's got 950psi on the concrete and we've got it toned down as far as possible to keep from setting the hose like a jet engine--"

" -I see."

" -So it's as low as it'll go--"

" -It's at low speed but maximum would be 950 pounds"

" -psi at--"

" -per square inch--"

" -a 120 yards an hour which is, you know, mid range concrete pump."

" Great. And this whole thing is a German-manufactured product right?"

" Yes. It's shipped out from Germany and assembled in the United States. "

" One last question. What's it cost?"

" About $323,000 to $330,000."

" It's a beautiful rig [unk] though. Hey Mike."

" Hey Bob."

" How are you?"

" Fine. How are you doing?"

" I'm glad I found you here coz I did want to talk with you about a little bit of the existing conditions of the structure before we talk concrete-- "

" -Ok.--"

" -I noticed this the other day. This is the original 1813 brick and it starts off right on top of the dirt."

" That's right, that's right. And this is pretty much typical what we found for the foundation as a whole coz it supports the chimney here. But as you can see there's a lot of rock in here, gives the soil a lot of density--"

" -Yes."

" -and a really good bearing for the type of structure it is--"

" -I'm used to seeing big New England granite slabs and then the brick goes up--"

" -Yes."

" -but I guess this has worked--"

" -Yes, oh yes--"

" -it's almost 200 years old--"

" -It has certainly worked. -"

" -and the structure specially in this room, the structure is almost intact--"

" -That's right--"

" -you can see the header from the, the hearth--"

" -Yes."

" -where it's pegged on the corner here and all these timbers haven't been hacked away yet--"

" -Right--"

" -you've done something here."

" Yes we've headed that off. We're getting some, some mechanical units up there coz we're in the old part of the mansion--"

" -Yes."

" -and with a few minor problems, the structure is in excellent condition."

" Yes, I'll say. Now out here we can see where you had to put in those, those, those new footings. You had to underpin the, the whole perimeter of the house, didn't you?"

" That's right. Bob. Primarily the exterior walls and the--"

" -This is right under the front door of the house."

" -this is right under the front door of the house. This continues around in the exterior wall and then we have 2 interior walls that we had to--"

" -So underpinning means that you've dug out underneath the existing wall--"

" -With, with the wall--"

" -and you've poured concrete down what, 2 or 3 feet?"

" 2 or 3 feet that's right and on the average around 3 feet and--"

" -And you can't do it continuously. You have to stagger."

" You have to do it in, in segments. We have 3 different segments. If we did number 1 for example you're hop skipped and move ourselves around and then leave the dirt in between those segments that we have poured."

" Right. Now you need to, this expansion joint material in here also because--"

" -This expansion joint--"

" -That's right. It's a buffer between here and between the new concrete and the existing partitions."

" So we'll have 1 uniform floor level in here as opposed to the 3 that we used to have."

" That's correct, that's correct."

" What's the rebar in here for that angle?"

" That's called crack control and that's in all the openings and it tries to reduce some of the, some of the cracks as we go through these openings."

" Ok and here we see where we've got the big old hose coming through--"

" -That's right--"

" -from the pumper. And this is, I don't like to be around them too much. I've never seen 1 go but--"

" -I've seen 1 go before and it's not a pretty sight--"

" -Yes.--"

" -In fact even when they're, they're intact they're hard to handle so you need more than a few men to handle--"

" -Right. That's concrete under pressure. So I guess this is where the guys get their rubber boots on and they left their leather boots up there?"

" -Yes that's right. Leather boots and concrete don't mix."

" Boy listen to that concrete surging through there huh?"

" It's coming through there Bob."

" And here's where you can really see where we have the difference, the different floor levels."

" That's right. We have 3 different floor levels and this being the highest right here."

" Right. Now what we're gonna be pouring on top of it is crushed stone down in there right?"

" That's correct, yes."

" How thick?"

" About 4 to 6 inches."

" And then you've got the poly, the this [unk]--"

" -the voice barrier"

" and then we have reinforcement on top of that wire mesh."

" Yes. The 6 by 6 number 10 wire--"

" -That's right. That's pulled up as the concrete is poured over it."

" Right."

" You get into the middle and pour so."

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