Hola Everybody, here is an update on the works:
We spend last week (1st) Opening the ditch for new footer placement, and pour it, in two sections about 36′ each, immediately we start putting together the steel for the wall first (lower section).
For the weekend, we Keep preparing next section of the wall, and tighten the reebar extensions for pouring second “upper” part of the wall, Backhoe starts to open his way to jump inside the area and move sand from the big pile of fill that was bring in during last weekend, in order to make its way across the area, creating a solid platform that will stabilize the main slope, plus add sand as high as possible and close the house, to avoid erosion on this area. sand was move as well close to the base of new retaining wall to back fill the area. It remove as much dumped sand from pile, but not that much so we can still use upper area of fill as platform for the concrete pump. The Idea is in some point and once the East corner of sea wall is complete, get the backhoe to start shaping a way down the slope so it can continue moving fill material against the sea wall.
Sunday, east wall affected by original storm need to be knock down, since it was built with the footer going down the slope (inclined) instead of horizontal and go down in sections to absorb the slope. The back hoe work on dig down on the East corner so we can place steel for footer, once level was reach it stop.
Monday Oct 02.
We couldn’t have concrete service Over Saturday afternoon or Sunday so we rush early to prepare for pour first upper section of wall (west side) and corner footer (east side) we did it 9:00 am, Tide suppose to be 4:00 meter and away from working area but strong wind came in with 3’+ waves and we couldnt avoid to get the water inside our excavation, the big barrier of sand we place in front of the area was wash away within the hour. with this, we have to stop working on the footers, and will prepare to pour the second section of wall (upper) over the 80 % of the lot, we plan on pour tomorrow just when high tide goes down around 2:00 pm. we plan on leave the forms attach so this fresh concrete holds to the high tide by thursday to sunday will be the most strong tide. Concrete order for tomorrow, besides the water proof additive we are using will have accelerant for 7 days, so by Tuesday it will be at least 60% of its strength. any other work trying to build up will be very risky, so we would have to wait until tide goes down again.
To protect the area and create a wave breaker I bring in BIG empty cement bags (2 ton) , and bring back again the backhoe to fill them up, and align them in front of our open spot (east corner) against lot 3, we will see how it works tomorrow around noon with the high tide, and plan on protect any spot that is vulnerable with smaller sand bags (100 Pounds). we will as well bring in manually all the debris and block from east wall, to accumulate rocks and avoid erosion against the slope of the house. It’s going to be a very tense days watching the high tide, since lot 3 barely put up a 4 block wall this morning to protect their lot from erosion, on top of a big flat concrete pad they poor last week. they are going to try to fill their cells with concrete (they set up reebar to reinforce, but that concrete is going to be very week to hold on if heavy waves came with the high tide. I will be preparing the scenario if water goes inside their block wall, and fill more sand bags to protect that corner , so if water jumps in , it wont drag fill as it did last high tide that empty to hole beach front.
We have as well fix beach access union, since the corner or your west wall was failing since a lot of water wash the sand and create a cavern, we use the backhoe to fill it with sand , and dump over there the leftover of the concrete pump several times. As well we create a tight union in between east wall and new concrete wall, I think this area its safe by now, in the future, will be necessary pour a small concrete slab just to let the splash drain down easily back to the beach.
If you see last picture, and ask what the heck the backhoe is digging on the beach, we got a stinky dead dolphin wash out all the way against the wall and we berried down there.
I’m trying to send the plan for the sea wall to the city to get it quote, have it almost ready, but been absorb on site making sure the workers got every they need, crew has been working non stop from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. This goes as well for the quote needed to claim the insurance.
Tuesday Oct 03
We start 6:30 am to be able to install wood forms before high tide at 12:30, tide wasn’t as strong as yesterday (calm waves) so we didn’t have a problem to prepare, and we pour as expected the upper part of second segment of sea wall. we are moving all the pieces (blocks) of the east wall section that fell down debris to block a bit the waves for next high tide, in the union of lot 2 & 3, we will collect our tools , clean the patio, and come back to continue when low tide lets us work on the east corner of the sea wall. we will be check during the next high tide (thursday & Friday) just to see if there is a spot where we can do something to avoid erosion. Checking the tide calendar, we will be back next Tuesday to finish the remaining corner.
