October 15 – The Slab | Red Rhino Orphanage Project

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October 15 – The Slab

Hello there,

.

Here’s the next step in my catch-up program, the slab, and related events. Related like your renegade cousin out again on parole and anxious to catch up.

.

The bridge got completed, the cement mixer got cranked up, and the wheelbarrowers got wheeling.

And started dumping concrete so the masons could work it flat and level and vibrate the air bubbles out.

Another 22 tons of ballast arrived from Shamji just after we got underway.

This guy's technique was to cut the bag of concrete across the middle with a hacksaw blade, then fold the two equal halves back, standing them upright. Then he'd empty the half bags into the wheelbarrow and measure out the right number of soufrias for each load. This way he never had to lift a full bag of cement, and never, ever spilled any cement.

The masons, Murafu and Abuya used this twenty foot piece of tubular aluminum with handles welded on to work the concrete flat.

and slapping it, until it came around.

These are the bubbles that surface when the the concrete is vibrated with the probe vibrator. They look like caviar.

The bridge was repositioned, in sections, several times, so the dumpers and the shovelers could keep things handy.

In the absence of rubber boots...

Getting the stuff smooth and level took more doing than you might think.

And a lot of slapping the wet concrete silly.

And a lot of dumping wheelbarrows heavy with the stuff.

Murafu and Opyo, the bridge maker, looking things over.

And concrete splattered Abuya taking a break,

before getting back to the slapping business.

And when it was dumped and spread and slapped into shape, we began the curing process and turned it into Lake Gilbert.

.

Keep us in mind when it’s time to remodel.

.

Yours for flat, air pocketless concrete,

.

David and the guys

Posted on October 14th, 2008 by david
Filed under: Recent News

2 Responses to “October 15 – The Slab”

Michael Carlbom, on October 16th, 2008 at 4:31 pm Said:

Seeing the use of proper techniques with the simplest of tools is humbling indeed . I’m very impressed with the precision and hard work of yourself ( your doing most of the heavy stuff right ? ) and crew.
david, on October 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am Said:

Yes, Michael, I’m doing all the heavy lifting. The other fifteen guys are mostly advisors. We may need a finish carpenter in a while, maybe a cabinet maker…know any with an itch to see Kenya??

David

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