Pier and Pier Base Construction

[souls33k3r]

Ballast and cement delivered and picked them up one by one and brought them inside. It was a good workout

[souls33k3r]

So today was the day, concrete all gone in.

Started at about 4:30pm, poured a bit of it and then realised we might need to shave a bit off the sides to accommodate the frame.

The pallet on which I got the ballast and cement came in handy so made a box put of it. Levelled it and got it in the ground. My neighbour kept mixing the concrete up and i kept pouring it in then tamping it. Well didn't have much to tamp it with so got another spade and kept mixing and tamping it in the hole.

As superman neighbour reckoned, took us an hour and a half. Most of the time was taken making the square box and levelling it. In the end getting it a 4:1 mix and still left with quite a few of the ballast and a bit of cement. But it's all in now. Now watch the painstaking job, watch it cure. 

A few pics as of while the concrete was being poured in and when it was finished. 

Edited July 7, 2019 by souls33k3r

[sloz1664]

Nice done Ahmed. Btw love the toe protector sandals

Steve

 

[StarDodger]

So you did not bother with any rebar then... 🤔🤔

[StarDodger]

Whatever you do, dont try to drill it for The pier bolts until it well and truly gone off, as without rebar is could crack, especially if you are drilling with a couple of inches of the edges.. just a heads up from experience 😮

Hope you have access to one mighty powerful SDS drill, as you gonna need it.... 😀

Edited July 7, 2019 by StarDodger

[souls33k3r]

47 minutes ago, sloz1664 said:

Nice done Ahmed. Btw love the toe protector sandals

Steve

 

Cheers Steve.

Hahahahahaha chuck norris didn't need no toe protectors then why should I 😛

35 minutes ago, StarDodger said:

Whatever you do, dont try to drill it for The pier bolts until it well and truly gone off, as without rebar is could crack, especially if you are drilling with a couple of inches of the edges.. just a heads up from experience 😮

Hope you have access to one mighty powerful SDS drill, as you gonna need it.... 😀

Yeah no rebars. I don't plan on doing anything to this for 2 weeks at least. Why 2 weeks you might ask? Because I only have the weekends to work on it. Plus gives me ample amount of time to make any further adjustments to the pier base plate. I was just speaking to my neighbour who suggested drilling in the first place and he has access to an 18mm drill bit so should be fine. Bless his cotton socks, he was came around to take a look at his handy work and made sure it was all looking nice and smooth. 

[StarDodger]

11 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

Cheers Steve.

Hahahahahaha chuck norris didn't need no toe protectors then why should I 😛

Yeah no rebars. I don't plan on doing anything to this for 2 weeks at least. Why 2 weeks you might ask? Because I only have the weekends to work on it. Plus gives me ample amount of time to make any further adjustments to the pier base plate. I was just speaking to my neighbour who suggested drilling in the first place and he has access to an 18mm drill bit so should be fine. Bless his cotton socks, he was came around to take a look at his handy work and made sure it was all looking nice and smooth. 

It’s not the drill bit I meant, you need a really powerful SDS drill..

[souls33k3r]

57 minutes ago, StarDodger said:

It’s not the drill bit I meant, you need a really powerful SDS drill..

My neighbour has been drilling in the masonry with with a drill that he's got, I'm sure it'll be fine. I do have a SDS myself but it's not a powerful one but good for some odd jobs around the house.

[souls33k3r]

Day 1 of cure

Looks nice and smooth and good to me so far. The concrete has started to cure, the surface isn't soft or wet so all good I guess

 

[kirkster501]

Great (back breaking) work!

[souls33k3r]

1 minute ago, kirkster501 said:

Great (back breaking) work!

It sure was indeed but it's done now. To be honest had fun while doing it (not that I would like to go through this all once again any time soon :D). Now I just hope all this pays off well. 

[kirkster501]

4 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

It sure was indeed but it's done now. To be honest had fun while doing it (not that I would like to go through this all once again any time soon :D). Now I just hope all this pays off well. 

