March 7-14, 2005 – The concrete work begins!  On the previous weekend, I removed the fence panels and stacked them in a corner, so the area was clear to go. The plan was to pour the shop foundation on one day, and then pour the driveway separately.

Monday, 3/7 – The dirt work began.  The difference in grade from the right rear corner to left front corner was right around 24", so they had to move a lot of dirt.  Even so, it looked like the driveway approach would be too steep, so we decided to move the building back 5 feet (there goes another 260 square feet of concrete).  It took two semi loads of select fill to build the pad.  By the end of the day, the pad was laid and the forming began. (sorry - I did not think to take pictures up to this point).

Tuesday, 3/8 – The forming continued and trenching began.  By the end of the day, it was ready for rebar.  Meanwhile, I was scrambling to nail down specifics on the garage door pockets and conduit stub-outs so I could provide them with exact dimensions.

Wednesday, 3/9 – The rebar is laid, tied and propped up on chairs.  The inspector came by and green tagged the foundation.

Thursday, 3/10 – The shop slab is poured.  The concrete trucks are two hours late, but the pouring is completed by dark. Instead of risking cracking the existing driveway, they used a concrete cart to shuttle between the concrete truck and the forms. The cart looks like a little dump truck bed mounted on a gas-powered golf cart – see the pictures below.  Since it was cool and humid, the concrete dried very slowly - the finishers ended up staying until midnight.

Friday, 3/11 – The forms came off and the preparation for the drive began.  In one day, they did the dirt work, drilled the existing drive (to dowel the new drive to the old), set the forms, and laid and tied the rebar.

Monday, 3/14 – The driveway is poured. Once again, the concrete trucks were late, but only by one hour.  The finishers were wrapped up by dark today.

Tuesday, 3/15 – The forms came off and the final cleanup and backfilling was done, not a minute too soon.  We really lucked out with the weather - it did not rain the entire week, until today when they were finishing up the cleanup.  One special note: I cannot say enough good things about Paramount Paving and it's owner, Mike Dooley.  Mike was onsite almost the entire job and runs a tight ship.  The job site was always kept clean, the concrete finish work is excellent, the dirt work is clean and level.  I highly recommend them!

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