Basement Floor edge

Since the new basement floor was dug 2 feet lower than the old floor, there would be a change in floor height and an edge that needed finishing. Working at night with Al we built footing forms for a 6" block wall to sit on. It was only 2 courses high. On the weekend we poured the footings. Al arranged for his mason to come by on Saturday to lay the block. We could have done it ourselves but it would have taken all day. Al’s mason had it done in a couple of hours.

The next week to start the edge finishing, we trimmed the slab back with a gasoline diamond blade saw.

The block was still a few inches lower than the old basement floor. We decided to form and pour a new edge.

We collected some 2 x 6 and 2 x 8 lumber and nailed it to the black wall. There was no shortage of re–bar to put in the cement for strength.

It was getting dark already on Saturday, November 6 and we started winding down the work and cleaning up. Al brought up putting a steel edge on the outside corner. This would prevent the floor corner from getting beat up. I like these ideas from Al. He is helping me as if it was his own house. Scott is the same way. I was just about to complain to Al that the steel angle was a good idea but he came up with it a little late, since we were going to pour the cement tomorrow. Then I remembered that I had some 1" steel angle iron in stock. I bought it for some project about 8 years ago and still had some lying around. I went to the trailer and dig it out. It would work great.

The only thing that we need was a way to anchor the angle into the cement. What Al usually did was to weld rebar to the inside. Since we didn’t have a welder, although Al did and offered to bring it the next day. I suggested using flat head bolts. This would be easier because were only had to drilled and counter sinkholes. We needed to go to home depot that night to buy the bolts and Portland cement anyway. I drilled the holes first thing the next morning and we installed the screw anchors.

 Pete was the mix master. 

The mix Ratio was 1 portland to 2 sand to 3 gravel and the right amount of water. It took him a few batches to get the water right. Too much water makes the cement weak. 

We brought in the concrete with a wheelbarrow.

As we were finishing the pour, the temperature was dropping. By dusk, it was below 50° . Cooler temperature means that the cement will take longer to harden. The guys went home, I went out for dinner with Elaine. It was tough getting motivated to go back out into the cold to finish the cement at 10:00pm on Sunday night. It took me about 1-½ hours and it came out really great. Monday night I stripped off the forms and cleaned up the mess. It was another job completed – checked off the list done!