It Finally Poured!

It is with great elation that I write, "WE POURED THE SLAB TODAY!"  It was truly an amazing operation.  The campus (main house, five-car garage and casita, two-car garage) required 350 cubic yards (268 cubic meters) of cement.  That is 35 truckloads of cement.  From the first pour to the last was 7 hours, a remarkable 50 cubic yards an hour, or one truck every 12 minutes.  There was a team of at least twenty on hand to work the cement as it was poured, distribute the cement, level it, and then plane it.  From this point forward, our weather dependencies will be absolutely minimal.  Cleanup (removing the forms and clearing debris from the site) and rough grading of the property will take place next week.  Monday after next we will begin framing.  Here are some pictures and a video which I took throughout the day:

The first pour began at 07h20 on July 10, 2015.  They started on the
NE corner of the casita

Working to smooth the surfaces before it completely sets up.

The trenches provide strength and stability for the large slab,
and most of the cement is actually in the trenches, not on the surface

This is the last pour of the day, which is in the east corner of
bedroom four, a.k.a. The Exercise Room

Looking across the two-car garage, the porte-cochere, and the main house.  The final surface planing is underway
and the crew would be done within an hour of this picture.