October 11-18, 2014: Completed construction of 2" x 6" forms for the 120" x 80" concrete pad while also completing the installation and placement and wire-tying of God's gift to concrete pads: #4 rebar! WOOT! 3" rebar chairs were utilized to raise the rebar up off the compacted stone and locate them further
in the concrete for a better overall pad strength.
Remember this much: rebar is cheap (in the grand scheme of concrete things) and overkill never hurts in concrete structures holding heavy things.
Brother-in-law Dave (and myself) enjoying the day waiting for the concrete truck to arrive ( 1/ 1/2 hours late, LOL!)
As one could deduce from the pictures, my original idea for a 4" thick pad turned out to be much thicker at 8" thickness. Quite simply, I was tired of moving frontend loaders of stone and decided to make up the remaining grade with concrete, rebar, and steel mesh.
For concrete afficionados' informational purposes, I used the only local ready-mix concrete provider within 20 miles of my home, Cash Concrete Products, Inc (CCP). CCP delivered a really good load of concrete: 4" slump 4,000 psi concrete mix with air, fiber, and stone.
A total of 1 3/4 cubic yards of concrete was utilized (2 yards ordered) and front end loadered up the hill with my New Holland (6-wheel drive concrete truck sunk in the yard and could not climb the hill
).
Chalk up:
$326 up for concrete delivered.
$20 for 120 pounds #4 rebar (lots of free leftovers in the price 
the $20 is for a couple bars of #4 I had to buy at Lowes to finish the rebar layout)
$0 for 16 oz. Cure N Seal concrete sealant
1.6 lbs Lasagna & 2 servings Blackberry Cobbler (priceless) for Concrete Finisher Labor Rebar was donated free-of-charge by my brother-in-law Dave. Dave also taught me how to properly finish concrete for this type of application (dumping, leveling, floating, edging, floating in steel mesh, brushing, and curing and sealing). Always awesome to have a construction/concrete professional in the family to guide me!
Not pictured but present is Lowes' steel wire mesh floated into
the top of the pad 2 inches below the finished surface. Because I was running the tractor, I was unable to take "action photos" during the pour.
Indiana D.O.T.-approved cure and seal sealing agent (white pigmented) was utilized to seal the concrete and allow for proper curing of the pad. I will have to retrieve the name of the product from the 5-gallon bucket later,,, forgot what the name brand (sealant) was.
Pictures show a spacious "cutout" for navigating the Logstor piping and electrical wire/conduit up into the Ultimizer.
Dirt (heavy clay really) from the pad excavation was utilized to make the finish grade around the pad level with its finished surface. The water is from me spraying off the surface after my goats drug dirt all over it and pooped on it.
Up next? A
Case 621 (Click Here for Machine Specs) to lift and carry the BL 34-44 up the hill and onto the new pad and begin hookup to the BL 34-44 boiler. I have a machine scheduled to move the BL 34-44 into place this weekend. I will take more photos during the boiler move and the upcoming indoor plumbing installation.
Author
Topic: Blog: Sloppy's P&M Ultimizer BL 34-44 Installation Thread (Read 33950 times)