Moving forward with Camp Dularge!
Last Sunday I played “catch up” at home cleaning house and doing laundry after being ill for a week and nursing sick boys. Dotter took the boys shopping for last-minute items for their trip to Disney. Then we packed their bags in advance!
Monday found me dealing with the concrete fiasco and possible solutions and putting back the drain pipe from the kitchen sink to the main drain line.
Tuesday through today, my good friend, BB,and I put finishing touches on the bedrooms.
Here’s the front bedroom with the original wood floors.
Here’s the back bedroom with the original beadboard walls and new carpet on the floor.
Each room has a full size bed on the bottom so married couples can sleep together and keep each other’s feet warm! Meet your approval Steffi?
She and I also did some intensive labor in the yard. We used a reciprocating saw to cut down old tree stumps and metal fence posts! BB earned some more points toward her WATTS (Women Armed with Tools & Trucks) membership! Thank you BB!
Friday, someone is supposed to come
clean up that big blob of concrete in the front yard and
put back my soil in the front yard that the swindler left piled on the drain field. We shall see!
Now, I need your help!
All of you who noticed something “amiss” in the previous posts and photos while the crew were preparing the foundation and pouring the cement, PLEASE be very specific and let me know what you saw wrong, what you saw questionable, and what your husbands said looked out of the ordinary to them. Please be specific. All this information is very valuable to me for reasons I cannot yet divulge. Mysterious, yes.
I hope to get everything finished with Camp Dularge by the end of the month. With the boys gone, I have no excuse, do I?
Coming down to the wire,
BW
I have never seen workers walk in the wet cement in boots when doing the finishing ?The few times we had cement poured they stood on boards While they worked the wet cement ? We had a slab for a carport poured and also a driveway and it was done by a crew of Mexicans(legal, of course) and they did an excelent job. I don’t know if this helps, but it looked strange to me the way your crew did it . Doris
Doris, thanks for this. Appreciate it so much!
I have nothing to add to help you, but I will say how happy I am to see you well again and back whittling down your numerous tasks. I was getting worried you were down for the count there, but I should have known better from our beloved BW!!! Hope the boys have a geat time.
Deb
Hi Deb. I am not down for the count, but I was pretty much down on one knee and shaking my head trying to decide if standing up and continuing to fight was a good idea!!! But BB coming down helped me knock that “punch list” down by about a dozen items or so!! Not to mention that she makes me laugh and we all know a merry heart is a good medicine!
I have seen them walk in the concrete – but the BIGGEST issue I see, is they poured way to big of a space at once!! Milk Man is going to take a look at this tonight, because we do all of our own concrete work and he is FUSSY – and have I mentioned he is FUSSY and oh by the way he is FUSSY! about his work…
You have to walk in the concrete if you pour a big spot, because it needs to be pulled/pushed with a cement rake to get it evenly lain – but you also make sure its the same depth all the way around. Do you have puddles of water that stand after it rains or anything?
I understand they should have ‘dug it’ the same and that the form board around the outside is a ‘guide’ but cement is funny to work – I would highly doubt that its the same depthe in the middle as it is in the edges.. I just dont know how it could be if the didnt put up more forms and have guide markers… LIke I said Milk Man will look at it for you – and probably write you an email baby!!! So glad to hear your voice again – I miss ya!!!
Heidi, I will look forward to Milkman’s email. Believe me, I have now done my homework; which for whatever reasons I did not do before. I realize that this guy is not a seasoned professional like he claimed to be–even though he had a couple references. Further, there is a magic number floating out there which good finishers charge per square foot. If I had known that figure before taking estimates, I would have known that he was trying to swindle me from the get go. Live and learn but this was one expensive lesson, my dear! I’ve missed y’all too. BB worked me like a slave and by the time I tended to the boys, I just fell exhausted into bed. I’m sure you know how that is, right? Thanks for the help!
Hi BW,
I see a moisture barrier in the pictures but no type of rebar, wiring or other such material that aids the cement is holding together to keep cracking to a minimum. This is done even for driveways not just slabs for houses.
I told you Chicken Gumbo would clear the illness from y’all! LOL Now, about what Cynthia said. I noticed no re-bar, but I figured y’all had put the “Fiber” in the cement mix. That is a big time saver for the Finishers, but of course cost more per yard of concrete. Anyway, I’m not really able to see much in the photos (with or without my glasses) to be of any help. I’d have to see it up close and in person. Sorry. I hope you put a “double” in one of those bedrooms. I personally like sleeping next to Hubby. He keeps my feet warm!
Yea, Steffi, it has fiber. Okay, go see the photos of the bedrooms!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the photos of the bedrooms – wow! They look warm, welcoming, and well, charming! The beadboard and the earth tones are really lovely! You have such a knack for creating an environment that is both “homey,” and yet functional.
Love it, and love you! xxx
the bedrooms look so inviting–the white bedding makes it clean and serene, BW. Good choice. It looks ready to go.
I’m not a concrete finisher, but is does seem to me from the photos that they’re working backwards–don’t you usually pour the farthest away places first, pulling the excess concrete forward as you work towards the front? I’ll look again and see if there’s anything else I can spot.
This post couldnt be more correct!