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Hit 5000 square feet in a single pour last Tuesday and my back still hurts
Been finishing concrete for about 6 years now, mostly driveways and small patios. Got a call to do a warehouse floor extension out in Bakersfield. 5000 sq ft, 6 inch slab. Thought no big deal, just a bigger version of what I normally do. Man was I wrong. We had 4 guys and it took us almost 14 hours straight. The crew was gassed by hour 10. I never realized how much the fatigue multiplies on big flatwork. Anyone else hit a mental wall on a pour way bigger than your usual jobs?
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joseph484d ago
Man, big flatwork really does humiliate you when you think you're ready. That jump from small stuff to a pour like that hits different when you're still dragging the hose at hour 11. Four guys on 5000 feet sounds brutal, did you have anyone rotating out to rest or was it all hands on deck the whole time?
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lilyt234d ago
The rotating out thing is a good point, but honestly we were so underwater we couldn't afford to lose a single body for even 15 minutes. What I'm wondering is how you handle the timing on the big flatwork when the concrete starts setting faster than you anticipated (like we got caught with a hot load that had been sitting at the plant for an hour). Did you have a trick for buying yourself more time, or was it just a mad dash to the finish line? Because that hour 10-12 stretch where you're fighting the material as much as your own legs is a whole different beast.
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