Garage addition, 2004-2005 Part V February-March
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March 24.  The base of the solarium roof  is on and the framing inspection has been done.  It's ok except that some extra support will have to be added to the roof because the supports were tapered to give the appearance we wanted.  Greg says that will not be too bad a job.

This is from the alley.  Those are furring strips on the side of the garage.  You can see the area where dirt will be mounded when the landscaping is completed.  At least now you can see the shape the addition will take.  I am content that it will continue the lines of the house beautifully.  Good job, Chris.

This is from the man door in the garage.  That stuff on the floor is a vapor barrier.  Looks like a plastic tarp.  That is to keep the cement which will go right on top of it from absorbing water from the ground.  It will keep the garage much dryer, because moisture will not come up into the garage from below later. 

I asked to look at the controls of the truck.  Looks like you could fly a plane with all those gadgets doesn't it.

This chute goes from the truck to where they want the cement on the floor.  It comes in sections and with the four sections in place can reach about 25 feet.  As the cement is poured closer to the door (and the truck) the chute is shortened section by section so it goes to exactly the right place.

Did you ever wonder how a cement truck stays clean?  Well part of the answer is that the cleanup starts as soon as the load has been poured.  In fact, as each piece of the chute was taken off, it was immediately washed down.  The truck has its own water supply, and they hose off everything right away.  They sort of work together to get the job done even though they have their own areas of control and expertise.  The man in the blue cap is Harold Mercer, carrying a piece of the chute and the other man is in charge of the truck.

The floor is as done as it can be now and it's time for a little conversation.  That's my contractor Greg Skafec at the right, the Moritz driver facing us and Harold Mercer at the left.  In the center are two other crew members who work for Harold.  Harold tells me that it's now an afternoon of waiting for the right moment and then smoothing the cement some more.  That will be done two or three times.  They can't walk on the cement yet but they can scoot around on little things that look like snowboards and smooth with small floats.  If the temperature were quite hot, the cement would set up almost right away, but in weather like we are having, That will be an all afternoon job.

This is the floor all done for today.  Tomorrow they will come back and cut the floor?  with a saw?  Greg and Harold assured me that it has to be done so that when the inevitable cracks happen, they will happen in the cuts not at random.  That makes sense, but I hate to watch my pretty new floor being cut apart.

 March 10.  Greg has kept on keeping on, the only thing he can do in this awful weather.  Now you can see what shape the addition will take.  The many holes in the room are for windows.  I'm trying to decide what to call the new room.  Three-season describes it, but it doesn't fit a 100 year old house.  I've thought about sun room or solarium.  So far the votes from people I have asked for opinions from are for solarium.  Just think, the whole idea is to get me a garage I don't have to go outdoors to get to.  It has turned into quite a project.    

Here is the view from the street behind my neighbor's garage.  That old tree is just as wonderful as it looks.  I believe my neighbor said it is a copper birch and it is very old.

March 28.  Harold Mercer will put in the floor tomorrow if the weather is fit.  He and his crew are smoothing the gravel and getting the correct pitch for the floor.  They also are putting something that looks like baseboard around the bottom of the wall.  They tell me it is sort of a tar paper and will be covered with the cement. 

March 29, a very big day.

 When I went out into my solarium of the future this morning, Harold's crew was already starting to push the cement around.  This view is down the stairwell to the basement garage.

There is the same truck that Moritz used to deliver cement for the footers.  The cement comes out the front of the truck.

Harold Mercer and his crew started with cement all around the edge of the floor.  Then they spread it around in the center and finally smoothed it out with a straightedge.

While everyone else is cleaning up equipment, This man is using what is called a bull float to smooth the floor more.  It is probably four feet wide and attached to a long handle. 

One more thing happened on March 29.  While the floor of the basement garage was going in, Greg was on the roof of the solarium, putting the first two coats of roof coating on.