Have you ever worked with concrete?

[Cajun]

My friend just bought a house and he has a dirt lot in his backyard. He asked me to help him pour a concrete slab so we could put up a patio cover. We had close to 100 bags of 60lbs of mixed concrete. He should've just paid for a truck to pour, but we had to do it manually. Those 60lb bags were heavy as fuck. They felt like they weighed twice as much and we had to do this 100 times. pour into the concrete mixer then pour into the formation we had. People who do this all day must be stronger than shit.

I poured a slab to fix an extention the previous owners did without pouring a slab. Agreed it is hard work to mix it yourself an those bags are heavy.

 

[JonnyBonesPharmacist]

Christ.
1 cubic meter of standard concrete weighs 2,400kgs (2.4metric tons).
a cubic yard is SLIGHTLY smaller than a cubic meter (a yard is 91% of a meter) but barely any less.

So 10cubic meters of concrete = 24tons / 24,000kgs and 12 cubic meters = 28,800kgs.
That's a hell of a lot of cargo for any vehicle to carry at one time.

Yeah buddy, don't ever pull out in front of a loaded redi mix truck

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Good video, interesting stuff to watch.
I actually always kinda wondered how concrete floor slab was made. so it's like approx 4inches (??) of concrete with a mesh of rebar or similar mesh steel unrolled onto the plywood for strength etc and once that's all dried, you just remove most of the steel/aluminum struts underneath and just leave the main steel "triangular section" truss (leaving maybe 12inch gap underneath the concrete floor?) so that there's space for wiring and a/c ducts and then after new steel/aluminum struts and sheetrock / dura-rock is attached to that for the ceiling below.

more or less right?

I'd still think the concrete slab would sag down despite the steel reinforcing mesh but obviously it works and i guess it depends on how fine or coarse the mesh is.

How long did you guys leave the concrete to dry/harden before you removed the support struts and the plywood sheets?

Yes the steel joists stay in place they sit on the walls from end to end they all had to be raised up then lowered down by a crane in bundles with two scaffolds set up on each end with two guys landing the joists..If they ended up on a steel beam we had have a welder come in a weld them down. Some jobs were all on steel so a lot of welding. While putting in all the bars one guy would just keep loading two guys scaffold with the bars so they could keep going. The wire mesh came in large rectangular sheets cant remember the exact dimensions. Then we would overlap each sheet by 2 squares all around and tie them down with tie wire. I believe we would go back two or three days after the pour and start stripping the bars and plywood. We would actually stack them on a pallet half way out a window (shady as fuck i know) then strap them up and the crane would just move it up to the next floor. So had to know our crane signals really well always communicating with the crane operator on the ground.

The worst part about that job was actually the travelling we would drive 2 hours to a job sometimes work all fucking day then drive home. If it was any further we stayed in a hotel but my cousins were stubborn most times and wanted to go home. I didn't drive at the time so i was stuck sitting in the middle of the pick up truck all the time. lol A lot of times inbetween jobs we just travelled back and fourth all day multiple days a week moving wood and bars from one job to the next one or two truck loads at a time. Those days sucked just stuck in that truck forever making trip after trip. lol safe to say i don't miss it. haha sorry for teh novel.

 

[mozfonky]

I was 20 years old and had never lifted weights in my life. Just laboring. Cut as all hell, but only really jacked on my back and forearms. You couldn't miss the forearms, but if you were to look at me at the time you wouldn't think I could pick up that weight. I am barely over midget height being 6'-2" though.

I believe it, they did always say the forearms and calf muscles need high reps to grow, unlike the other muscle groups but either way really, I don't think everyone can put on much muscle or strength. I've worked at it, granted, I've never really had time enough to go for years with unbroken training, I just don't and don't understand how the average person can either, but I do my best. Yet and still, I've never put on a lot of muscle or strength, weights never did much for me. I've put in a similar amount of work on martial arts and I'm much better at kicking and punching powerfully, we all have our different aptitudes. Boggles my mind seeing some dudes in the gyms I go to, I know they look at me curling my puny weight and feel contempt. Put us in a ring they'd get a beating though.

