Sometimes upside down is the right way up.

Troweling on our fiberglass reinforced concrete is tricky business. It takes a great deal of practice to become skilled and proficient. Each day my crew gets better at the task but they still need more hours to get really good. When they apply the concrete mud to upside down areas it becomes apparent they need a little more practice. When these upside down surfaces are in tight confined areas it is especially hard, even for the seasoned professionals. But there are always ways to make it easier. 

The top of the lighthouse was especially tricky but as I thought about it last night I came up with a simple solution. I welded up a quick jig to hold the lighthouse top and then this morning we flipped the piece and threaded it onto a bolt I had welded to the holding rig. I then welded four pencil rod braces onto the structure and it was ready to mud. I then left with two of the crew to work up at the lake. Jenessa did the bulk of the trowel work and Sarah helped out a little with the flat areas. TJ did the mixing of the concrete. It turned out great.

Tomorrow with the help of my VERY tough and strong crew we'll cut off the temporary braces and gently unscrew the topper from the holding jig. Then we'll carefully flip the now very top-heavy (or is that bottom heavy that is upside down?) piece back on it's feet and it will be ready for the roof concrete to be troweled on and carved. I love it when a plan comes together so perfectly!

-grampa dan

It is still working - as planned!

I like to build things strong. REAL STRONG. Because many of the things we build are used by the public there is no second chance on something that fails. The cure is to way over build. I hate failures and callbacks.

Back when we built Giggle Ridge Adventure Golf (almost 14 years ago) we had this same policy. We put in proper footings with plenty of rebar. We used overstrength concrete too

. And we triple coated when we did all of our painting. Because of that everything lasted and lasted well. This included areas that could have been impacted by frost heaves or tree roots. The concrete walkway didn't crack nor did anything else we built. The paint still looks good too.

Our current large project is for the same folks who bought Giggle Ridge and a few of the adjoining areas of the two parks need to adjusted and blended. This means some walkways and fences will have to be demolished and removed before building new. When I was told of the plans it made me smile for I knew what was hidden under the pretty features and walkways. Chris figured his crew would spend a half day removing one of the gates and some fencing. The crew carefully cut away the steel fence and then brought in the backhoe to take out the walkway and faux stone wall. They didn't get far. The concrete walls and footings were just too tough for the big machine. After two full days with jackhammers Chris' hardworking crew finally managed to get things low enough to build the footings for the new building. 

Chris has a new appreciation of the park he bought from us and for the work we are currently doing for him too. He knows it is built to last.

-grampa dan

Another piece mudded!

Today was one of those kind of days where I simply trusted the crew to do their jobs without much direction. They did a great job too. I was busy in meetings and getting steel bent (rolled) for projects happening next week. I came into the shop late in the afternoon as the crew pushed to finish applying the fiberglass reinforced concrete to the lighthouse bottom section. I picked up a trowel to give them a hand. Before quiting time arrived we had finished applying the concrete and smoothed off the section of the lighthouse. Then it was time to say goodbye to the crew after a wonderful hard day's effort.

The thing about concrete however is that it waits for no one. While a good portion of the lightouse was still too soft to finish cleaning up and be sponged for texture it couldn't wait for the crew's return in the morning. I went into the house for supper knowing I would be back in the shop in a couple of hours to finish the job we had started. When I returned after supper it took me another hour to finish off the piece.

It looked pretty cool and will look even better after it gets it's bright red and white striped paint job. I can hardly wait until it gets lifted into position up at the park! Tomorrow we start applying the concrete to the lighthouse topper.

-grampa dan