0615 – Check emails and texts to see if any early morning changes are necessary.
0645 – Leave home and call at the hire shop.
0745 – Arrive at the job, grab a cup of coffee from the client—much appreciated—and have a quick chat about the day ahead.
0800 – Survey the damage the heavy rain has done to our foundation trench. Soil and clay have washed into the trench, and part of one side wall has collapsed in.
I had anticipated this and called at the hire shop for a submersible pump the minute they opened; equipment like that is in high demand on days like this. I also pushed the concrete delivery back a day to ensure we have the trench fully ready. The building inspector passed the trench yesterday, so once we get it cleaned out and squared off again, I will take some fresh photographs to show the inspector we have done the job right.
It takes about 45 minutes to pump all the water out of the trench, and the last few pints have to be cleared out by hand with a small bucket. The trench and surrounding ground are really sticky, making it hard going just walking around today.
Using the excavator and shovels, we clear the trenches back to a sound condition in a little over four hours. There is plenty of steam coming off us all working in the humid conditions. Fortunately, there is no rain forecast for the next two days, so hopefully, that is the worst of the weather out of the way.
We get the rebar and reinforcement mesh cut to size and put levelling pegs into the trench. I find pegs are much more accurate than spray paint lines. The spirit level will come out once the concrete is poured and mass moved around as required, followed by a final check with the laser level.
We clean the equipment off and prepare a walkway for the concrete to be barrowed in tomorrow then change our boots for the journey home.
