The Breakroom > The Water Cooler
What Keeps Me Out of the Workshop
awemawson:
Now even with a spinning laser level I find it hard to get a surface like this truly uniform - it's not level as there is a 50 mm slope from one side to the other. The form work was spot on to the nearest mm but precisely how much the thickness deviated from the nominal 200 mm was not certain. The volume was a nominal 4.4 cu M.
Buying readymix concrete poses a few problems. A full lorry load is either 6 or 8 cu M. Order less than a full mix and you pay a surcharge for the empty space, and if you get your estimate wrong you either have an embarrassing shortfall or you have a heap of the stuff to dispose of :bugeye:
So I tracked down a magic 'mix on site' lorry that uses a worm screw to mix, and has hoppers for cement, sand and aggregate. They deliver exactly what you need with no fuss, and the price is very similar to ready mix so long as you take more than 4 cu M
awemawson:
So the lady driver / operator turned up on the allotted day and squirted 4.8 cu M of concrete which went down a treat.
After a day or two I drilled and chemically anchored 20 mm rebar vertically where the pillars will be - superb stuff the chemical anchor gunge. Sets rock hard even allowing me to bend one or two of the bars that had come to rest not quite vertical
awemawson:
OK now I'm ready for Brian the Brickie. Brian is semi retired - nice chap but not the neatest worker I've met. So far he's done a day and a half and I'm waiting for his return when the weather is suitable
Those stacked bricks I bumped out waiting for his return hopefully in a day or two
awemawson:
So of course with all the time delays involved the lambing season overtook me :bugeye:
We have an ex Chinese army inflatable field hospital tent that we've used for probably fives seasons so far as a 'lambing shed'. It's about 10 metres by 7 metres. We put it up in the orchard so close to the house, and bring the Ewes into the orchard when their time is close. So this year we got it set up in good times, and set out the berthing cubicles all ready for them well ahead of time (got caught out last year and had a bit of a panic!)
awemawson:
Now I've learnt from previous years to fix this tent down well. Instead of the 1/2" 18" long tent pegs, the main guys at the four corners and two gable ends are lashed down to 4'6" long chestnut fence posts driven well into the ground at 45 degrees to allow a bit of tension to be applied.
On time the first Ewe presented us with a pair of ram lambs
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