cewillis wrote:
Really looking good. How did they get concrete settled all the way to the bottom of the cinder blocks? Vibrator stuck down through the concrete? And isn't there horizontal rebar in it?
Yes, there's horizontal rebar, but it's between the second and third course. The lowest step had to be broken out a few more blocks than what the picture shows, and it's exposed now.
The reason the wall broke wasn't because it isn't a strong wall, but rather the lifting technique used by the framers to stand the wall up. They should have stood it up straight on the slab, then lifted it straight up, moved it over the block wall, then set it down. I honestly thought they were going to stand up smaller sections on this wall, but they didn't. The fork-lift is certainly capable of lifting it as long as it's done right.
The concrete was settled into the block interior with a long piece of rebar. There really wasn't enough room inside the blocks for a vibrator with the rebar in there. You could tell it got all the way to the bottom though, because the face of the blocks turned dark from the water in the mix. It also looked like they mixed that concrete on the thin side.
Sleepy, I'm trying to not skip too many meals and drink a lot of water, but I'm still having trouble maintaining my weight. It's been so hot and humid lately it's easy to sweat off 5 pounds in a day. Fortunately, my real job prevents me from spending all day every day here, but I have the flexibility to be here when needed.
This type of construction is really out of my league when it comes to the very important engineering details. As the saying goes: I know just enough to be dangerous. That's why I'm working with a builder, so I don't step over my limitations.
In my initial plans, I had anticipated there would need to be some center supports under all these beams. An engineer looked at the plans and proposed an LVL beam configuration that will have no center supports in the middle of either bay. There will be one center support on top of the poured concrete wall that will be integrated into the steel handrail that will sit on top of that same wall.
:):)