 

[mozfonky]

Good video, interesting stuff to watch.
I actually always kinda wondered how concrete floor slab was made. so it's like approx 4inches (??) of concrete with a mesh of rebar or similar mesh steel unrolled onto the plywood for strength etc and once that's all dried, you just remove most of the steel/aluminum struts underneath and just leave the main steel "triangular section" truss (leaving maybe 12inch gap underneath the concrete floor?) so that there's space for wiring and a/c ducts and then after new steel/aluminum struts and sheetrock / dura-rock is attached to that for the ceiling below.

more or less right?

I'd still think the concrete slab would sag down despite the steel reinforcing mesh but obviously it works and i guess it depends on how fine or coarse the mesh is.

How long did you guys leave the concrete to dry/harden before you removed the support struts and the plywood sheets?

I always wonder how they get the shit to pour at an even angle downhill without pooling at the bottom. concrete's a trip and expensive too. I know a guy who spent five grand for a little retaining type wall, he had it underground to stop the flooding in his house, the dumbass didn't know it wouldn't work and it didn't.

 

[Thrawn33]

I could have swore they used to be 80lb bags...back in the day when I used to load them up on people's trucks at the hardware store...as a skinny 6'1" 140lb teenager....

 

[mozfonky]

I could have swore they used to be 80lb bags...back in the day when I used to load them up on people's trucks at the hardware store...as a skinny 6'1" 140lb teenager....

I believe that's right, they changed it. It's not that heavy but if you're a guy who sits in an office and never did anything physical, that's heavy. I was always mystified when I did labor jobs how the customers thought I was some sort of hercules, but those folks were office/white collar workers, they don't see the guys I do at the gyms who lift two three times what I can lift for reps. Unless functional strength is that much more different than lifting weights, I'm not that strong. Like I say, I've seen guys dumbell curl 85 pounds, do 12 reps of 100 pounds, lying down triceps extension. That's some strong shit.

 

[Osculater]

I believe that's right, they changed it. It's not that heavy but if you're a guy who sits in an office and never did anything physical, that's heavy. I was always mystified when I did labor jobs how the customers thought I was some sort of hercules, but those folks were office/white collar workers, they don't see the guys I do at the gyms who lift two three times what I can lift for reps. Unless functional strength is that much more different than lifting weights, I'm not that strong. Like I say, I've seen guys dumbell curl 85 pounds, do 12 reps of 100 pounds, lying down triceps extension. That's some strong shit.

There is a difference from lifting barbells and dumbells than lifting items that are in different shapes, density, and imbalanced.

 

[Thrawn33]

There is a difference from lifting barbells and dumbells than lifting items that are in different shapes, density, and imbalanced.

Exactly. Saw it on the deck of a buoy tender, these new guys with big beach muscles getting out worked by the smaller wirey ones (or this old fuck right here) who had experience and technique.

 

[mozfonky]

There is a difference from lifting barbells and dumbells than lifting items that are in different shapes, density, and imbalanced.

Ya, I guess. i never understood how people think I'm strong, I'm plain not. I can fight and hit hard but those things don't seem all that related to how much you can move. Wrestling would be different I presume but better wrestlers than I have said it's not.

 

[Osculater]

Ya, I guess. i never understood how people think I'm strong, I'm plain not.

A lot of people have told me that I'm hella strong when we roll but I can't lift anything over teh 275

 

[Doughie99]

Yes the steel joists stay in place they sit on the walls from end to end they all had to be raised up then lowered down by a crane in bundles with two scaffolds set up on each end with two guys landing the joists..If they ended up on a steel beam we had have a welder come in a weld them down. Some jobs were all on steel so a lot of welding. While putting in all the bars one guy would just keep loading two guys scaffold with the bars so they could keep going. The wire mesh came in large rectangular sheets cant remember the exact dimensions. Then we would overlap each sheet by 2 squares all around and tie them down with tie wire. I believe we would go back two or three days after the pour and start stripping the bars and plywood. We would actually stack them on a pallet half way out a window (shady as fuck i know) then strap them up and the crane would just move it up to the next floor. So had to know our crane signals really well always communicating with the crane operator on the ground.

