A short day with a new work crew.

It was nearly 11 AM on Tuesday when a new work crew showed up. Angel and his crew, who had done most of the work, had started a job up in Winthrop, about 90 miles away. The last time I saw Angel, he’d told me about how they camped out up there and partied every night. Corey told me they went fishing, too. It seemed like a lot more fun than they’d had at my job site.

This crew would be framing out the deck. They arrived, spent some time waiting around for the boss, got the directions they needed, and got to work.

I was out again so I missed most of the action. I spent the morning with Gary, a pilot who was working for me in Quincy, and his wife Lori. We’d gone out to an early breakfast and then toured an orchard while picking was going on. My client met us there and said some nice things about me to my companions before answering all their questions about growing cherries. Afterward, we tried to take the boat out but it was having battery issues; I guess it’s time to replace Ron’s battery.

The time-lapse camera was running, and that’s how I know how long the workers were here and what they did. It was a short day and they didn’t get much done. But they did start work on the side deck; work on the front deck has to wait until the two missing pieces of metal arrive and are installed.

Here’s the time-lapse:

The four small doors go in quickly.

I didn’t even see most of it happen — it was my birthday and I was busy with other things. Relaxing indoors, writing blog posts, and just taking it easy in the morning and then going out to be treated to dinner at Cave B in Quincy by four pilot friends and two of their wives.

The crew of four guys put my garage doors on: all four of the small ones. I should note here that the “small” garage doors are not all that small: they measure 10 feet wide by 8 feet tall. I wanted them to all be the same size and I needed them to be wide enough to fit my one-ton Ford pickup, which is pretty darn big.

I stopped by early in the day to take a photo for my scrapbook and to answer questions about where I wanted the windows. We decided on the top of each door so lots of light would get in but the casual snooper wouldn’t be able to look in without a ladder.

The garage doors come in panels and are assembled onsite.

The big garage door isn’t expected to arrive until July 15 or thereabouts. The crew will need a man-lift to install it, so they wouldn’t have been able to install it on Monday anyway; the freshly poured concrete needs a full week to cure before vehicles can be driven on it.

The time-lapse shows how the job was done; note the bees on the lens at the very beginning of the movie:

Finally, the concrete slab goes in.

I was up early on Friday. I’d been out late the night before and didn’t set up my time-lapse camera inside the building before going to bed. That meant getting it squared away before the builders and concrete guys showed up.

Fortunately, I’d already run an extension cord into the building, slipping it through a crack in the corner that hadn’t been finished yet. This kept it out of the doorway and off the ground. Corey had tied into my cord for his lights. I spent about 15 minutes in the dark trying to get the camera set in a good position to capture the action. In the end, as the guys started arriving, I gave up trying for perfection and just crossed my fingers. The outdoor time-lapse was still in position and running.

What followed seemed like controlled chaos. Builders began arriving at 4:45 AM. Then the concrete guys arrived. And then the first of four concrete trucks.

I think what amazed me most was that they were able to back a concrete truck into my RV garage. I didn’t realize the space was that big — but I guess it has to be to fit the mobile mansion.

Why yes, a cement mixer can fit in my garage.

The first pour was into wheelbarrows that needed to be moved into place and dumped. Two of the builder’s guys handled that chore while the concrete guys spread the concrete into place.

To get the far corners, they had to move the concrete with wheelbarrows.

The crews moved remarkably fast, with the next truck waiting each time a truck finished up. One of the workers told me that the concrete wasn’t waiting that day — I guess that meant it was setting up quickly. That would explain the urgency in which the concrete guys worked.

By 7:17 AM, they were in the far corner of the building, right beneath the time-lapse camera I’d set up 3 hours before.

Because they knew they’d have concrete leftover, they framed out a small pad in front of my shed and poured that, too. This is great — it’ll help reduce the amount of dust I track into the shed.

The last thing they poured were the post holes for the four front deck posts.

While the last bits of concrete were being poured, the concrete guys were inside, hard at work smoothing and grading the surface. The RV garage has a drain down the middle of it and the concrete surface needed to slope down toward it on all sides. The other garages also sloped gently out their doors. The guys worked with pads and trowels and other tools and equipment to get the surface just right.

Pouring was just half the job — the easy half, I think.

When they were all finished, they sprayed a sealer on the surface. And then they left.

Want to see a time-lapse of the concrete work? Here you go:

Meanwhile, outside Angel’s crew was hard at work adding trim to the building corners and around the windows and doors. The usual time-lapse camera caught the action; you can see it below.

I went out to do some shopping; I was having a big party the next day. When I got back late that afternoon, Corey had just finished cutting expansion joints into the perfect slab. He explained that this would help prevent the concrete from cracking. There was at least one cut running to each of the 36 posts inside the building.

He told me I could walk around inside if I wanted to, so I did. It looked wonderful. He warned me not to drive on it for a week. But yes, it would be fine for the party the next day — and for storing all of my possessions.

My finished floor. The shiny surface is from the sealant they used to help speed up the curing process.

Here’s the regular time-lapse for the day. It doesn’t show much of the concrete work, but it does show the trucks coming and going, as well as the trim work Angel and the guys did.