Commercial Site Visit: Concrete Foundation Wall Pour

          This past Friday I made a second site visit to the bank being constructed near my home in Waldwick, NJ.  Two pour the concrete foundation wall a pump truck was used (seen below) with two concrete trucks pouring cement into the hopper as two more waited in line.

Here the worker can be seen controlling the hose delivering the concrete.

          The pump truck was operated by a worker inside the pump truck who directed by another two workers in charge of maneuvering the shoot inside of the forms and relaying directions to the operator via hand signals.   Aside form these three workers and the men in charge of pouring the concrete into the hopper, many of the other workers on site seemed to be just waiting around doing nothing.  This idle time spent by the workers seemed to be very inefficient cost wise because although the workers are not doing anything they are still getting paid.

          Another observation I made while watching the pour be performed was that along the sides of the plywood forms, walkways had be attached to allow workers walk along and vibrate the concrete, helping to get rid of air pockets and allow the concrete to settle into all gaps.

Walkways along forms allowing workers to vibrate concrete.  Walkways were approximately 4-5 ft. above excavation floor.