The worst part about that job was actually the travelling we would drive 2 hours to a job sometimes work all fucking day then drive home. If it was any further we stayed in a hotel but my cousins were stubborn most times and wanted to go home. I didn't drive at the time so i was stuck sitting in the middle of the pick up truck all the time. lol A lot of times inbetween jobs we just travelled back and fourth all day multiple days a week moving wood and bars from one job to the next one or two truck loads at a time. Those days sucked just stuck in that truck forever making trip after trip. lol safe to say i don't miss it. haha sorry for teh novel.

I find it interesting, thanks for the info. Good read! Yeah that's a long day.... 4hours travel total and a lot of hard physical work in-between. It's a younger man's game for sure.
I had guessed maybe leaving the concrete 4 days so i wasn't that far off I suppose.

 

[mozfonky]

A lot of people have told me that I'm hella strong when we roll but I can't lift anything over teh 275

for a bench? that's not bad, I got my squat up to 285, but my bench was never more than 200-205 on my best day. I've asked guys who could press more to engage in a shoving match with me, at least in terms of that, they win, they generally just push me away. How useful that type of strength is in fighting, I don't know, it could definitely fuck with an opponents mind to realize how strong a guy is. I remember in my most brutal streetfight, I could tell the guy was just way too fucking strong for me and I knew I'd have to pull out all the stops, I almost killed him, dude was or seemed to me, just a huge, freak, strong as fuck. I would be scared to think of what would happen if he got the upper hand.

 

[mozfonky]

I find it interesting, thanks for the info. Good read! Yeah that's a long day.... 4hours travel total and a lot of hard physical work in-between. It's a younger man's game for sure.
I had guessed maybe leaving the concrete 4 days so i wasn't that far off I suppose.

they had a rule in my town that you had to stop doing it if it got to a certain temp outside. It wasn't even that hot compared to the gyms I've been in. But, I suppose a lot of out of shape guys probably conked out and died doing the shit.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

I find it interesting, thanks for the info. Good read! Yeah that's a long day.... 4hours travel total and a lot of hard physical work in-between. It's a younger man's game for sure.
I had guessed maybe leaving the concrete 4 days so i wasn't that far off I suppose.

I started when I just turned 19 did it for about 2.5 years and my cousin's were in their 40's already. Them and the other guys on the crew were absolute fucking animals. They don't make them like that anymore. The one dude couldn't work unless he was drunk. He needed the booze to stop the shakes. Lol

 

[Cole train]

And just in time this comes in recommended

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I don't really do flat work, but I've done tile installations for over 20 years.

For some reason sacks of concrete and cement feel heavier than other objects. Try picking up a 94lb sack of cement. It's like carrying mercury. Also, why do they put it in thin paper sacks that rip with a gust of wind? Hate when I have to use that stuff. I'd rather get premixed bags for floating floors and walls than do my own chopping and mixing.

And yes, carrying 5 gallon buckets of concrete sucks.

Well TBH, 94 lbs is not easy to lift on any other medium than a barbell. Must be absolute hell in a bag.

 

[Doughie99]

Well TBH, 94 lbs is not easy to lift on any other medium than a barbell. Must be absolute hell in a bag.

I once carried a large-ish safe that weighed a bit over 100lbs. Had to carry it from a Jeep into a house, and up to the 2nd floor etc.
That was about as much as I want to ever carry in one go. It was big enough (maybe 2 feet x 2 feet x 2feet), but you could just get your arms around the box it came in....

 

[elreece]

Yes and it fucking sucks.

During my Uni days I did labouring on construction sites, I have done it enough to know I never want to do it again.

 

[MichiganMMA1978]

ITT, You can tell the guys that never worked a physically demanding job before.
You guys are just talking about the last 25 years of my life lol. (Management now though)

I loved it when I trained though. Roll with guys that outweigh me 50-75lbs and hear them cry about not understanding how I can overpower them lol