Diggin' It Part 2.

Possibly the only thing duller than watching the grass grow is watching holes being dug.  I will spare you the details except to say that it took about one month of weekends just to dig the holes.  But through the magic of blogging, we can quickly move on to the next steps.

    With the holes dug, the next step was to install the sonotubes (cylindrical cardboard forms) in the holes.  In order to get the holes in the right place, new lines were installed so that the height of the lines would be at the top of the forms.  This was accomplished using 12 long stakes on the outskirts of the work area.  On each stake, the height was marked using a laser level that I purchased for about $70 at Home depot.  The really cool auto leveling laser was $500, so I passed on that.  The laser level that I purchased had to be leveled by hand.  Also, the laser intensity was so weak, that it could not be seen when rotating at full speed.  I suppose I could have waited until night, but instead, I manually pointed the laser at a location on each stake an marked it with a pencil.  With all the marks in place, the lines could be installed as can be seen in the photo.

   One unfortunate thing about the sonotubes is that they are only 4 feet long, yet the holes had to be 4 feet deep.  This would mean that the concrete piers would stop right at the dirt surface, which is not where I wanted them.  To get the required length, two sonotubes were duct taped together and then cut to length with a hand saw.  You can seen just a little bit of the white duct tape in the picture right at the dirt level.

     With all the sonotubes in place, the work-site no longer looks like it has been bombed.  Each tube was covered with plastic wrap (green, left over from Christmas I guess).  This was to protect the sonotubes from water damage.  Sonotubes degrade quickly when wet and must be protected right up to the time they are used.

    Into each sonotube was placed three long vertical pieces of steel called rebar.  This steel greatly strengthens the finished concrete piers.  To keep the rebar in the right position, I added two triangles of steel, one at the top and one at the bottom as shown in the picture.  This assembly could be just dropped into the sonotube without need of additional support or positioning.  Each assembly of rebar had to be cut to a custom length for each sonotube because the concrete piers are not on level ground.

   Now the concrete piers are ready to be poured.