Day 9 - I'm Done!

Thank you Tanner, Rowan, Luka (pic missing), Shane (pic missing), Mr. Mathews (pic missing), Mr. Smith (pic missing) and Mom and Dad!  I had the final landscaping items left to install to finish my project and last Saturday my team did it.

 We cleaned the site up, graded the soil and smoothed it for grass that Habitat might put in.  We leveled the areas in front of the slab and laid weed barrier under decomposed granite and the landscape boulders.

 Early in the day the pergola is shaded and pleasant to sit under.

 The trees add to the overall look of the pergola.  It looks very inviting.

The fence ended up being a great addition to help hide the work area behind so when the ceremonies, conferences, meetings, and breaks, you can "get away from it all".

Here is the final construction post for the project.  If you in the area or have a need to go to the NCCHfH ReStore, please go by and see it.  Thank you to everyone that helped me with this project, both finacialy and with manpower, I couldn't have done it without you!

Day 8 - Erecting the Pergola, Fence and Benches

The day started at 7:30 am and I had a somewhat better turn out today.  I convinced Dad to help me set the poles for the fence on Friday, so I could get the fence done today.  My plan for the day was to erect the pergola and fence and install the benches.

I started off by asking everyone to clean the area of all the concrete left over from pouring the slab.  We set up a "bucket brigade" to haul it to the dumpster.

  

I got Tony from the ReStore to bring us the pergola and the benches with the fork lift so we could get started putting each of them together.



The pergola went together pretty fast.

 

Looks like its together....doesn't it..



  


Then, Travis noticed there were some rails that belonged on each end of the pergola, so we had to reconstruct a little bit.





Tanner and I made pretty short work of the change.

 




 Braun, Mr. Walker and Mr. Mathews were my fence crew.  They started with the stringers (2x4's) to hang the pickets. Mr. Mathews was a great help.  He made sure the fence was straight and level.

With all the packing material for the benches and the pergola, I had to keep asking for "dumpster patrol".  Jarrett (right) was always glad to help!

 Mr. Johnson and I started to put the benches together and found the bolts needed washers to keep them from going through the holes in the hardware.  I went into the Restore and found some washers, but Mr. Johnson ended up having to go the the hardware store to get some more.  Thank you for going to the store Mr. Johnson!







Tanner (center), Tim (left), and Mr. Johnson got things going with the benches.

Here is a picture of my Scoutmaster, Mr. Walker (left), Braun and Mr. Mathews (right) setting the final stringer for the fence.












Conner (left) got in on the fence building action and worked on putting up the rest of the pickets while the other group was working on the pergola.  Braun and Conner were intent checking the plumb on the pickets!  I think Conner found a new calling - "nail gunner"!

The pergola going up! The tall guys lifted their end on to the post we had set in the concrete.

Here is a picture of Jarret and Mr. Shedd setting the post for one leg of the pergola.

The fence was almost complete and the pergola was up about noon. 

Mr. Overly (far left) and Dad were the ones working on the gettting the legs set. They used 3/8" x 2" anchor bolts to hold the pergola down.  It won't go anywhere (at least not the legs)!

After the pergola was up and the fence mostly done, it was time to set the benches.  Because they were late geting here, we had left holes in the concrete to set the legs in and that meant we had to mix concrete in a wheel barrel, by hand, to set the legs.  The holes ended up being 18" deep and 12" around.  Mixing concrete in 95 degree weather was not really fun, but it had to be done. The concrete had to be just wet enough to mix, but dry enough to help hold the benches up.  It worked out just right!

After some sweeping and clean up, this project is looking pretty good.  This is something I can be proud of.  It will be here a long time.  I still have some decomposed granite to put around the concrete slab and the handicap bricks to set.  I am also on the hunt for some dirt to backfill around the right side of the slab.  I hope to have the younger scouts to help me with that next weekend.



A straight on look into the pergola.



I am glad I decided to put up the fence too!  It makes it look finshed and people won't have to look at the storage area and gas metering station at the rear of the property while they are meeting or lounging.  Mom did have a little help in convincing me to do that.  And as it turned out Mr. Mathews and his fence crew did a great job for me.  Thank you to all who came for Erecting day!  This includes Conner, Jarrett, Tanner, Tim, Braun, Travis, Mr. Shedd, Mr. Walker, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Mathews, Mr. Overly and  Dad!  And thank you to Mom for getting up early and fixing us all a great breakfast!

Need to backfill with some dirt on this side of the concrete slab -That's for next weekend!

Day 7 - Pouring Concrete

We started the day at 6:30AM to finish the rebar and box for the handicap ramp bricks...that the square in the front of the flared part of the slab.  Mr. Cottam and Zach were there to help!

We started the day like any other project, talking and getting ready.  This was my scout crew for the day.  My coach also came a little later.  The concrete crew was Mr. Cottam's father-in-law Mr. Harry Harris of Texas Shafts.  I want to thank Mr. Harris for his donation of tools and crew to help us pour this slab.  Without them we could have never done this!  Thank you Mr. Harris!






