Restoration frustration

So I did this job.




Twenty five hundred square feet of cement topping is a lot even if everything goes right.

At a little more than 1/8" thick and a working time of fifteen minutes this was non stop fun for about eight hours. THE FIRST TIME!!!

Yeah... The customer wasn't happy and on some levels rightfully so.

There were some five hundred feet of control joint in this area that had to be retraced and cut.

More thought should have gone into this part of the job as it turned out to be the biggest hurdle.

The second time turned out better but toppings are twitchy and great care should be taken to educate the customer to there limitations.

Wow!!!

If I were to describe the time that has passed since my last post the title of this one will fit nicely.

My very first project this Spring was forty steps from top to bottom for which I transversed an estimated sixty times in three days.




Yeah!!!! Some two thousand four hundred steps!

That is equal and then some to taking the stairs to reach the top floor of the Sears Tower.

This was just a warm up to one of my craziest Springs ever.




I completed my next couple of jobs solo to keep labor cost down.

Pouring concrete by yourself is a blast let me tell ya.




Once I had a little working capitol I hired a helper with no concrete experience and the two of us tackled a myriad of pool decks over the next several weeks.

Mike helped when he could but spent much time watching from the sidelines while I tried to keep from letting the concrete get too hard with no time to teach.

He held in there when most would have run while the heat blasted us, every tool and piece of equipment broke under our fingertips from neglect and lack of repair and maintenance funds in recent years, rain threatened to ruin our hard work, bugs flew in our ears while we worked, and his boss all the while expecting him to learn quickly and keep mistakes to a minimum.

With Spring and early Summer slipping by we tried to find time for the finer things as well. Keep a little balance you know?

Sprung

While its been a few months since I've updated, I have certainly not been setting idle in the sunroom drinking coffee and waiting for a new visitor to the bird feeder.




My winter works proved futile in monitary terms though the experience was priceless.

Though I didn't sell a single concrete piece, I did give a few as gifts and my designs went from paper to placement.

For now my outside concrete work has begun and I must put on hold this chapter in my professional life.

Throughout the warm season while I dig in the sand and play in the mud you can be sure my mind will be swimming with new ideas and ways to improve and promote my current designs.

Stay tuned for some Spring time concrete craziness as I dig out the equipment and head out for another season.

What's up benches?

This is an idea I had for a smaller bench that came to life recently.

This was inspired because every time I visit someones house I have to take a knee to put my shoes on before I leave.

I am working on a bench, shelf and mirror combo that I hope will go well at any foyer.

I've been framed

I have been experimenting with concrete picture frames.

Again not as heavy as you might think at 3/4" think.







Getting the hardware fixed to the back was a challenge.

Some careful drilling and two part epoxy does the trick.







With color and design combinations seemingly endless, I am very excited about concrete frames.