2004-5 Pipe

2005 01 21 Headwall Pour Starts

Prev Next

Today started out very gray, with an inch or maybe two of new snow on the ground. I was sure that nothing would get done today because heavy trucks would not be able to make it down the hills. This was depressing, but I was wrong. While I was out walking early this morning the crew passed me on the way in. Still, I was not sure how much they were planning on doing. As of this morning there were two major parts of the work that needed doing. First was starting to build the concrete structure at the head of the new pipe. The second was placing more riprap at the tail end of the pipe. I was much more concerned about the former than the latter, and that is what the crew was here to work on. Shortly after the general contractor arrived the concrete subcontractor arrived.

First, the second of the two large excavators that we have had here for over a month had to "go away". The contractor did not want to bring in that large flat bed with the ice on the road, so the excavator drove out. Not something you see every day.. it drove out about 1/2 mile, up the long shallow hill, to meet the flat bed.

Byee!

Once that was taken care of the accumulated water in the pit already dug for the head end structure had to be pumped out.

A nice muddy hole. It's cold and damp and gray.

There are two gas powered pumps working at this, and once the hole was almost empty those two pumps were put to work diverting the stream, and two electric submersible pumps were dropped into the muddy water remaining. They wanted the hole as dry as possible.

Then the job of cleaning out and squaring up the hole could begin. Gravel could be dropped in to make a base for the concrete. The gunk that the excavator is taking out, as well as the gunk it is driving around in, is all very plastic and sloppy. It was semi-frozen overnight, but now it is just plain sticky and sloppy.

Forms could be started.

Forms work .. You can also see that the sun came out and it turned into a nice day.

More forms work ..

Note the hoses from all four pumps.

Those four hoses were put on a little bridge so they could put in the concrete reinforcing bars.

More forms work, more rebar.

Getting ready for a lot of concrete.

Concrete ..

More ..

And more .. beginning to smooth it out. You can see the vertical rebar that will anchor the walls of the box.

More finishing. Almost done.

Done.

Put some blankets on it to retain heat, and that's that. Concrete gives off heat as it cures, and when it's cold the heat is retained as much as possible.

The blankets were on the concrete by about 3:15, and the two submersible pumps were left on to keep the stream diverted. Tomorrow morning those pumps will be taken out.

Prev Next