First Concrete Pour

No pictures yet, but last weekend's projects included a 6x4 concrete pad for the new heat pump arriving  next week.  It took 11, 80-pound bags of quickcrete.  I was relatively surprised by A) my tiny pickup's ability to carry 15, 80-pound bags and B) my ability to move them around so easily.  I really thought I would get halfway through the job and be totally whooped.  But I wasn't even very sore the next day.

The finish on the pad isn't great.  I think overall I used too much water.  At the end, water was rising to the top and forming a puddle on the concrete.  I figured that this indicated that there was a low spot where the puddle was forming and went about trying to even things out.  In the process, I pushed most of the water off the slab, which I think took the cement that should have been the surface of the pad with it.  So the surface is pretty rocky and pock-marked where surface rocks have been knocked away.

Luckily the pad will mostly be covered by the AC.  I might be tackling another pad for the propane tanks to sit on this weekend.  I'm currently working on my list of projects for this weekend:  Another pad (maybe), siding (if the weather gets nicer), electrical work in the garage (nothing stopping me), honey-dos (TBD).