The concrete truck showed up at abut 8:15AM and we were ready to start.  Mr. Harris guided the truck back into the slab area and we started pouring concrete.  It was already getting hot and hot and pouring concrete is a tough job!







I had my trusted friend Tanner to help as he has for every day on this project.  Thanks again Tanner!  The concrete crew, convinced me to put in plastic buckets for the benches that had not shown up yet instead of putting in woof frames.  They said it would do the same job and easy to pull out after the concrete was hard.  The benches are going to mount in the ground with concrete to make them steady.

Here we are starting the level the concrete to the top of the forms.

Mr. Harris told his guys to start on one corner then work their way to the middle.  I was ther to be sure we got the concrete level.

I asked Tanner and Zach help keep things out of the way and the get the concrete crew anything they needed.

This is my coach Mr. Findley and his son or as my Mom calls him....Mr. Friendly the police Officer!

Mr. Harris asks his grandson to "keep the mud coming Zack!"

Mr. Cottam spraying the concrete with a little water to help keep the surface wet.

This thing is actually looking like a slab now!  It was hot and we were working hard to get this done before lunch.  Mom brought breakfast again, Thanks Mom!  The orange juice, pigs in a blanket and donuts were great.

This was the finished product.  I think we all did a great job.  It looks like I will be done with this project after all!  Still a few thing to do though.  I will still need all the help I can get!  The pergola has to be put together and mounted.  Hopefully the benched will be here soon and we'll put a fence and some decomposed granite and large rocks for landscaping.


My Mom came up with a great idea, went to the scout shop and got me an Eagle Service Project brass plate and some foam rubber letters to set my name in the concrete.  It looked like it worked great except when we finished the top of the concrete the letters moved and we didn't notice it.  It looks good to me!  hanks again to Mr. Harris and His crew, Mr.. Cottam, Mr. Findley, Tanner and Zach!

Day 5-6 Placing the Rebar

On Wednesday, I rented a plate compactor to compact the sand.  As it turned out, the sand is pretty much in a compacted state when it is spread.  So Tanner and I shoveled the sand out of the pad and Dad helped us understand how to screed the sand to a level even with the bottom of the forms.  This way we would end up with a 4" slab rather than, who knows how thick?!  Tanner and I were so busy Wednesday I didn't get any pictures, cause my Dad had to leave and he took the camera.... :-(  ...sorry.

Day 6 Thursday.

Conner, Tanner and I started the day at 7:30 AM.  We had a very productive day.  We finished the form work by adding boards to the openings in the forms where it was high and putting braces to help hold the forms in place.

Here, we are placing the rebar in the forms.  We put them every 18 inched both ways.

When you  set rebar, you have to tie them together with wire so they stay.  Mr. Hamm also found some rebar "chairs" to help hold the rebar on the ground and make sure it is in the middle of the concrete section.  We also set up the handicap ramp (lower right of picture) from the parking lot.

Here is the slab ready to pour.  We not only put braces on to stabilize the forms, we also backfilled it with dirt to add some more strength.

Day 4 - Spreading Sand Continued

Because the sand showed up so soon, I could not coordinate any scout help.  So Dad suggested I hire some local guys to get a jump on getting ready for the rebar placement.  Hiring the workers help me get the sand spread in two hours!

These are the three fellows I hired.



I told them to spread the sand and match the forms but to leave a gap to make the slab thicker on the sides.



The sand has been spread evenly over the entire slab area.



I also cut the concrete in front of the slab so I could build a ramp for access to the slab.

Day 3 - Spreading Sand

Sunday, I called a friend of Dads and told him I needed some sand in the next couple of days for my Eagle Project. Well, it showed up on Monday!  Thank you Scott McCrosky! 

8 cubic yards of sand!  I think this is a little more work than I thought!

Day 2 - Setting forms

Setting the Forms 

We started at 7:30 AM Saturday morning on my project.  It was already getting hot.  Lucky we did have some shade!
We learned about the 3,4,5 triangle method to set the string lines straight or square to each other.
Tim, Jarrett, Kaegan, Tanner, Quinten, Conner, Mr. Kumnick, Mr. Timbrel, Mr. Johnson, and my Dad & Mom all came out to help me get the project started.  Mom fixed breakfast for everyone.  Thank you Mom!  And I want to thank all of you that came to help!

 

Getting started.  Mr. Kumnick explains the concept to Mr. Timbrel

 After we got our string lines set and square we started setting the 2"x4"'s to match the edge of the string.  This sets the edge of the concrete for the pad we will mount the pergola and benches too.

Here is a view of the forms from a little higher.  We are setting the stakes to support the 2x4's so it doesn't move when we pour the concrete.

The crew for the second day of work on my project.  Thanks crew!