Concrete Operations

Concrete pouring day dawned clear and bright! When we got up before 6 a.m. on February 5th, we were concerned since the week before had been so wet! We were so thankful that the weather station reported that this day would be the only clear oasis in a week of rain! Friday - partly rainy - Sunday - more of the same - but Saturday: beautiful! As you can see by this photo, only half the forms, moisture barrier, and rebar tied up to adobes were prepared. But a great number of student and staff volunteers soon took care of all the needs!




While waiting for Hawaiian Rock's trucks to begin to arrive to pump the concrete mix, the students and others were not idle. We'd had a lot of rain all week, so much of the prep work had been delayed off and on. Here, Eseuk pounds in a piece of rebar to hold some forms in place while Everly holds it steady. Grateful, Mondale, and Soram look on.












By about 11:00 a.m. the preparation was done and the pumper truck equipped with a HUGE pumper arm arrived and got ready for the exciting moment that the first of the concrete mix would begin to get pumped into the forms over the rebar. A few minutes later, it was hooked up to a cement mixer that arrived and the driveway began to appear! YAY! No more potholes!!!!

















Tim enjoyed being a part of this project very much. It made for a few very long days before and during the pour for him, Robin Sukrow (Santa Cruz) and several of our PIU students, plus the backhoe operator that did the grading, but I know they all agree that it was well worth it!
















Probably the busiest time of this job was the "middle section" when half the concrete had been poured, more was on the way, and we still had rebar to lay! Our students were amazing - they worked tirelessly all day on this project from about 8:00 a.m. when some of them came out to help with the middle section of rebar, until about 4:30 p.m. when the last truck left. (Here, Mr. Kwan, volunteer from the Korean church, guides the gooseneck from the pumper to make sure we get a nice, even fill.)






While we were waiting for another load of mix to arrive, some of the guys finished laying the last of the rebar, setting adobes up under each place where the rebar crossed and tying them to the rebar with wires.
















The last truck of mix arrived and was poured near the edge of the road. All totaled, we used three and a little-more-than-a-half trucks of mixed concrete. BIG project!













Students worked hard on making sure the concrete was smoothly finished. Robin helps here with "floating" the surface while Grateful and Ikol do some trowel work.

















After it was all done, Tim, Mo, and a couple other students (and maybe a few additional staff members) made sure the concrete was kept moist for a couple days. Voila! A new entrance!!