Last of the Surprises???

In every project, we find something that makes us scratch our heads and say “how could they do that"?  Usually it’s some renovation done by a hapless homeowner many years ago.  But this one appears to have happened when the house was built.  And it resulted in a 'deja vu' moment as we saw yet another concrete truck pull up to the front of the house.

We hadn’t planned to make many updates to the garage, the owners just wanted the original walls removed to make it a serviceable space for a car.  But all that changed when we pulled up the old platform walkway and discovered the middle of the garage was bowl shaped – so any spills would pour into the basement!!!  I know things were different in the 1940’s, but even then you wouldn’t want things like gasoline, motor oil or even snow with road salt to empty into the basement.  So crazy!

Removing the wall to the right and the 'platform' walkway exposed a bowl shaped floor

So we had to make a change.  Dave from Concrete Prescriptions came back and jackhammered up the center of the floor and then cut the edges to have a nice, clean line.  It looked like a topographical map as he broke it all up!

 

He installed rebar into the old section of the floor and around the perimeter to give it extra strength. 

 

He had to build it up a lot at the low spot where the stairs went down to the basement.

He let me be his helper – my first time installing concrete!  I don’t have the proper boots, so most of my help was around the perimeter of the floor. 

Yeah.... I didn't have any boots suitable for this! 

We floated during the initial pour, but the next hour was spent floating it again, to get a nice uniform finish. 

One of the homeowners stopped by to add their initials – no matter what your age, doesn’t everyone want to write in wet concrete like a little kid?  

 

And now they have a nice level floor that will keep nasty stuff out of the basement!

Pin It