| Transmitter Project Update - Foundation |
| Written by Kevin Sterne |
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Great news! As you may have noticed this week has been slightly warmer than usual. I kept an eye on it late last week and decided last Friday that we'd get a small window to dig and pour our foundation.
Well, after two days of hard work, WE'VE DONE IT! Thanks goes to Jared Thomson, General Manager, and Joshua Arrit for their contribution in the process. I would not have been able to do it without them. As for the play by play action from the last two days, we started on Monday morning by getting an excavator up to the site and began digging the footers. This task went surprising quick thanks to weather system last week that dumped 1-2 inches across the New River valley. The ground was very soft and easy to dig. Once we had the footers dug, we put in some gravel to backfill some areas where we had gotten a little too happy with the digging. We also leveled out some grade issues and cleaned up some of the remaining brush to give us more room around the site. We finished off Monday by going and picking up rebar and a few other supplies that we would need for the next day. Tuesday started off chilly and wet...and stayed that way most of the day. Up on the site, we enjoyed a refreshing fog with mist/drizzle for most of the day. Jared and I cut up 60 sections of rebar to be placed in the footers. We added more rebar along the length of the footers and tied them together to make one heck of a good support structure. We were tight on time though; we needed to put all the rebar in place and build the form so that it was the proper size and level it off before the concrete was to be delivered. However, we just managed to get the form put together for the top 4" slab as the concrete truck made its way up to the site. And we just barely had enough concrete to fill it all in. Thank goodness for that extra quarter of a cubic yard of concrete that I decided to add on to the order hours before the delivery. We filled in a few holes and leveled of the concrete until it was even with our form all the way around. Josh then took to finishing off the surface just as a moderate rain shower passed by. In order to keep too much water from pooling on the surface, Jared and I took to figuring out a good way to put a tarp over top of the concrete without it touching. A fence post, a tree, several wooden boards and pieces or rebar later, we had it covered. And just in time too, as we were leaving the site, the rain picked up for a bit. But, the job was done. Next, I'll be setting up a time for the building to be delivered to the site as well as setting up equipment to be delivered that we can start installing in the building. That's about all for now. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and a happy New Year. |