Main walls Poured

Well with a pending snow storm (ok at the time of this post the storm came and gone...more on that on a different post) we decided to move the pour up from Friday to Wednesday.  It made us push a little with a couple late nights to get everything ready to roll.  But I was determined to make sure we were waiting on the concrete this time, unlike last time where the concrete was waiting on us...

Above is Shannon on the high scaffolding as we get it set up one of the nights.  Figured she would like to be included in an "action" shot...

Big windows + concrete = steel.  Since there are not typical wood heads, the concrete can be designed as a beam using rebar if there is enough concrete depth above the window.  Since many of our windows are very tall, there is only about 10-12" of concrete above the window.  With window widths 5' and up, this is not enough concrete to be designed into a beam without the help of steel.  So I had to get some C channel lintels and then the S shape above made.  The beam above was about 80lbs, so not to big of a beam to stick in there.  We poured the concrete first and then wet-set the steel into the wet concrete. 

While this was part of the basement pour, I will still touch on it.  All through wall penetrations were stubbed out with pvc and then foamed in place to hold while the concrete is being poured.

The forms are all ready and we are doing the final inspection prior to pouring. 

And the pour starts.  We started with all of the window openings to get them filled up first.  Concrete flows and spreads each direction, so vibrating is critical to get it consolidated well. The piece of sheathing being held helps guide the concrete into the space in the window sill and helps prevent mess all over the subfloor.  Those are my hands, by the way.  Proper rubber gloves is key....as I found out the first pour (which I did not have rubber ones).

After the windows are done, we jump up on the scaffold and start working our way around the house.  We did about 3 lifts in general.  I am running the pumper boom arm, and some help is running the vibrator behind me. 

We hopped up on the high 11' 6" wall.  Since these forms are 8" o.c., we poured the walls all the way up.  I was nervous about it as it was shaking some standing there as the wet concrete was filling it up.  But Andrew Hobbs of Hobbs Vertical ICF said "Go for it, it is fine!".  Obviously it was.
(btw, if you look at the basement forms, it looks like the black plastic studs are going at an angle different from the main level floor.  Not sure why it looks that way, they actually align pretty good and are both straight)
The 3 pieces of plywood on the wall is concrete box outs for the back porch beam ties. 

Here I am pouring a 9' tall section of wall.

Long boom arm to reach everywhere we need!

The pour was not flawless however.  On the basement, we did not have any blowouts.  We had 2 issues with this pour.  The first was a panel broke in the center running vertically due to over vibrating I think.  It was caught right away however, and they were able to get some wood braced up on it before any concrete could spill.  I will need to shave some foam down prior to finishing the wall however.
The other issue was my fault.  One of the panels was not as tight in between the black studs as it should have been.  As the forms filled and put tremendous pressure on the forms, it spread the stud and the foam panel actually came out and broke.  Andrew caught it and we got it fixed.  A true benefit of the vertical forms verses horizontal forms shined bright here.  The fix was simple.  We simply pulled the broken panel out and slide a new one in from the top.  Took only a few minutes to fix, and you will never know anything ever went wrong. 

The above pics is the aftermath of the morning.  It took about 2 hours to pour the forms, and then about another hour to trowel the tops and set the anchor bolts.  In the last picture you can see the big steel lintel over the 8' wide window.

Here is looking at the tall wall full of concrete.  The walls don't move, at all. 

Sighting down with the camera on the tall wall.  You can see how straight the walls are.  This is another big difference between horizontal forms and vertical forms.  Vertical forms typically plumb up perfectly, as did my Hobbs Vertical ICF.