When you work in IT like me, doing physical work now and then is very therapeutic!

[souls33k3r]

1 minute ago, kirkster501 said:

When you work in IT like me, doing physical work now and then is very therapeutic!

Tell me about it mate getting these girly hands to do a man's job is always fun. I don't shy away from such work but it's just a bit hard work when you have a bad back, out of shape and want to get hydrates every 5 minutes. 

[Alan White]

Looking good Ahmed.
That neighbour, what a kind fella, superman for 1 1/2 hours to get that all done.

 

[souls33k3r]

54 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Looking good Ahmed.
That neighbour, what a kind fella, superman for 1 1/2 hours to get that all done.

Cheers Alan. Indeed he is mate. He was very helpful and even came out to check just before he went to play footie and then after he came back and then once more just before he hit the bed which was around midnight. 

[bottletopburly]

Looking good , you’ll soon reap the rewards Ahmed of your neighbours hard work 😓 😂😂

[JamesF]

Looks good so far :)  Well done.

James

[souls33k3r]

23 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Looking good , you’ll soon reap the rewards Ahmed of your neighbours hard work 😓😂😂

Well let’s look at this logically. This pier is 1/3rd mine, 1/3rd my next door neighbours and 1/3rd @angryowl  I’m not shy to admit that

2 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Looks good so far Well done.

James

Cheers James. I’m just hoping this will perform as well as it looks

[Davey-T]

All downhill now, getting past the planning officer was the hardest bit 😂

Which mount did you get in the end encoder wise ?

Dave

[souls33k3r]

18 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

All downhill now, getting past the planning officer was the hardest bit 😂

Which mount did you get in the end encoder wise ?

Dave

Hehehehe absolutely mate. I’m still not happy with the position of the pier in the garden but it could be worse. Will make use of this space to the best of my ability.

I bought the CEM60-EC. Tiny little thing and light as HEQ5 Pro but it’s the weight capacity that’s what really matters.

[Alan White]

2 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

Cheers Alan. Indeed he is mate. He was very helpful and even came out to check just before he went to play footie and then after he came back and then once more just before he hit the bed which was around midnight. 

Can you send hime round to me as well please 😂

[souls33k3r]

31 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Can you send hime round to me as well please 😂

I'm sure he would be delighted to find more work. He might start charging now, I'll take 10% of whatever he makes on referrals

[souls33k3r]

Day 2 of the pier concrete and it's looking solid already. 

I need to start preparing for the drilling and pier now so this is my task for the next couple of days.

Will be ordering and picking up the resin a day or so before i'm going to drill the holes in the concrete which brings me on to a few questions.

When do you reckon would the concrete be cured enough for me to start drilling in to? And then how long after the resin goes in and is set after say an hour or so can i put the pier on the top?

Also is it better to tighten the pier down with one hex nut or two? This will then determine how deep do i need to drill the holes for the studs.

Thanks in advance. 

[sloz1664]

4 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

Day 2 of the pier concrete and it's looking solid already. 

I need to start preparing for the drilling and pier now so this is my task for the next couple of days.

Will be ordering and picking up the resin a day or so before i'm going to drill the holes in the concrete which brings me on to a few questions.

When do you reckon would the concrete be cured enough for me to start drilling in to? And then how long after the resin goes in and is set after say an hour or so can i put the pier on the top?

Also is it better to tighten the pier down with one hex nut or two? This will then determine how deep do i need to drill the holes for the studs.

Thanks in advance. 

Hi Ahmed,

I would think one week would suffice before you drill. Regards the resin, the instructions should point you to cure times. Also, I used a single chrome domed top nut and appropriate chrome washer on each thread. Sets it off quite nicely

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Jkulin]

You need at least a week to go off, I did mine after a couple of weeks and it was rock solid.

The resin went off over night, remember the old saying measure twice, cut drill once!

Edited July 9, 2019 by Jkulin