Time to mix and pour

The digging is done, trench is solid, and it's time for some fun. Kelley and I rented a concrete mixer for this one. I knew the width was right, and I needed to level out a 6" slab 14" wide for the foundation. Finally after all of this demo, digging, and destruction it's time to build something new! I started by marking the lines clearly on both sides of the trench, then mixing and pouring concrete for the foundation. Sink rebar in there and it's not going anywhere.

52 bags of concrete 80lbs each

Mark the lines clearly

on both sides of the trench

be sure everything stays level

all the way around

Here's the mixer we rented

Proof - getting a 6" slab on solid ground

ok, deeper than 6" sometimes. but it's a level line.

With everything clearly marked, we can start mixing. Pro tip: put about half of the water you need before you start adding the concrete. 80 lb bags are hard to lift up that high, and if you don't add water first it takes forever for it to mix. So of course we started with 5 bags of concrete and no water. That took forever.

The pour creeps like lava

Keep it smooth and level, add rebar while it's still wet

The rebar is 4' long and can only be 32" above the level concrete

She has a concrete mustache

with a full mixer

I'm finishing the last bit of the foundation

This rebar ended up in a really wrong place

Can't even see that orange line anymore? mostly

The damn cat found my wet concrete

ready to lay some block

all gone! Time for mortar

In the end, it took 43 bags (80 lbs each) in the mixer to pour that foundation. I threw the other 9 bags into the shed, I'll need them to form a brick shelf after I get the block and floor finished off. This part of the project came out level and smooth. I put in 4' long rebar verticals, but I'm only laying 4 courses of block above this foundation. So only 32" could hang above the finished surface of the concrete. That means those verticals extend all the way through the wet concrete and anchor the foundation into the solid ground. I need to leave the foundation at least 48 hours to cure before I start laying block on top of it.