Last Saturday we picked up the formwork and started to install. In the evening we worked with the laser to position all the planks same level. Again a great (and easy) experience to work with that instrument.
Sunday afternoon we finished fixing and it all worked out well.
Yesterday morning we picked up a Trowel Butterfly machine we rented in the city.
At around 2.30 PM that day the KPS-Concrete truck arrived to deliver 5 m3 concrete for the top layer of the floor, filling (and strengthen the connection between the hollow-core slabs) the connection spaces between the slabs, and some other small projects that needed concrete, like the campfire place.
The weather to work was more than great. Around 27 degrees C. and a soft breeze.
Before pouring the concrete we had to water the concrete base slabs several times.
To be honest... We totally underestimated the amount of work for only the two of us. 80 m2 ground floor topping and the other projects (both pyramids we did before were around 40 m2 each). Phatsamon again did a more than great and heavy job without any complaint. And indeed happy the weather was fine. But still, far to much work for only two persons. Afterwards we concluded four should have made the work better but... we did not think about it. The first concrete we poured already was getting stiff while were pouring the last and that made it hard to handle. On the other hand it was a hard job to get everywhere the same thickness. A galvanized s6 m long steel pipe at the top of the formwork helped us several times.
On the other hand the machine we rented did not function well. The ability to change the position of the trowels failed and the speed I had to regulate to pull a metal wire. A very heavy machine (nearly not to carry by the two of us) and also very hard and heavy work. And, for me it was the first practical experience to work with such a machine. Many times I saw men from the construction firms I once worked for (around forty years ago), in The Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, used them but I never operated one myself. And to be honest again... It's a very hard job especially in the beginning and you need to be strong.
I treated the whole concrete floor area with the machine six times with intervals of around half an hour.
Using this machine I wanted to get a totally flat floor already ready for tiling (gluing tiles). I did not succeed in that. We still have to equalize the floors of the individual rooms before we can finish the flooring. It is the way it is.
Monday January 30 2023/2566 was a long day for us.
We worked (and cleaned the machine and our tools) till nearly midnight to get the best possible results. But still there is, so to say, some 'aftercare' to do. Still happy we rented this machine because only by hand for sure we did not succeed to get this final 'medium' result.
One thing is for sure the strength of the floor will be more than great. This type of floors normally are used in sport- & party centers.
Early in the morning we had to start to cure the concrete by spraying water first and covering with tarpaulins. The cement has to do it's work and with our climate (the sun and sometimes wind) the needed water for the chemical reaction/bonding otherwise will be taken out of the fresh concrete and weaken it.
In the evening we will take the tarpaulins off, water again for the night, and give it the time to 'breath' having great temperatures now for that in the night of about 14 degrees C. We will have to do that three days. After that we will spray the fresh concrete for a couple of days every hour.
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