Around seven this morning, we heard a truck pull up in the street in front of our house. I went outside to see what was up, and the guy was here for our concrete pour and wondering where he was going to park. He had a heavy-duty large pickup with a trailer to pump the cement, and was expecting a cement mixer to join him shortly.
Unfortunately, nobody had told us we needed to have about 50+ feet of curb space clear in front of our house. The cars on either side of our driveway were ours, and we could move them. It still wasn't quite enough, but fortunately none of our neighbors were too put out while the mixer truck stuck out in the street for an hour and a half.
Our crew showed up shortly, and things started happening fast. I had jumped in the shower after moving the cars, and by the time I came down again, concrete had already been poured into much of the patio, and guys were working quickly with shovels and other tools to spread it around and even it out. After mucking around in it with galoshes, working to get it roughly spread out right, they tried to get it as smooth as possible while slowly working their way out of it. Then they worked on it from the sidelines, no longer stepping in it, but using various long-poled tools to smooth it. The crew worked quickly, and I was running from window to window to try to see everything that was going on. (George wondered if I had turned into a dog.)
A lot of attention was given to the grade, making sure that it had the subtle slope wanted so that water would drain off it. This was accomplished with long beams of wood, levels, and string. Their other task was to cut the expansion joints, grooves between sections of concrete to help avoid stress cracks. With poles, measuring tape, string, and some acrobatics, they "drew" lines in the wet concrete, and then used a special T-shaped "jointer" on the end of a long pole that they could push along the lines to cut joints into the concrete while smoothing the edges beside it. Meanwhile, other guys were pushing smoothing trowels with long poles to smooth the surface out.
And after the concrete set up a couple of hours, they started going out on these long flat kneelers that allowed them to walk on the concrete like snow shoes, or to kneel and work on smoothing it from there. They had quite an assortment of trowels, edgers, and other tools of different sizes they used. From early on, one guy worked just on smoothing and cleaning the irregular edges where the concrete met the flagstone. Now, seven hours later, things are slowing down, but the crew are continuing to smooth the surface, take a break and let it set, and then smooth it some more. We're told that we should keep hosing water on it over the weekend, as it sets stronger if it dries slower.
Today they hooked up our grill. We have ignition! George and I turned all the knobs to make sure everything lights. With perfect timing, the cover that I had ordered arrived today too.
They also did some more acid-wash etching of the patio, which brought out a warmer tone. I noticed the difference in tone right away when I came home this evening. It's really looking good. The etching has also taken care of the footprints, they're all gone!
A couple of the crew came by this morning, even though it was Saturday, to apply an acid wash while the concrete was still curing. They applied a dilution of hydrochloric acid with brooms, and scrubbed the surface of the new concrete. This technique removes some of the concrete "cream" from the surface, exposing a bit of the sand, lightening the color, and giving it a nice sandy texture. The surface had been very smooth, with semi-circular trowel patterns visible in it. After the acid-wash, the surface had a more natural sandy texture to it, and the trowel marks were gone, as well as some white lime spots that had formed on the surface while the concrete was curing. We had hoped that the acid wash might wipe out the footprints that had been left by a worker walking on the concrete too soon. It made them less apparent, but they're still visible. Aside from the footprints, the concrete looks very nice. We'll continue to hose it down through the hot weekend so it can cure properly.
Today they prepped everything to pour the concrete tomorrow. The rebar framework has been in place for a while, but it all needed to be propped up and not lying or buried in the dirt. They also have rebar embedded in the flagstone edging that sticks out into the patio. In key places, they put a string or long beam of wood along a carefully sighted line to make sure the patio has a nice 1% grade so that water will drain off it. They put some material along the house and the masonry where the concrete comes up against it, and they put plastic up to protect the house and masonry. Tomorrow they pour!
