July 22 - Finalizing the footing forms before the concrete pour on Saturday

I stopped at the building site on Thursday to take a few more pictures and get some scoop about the project and get some inside info for the blog. Shortly after I arrived I was on my way to Elk River to get a spool of 'tie wire' from the hardware. Although I am something of a construction expert, I had never heard of tie wire and thought it might be located next to the board stretcher in the dehydrated water department. I was surprised, however, that even though the first person I asked did not have a clue and made me a bit wary, I then asked a more mature and experienced looking gentleman and he assured me that they do have it, but it is in the far corner of the store. So after a lengthy walk inside and a drive back to Nowthen I delivered the goods.

This event reminded of a previous experience when my son Tony and I were doing a remodeling project on my house. Although I was the elder, I deferred to him on the project due to his slightly greater experience with construction. When I asked what I should do next, he sent me to the hardware to buy a nail. I got the length, girth, finish and head type recorded and went to the hardware. After some time digging through the nail bins, I found the exact item required. Delighted, I hustled home with the pride of accomplishment due me. Upon arrival, he noted he now needed another nail. When this scene was replayed a couple more times I became suspicious of his intentions. Now having been sent for 'tie wire' and finding such an item really existed and was for sale, I wondered about the intentions of the crew chief that sent me on this errand. I thought he might immediately send me for another one of the same item. Having been once fooled, I was now much wiser. I bought two spools of the wire.

Tie wire is used to tie the steel rebar pieces together and to support the resulting steel web about 3.5
inches off the ground so when the concrete is poured this steel reinforcement web floats in the
concrete

Brent Huhta mastered the art of
weaving the rebar web and
suspending it at the proper height.

Brent also mastered the rebar shortener.

Once the boards are all attached to each other a continuous frame exists all the way around the building. The concrete will then be poured in to make the footings on which the slab and walls will
rest. This continuous form must be leveled so the concrete surface will be level all the way around the building. Aaron pries up the form, Phil checks for level with beeper. When all is well, Aare puts in a screw which holds the form to a stake in the ground so the frame stays where it belongs. Aaron is leaning on the final, fine adjustment tool. If the form is still slightly high, he uses the tool to persuade the frame to drop a bit.

After the form is leveled, the remaining gap under the form is filled with dirt. Phil is showing Ed Tolkkinen where to place the dirt.