[09.17.03]
It's been a couple of days since the last of the deconstruction took place. In that time several things happened, for the most part regrouping. Regrouping usually involves, cleaning up debris and tools, reorganizing material and figuring out what's next and what you'll need to get it done. In this case, the next order of business is cement work. We'll be pouring a new cement pad over an area just below, where the new deck will be. Typically, cement would be used to backfill the post holes to anchor them and provide a solid base for the deck. Here, it was necessary to go a step further and plan to pour and entire pad over the area because it was discovered that the old limestone foundation was in bad shape and needed repair. Look at the dirt next to the house, see how it slopes away from the house? Prior to digging a trench where the new deck posts would be placed and shoveling the dirt over near the house, the slope was opposite. It actually slopped a great deal down and toward the house which added to the slow deterioration of the foundation. The cement mortar between the individual limestones was in such bad shape that it could be rubbed away with your fingers. This created ample opportunity for mice to borrow into and through the foundation wall for shelter and over time, the mice eventually made their way into the basement. A cement pad would seal up the foundation below ground level and with repairs above ground level, the entire area underneath where the new deck would be built, would be weather tight and mouse proof.
A few other things are worth mentioning, for example, the old stoop (cement stair) is straight now. If you look back at other pictures, the stoop blended in well with the sway-backed porch floor because it was also, so out of kilter. It leaned severely to the right and backwards standing in front and looking directly at it. To remedy this, I spent several hours lifting and moving the stoop with hydraulic jacks using bricks and wood for wedges. Once in place, I reinforced the stoop with more temporary wedges and dug out dirt, old brick and other crap from underneath to make room for fresh cement. The space you see now, between the stoop and the sidewalk it sits on, will eventually be filled with fresh concrete. This will keep the stoop level and fix it, in it's new position.
On another note, look at the rock pile on the left of the post sticking in the air. Each hole for each post (5 total) has to have a hole drilled down into the ground at least three foot deep. The rocks are some of the finds that I retrieved when drilling the holes. It can be easy drilling if you don't run into anything and a real bear if you run into things like I found.

[09.17.03]
Check out the garbage wood pile in the background. Believe me, even after you pick things up and haul it off to the burn pile more junk just seems to keep accumulating and getting in your way! Almost like it reappears :-)
You know things are getting serious when you see a level (that thing leaning against the stoop). Any level suggests a certain amount of preciseness is or will be taking place. Here the post holes need to be positioned correctly so the deck posts will be lined up with the existing structures i.e. the stoop and house, so that everything fits together. Once done, the posts are set on a 3" layer of "pea rock", plumbed for vertical, measured and aligned horizontally and then braced with a 2X4 to keep everything intact. On a side note; I thought it was interesting to see the difference between the house siding that was exposed to the weather and the siding that was protected inside the porch. Look closely at the left and right sides of the post, farthest away from you in the pic, next to the house.

[09.17.03]
After setting the posts and bracing them and shuffling all the dirt around to give the proper slope away from the house, forms need to be constructed for the cement. Forms are made up of 2X4's standing on edge and act as barriers to contain the cement and also act as guides when leveling it. Let me put it another way, cement reminds me of cake batter in a way. So, if you picture pouring the batter into a cake pan, a round form, it remains contained until you pour in too much and it flows over the sides. To get rid of the "too much" part you scrape off the excess until it's flat on top, or level it, in cement terms. I know, not a good analogy, just consider the source, I'm not getting a big check for this job :-)

[09.17.03]
Keep in mind, the concrete truck just doesn't show up when you're ready for it, you have to call in advance so that you can be scheduled with the rest of the folks out there doing cement work. It's a good idea to call several days in advance of when you "think" you'll be ready to pour the cement. But, when you "think" you're going to be ready is usually different than when you actually are ready. It's another quirk about construction, similar to the "measure twice, cut once theory". So, plan well and give yourself some extra time so you don't get in a bind. I thought I had everything figured out and found out that getting all the forms to line up and leveled with the proper slope away from the house, was not as easy as I planned. When the cement truck showed up for this pour, I had just finished building the forms. The timing was a little to close for comfort.

[09.17.03]
Once the cement is poured and leveled, some of the forms can be pulled out. For example, where old cement meets new cement- like what you are seeing here. The reason for pulling these forms is so the new can be smoothed level with the old. Other forms stay put until the cement dries or at least, gets nice and solid.

[09.17.03]
It always looks so nice after it's done because there's a lot of back breaking work that's involved. The entire surface has been hand troweled so it's smooth and then later on when just enough moisture is gone, the surface will be swept with a broom. This will be done to rough it up just a tad so it's not slick like a garage floor would be. Why? You want to be able to sweep/clean your garage and rough cement doesn't sweep well, rough finish is for outdoors and provides good traction during rain and snow. Note how the cement is now under the stoop as planned.

[09.17.03]
It takes a good day for the cement to dry before you can walk on it. At that point they call it "green". Meaning the cement is hard to the touch and firm enough to walk on but you don't want to do any type of work that would create stress on it. It's late in the day now and it's been a long day, in the morning our concrete will be green enough to gently walk on and in a couple of days it will be ready for the new deck.

[09.17.03]
In the mean time, I'll work on more cleanup and prep work for the next part of the project. Great time to take more scrap wood to the burn pile and enjoy the break!

Next, a minor detour!