A muddy day . . .but progress is still made

It's official. The first section of wall in our new library has been poured. The inner form has been pulled away so that we may have a first glimpse. Since only the front section was poured, it seemed important to ask "How will the other walls attach to the front wall without creating weaknesses at the corners?" The answer is illustrated by pictures below.

In this picture of the corner of the poured concrete, you can see a notch traveling down the length of the wall. This notch is called a key. When the connecting wall is poured, the new concrete will fill in the wedge to lock the sections together. The rebar was also placed through the forms prior to pouring the first wall. These will also securely connect the two sections of wall. (For the record, the orange pieces are there to keep people from walking into the temporarily exposed rebar. This could ruin someone's day.)

This pictured shows the opposite corner. Here you can see what the concrete will eventually hide. These lattices of rebar will make the wall quite strong . The short pieces that stic out will connect the outer forms to the inner form to prevent the wall from expanding when concret is poured.

It's no wonder builing things take a while. This looks like a lot of work just to prepare the wall to be poured. . . but it's worth it!