Piers & Skid Steer

Rather than taking the straps off the concrete forms the next day we thought we should let them set the whole weekend just to be sure. We came back the next Monday, took the straps off and started cutting the forms off at ground level with a circular saw. The piers turned into a playground pretty quick with the boys jumping between them and putting boards on them to walk across.

We were too scared to do much tapping of the forms while the concrete was being poured in fear of popping another one open, so the concrete finish on some of them ended up a little rough. Royall went around with grout to smoothen the surface. At some point the piers will get covered in fieldstone.

For two summers while I was in University I worked as a landscaper and as a result have hundreds of hours of experience in a skid steer. I rented one from our nearby contractor friend and got to work filling in 5 truckloads of clay around the concrete piers to build it up so it is higher than the surrounding area. we tamped the clay down as best as we could and then covered it with some washed rock. The boys liked taking turns riding in the cab.

Grandma and Grandpa rode their horses over to visit. Grandpa has been giving our 11 year old horse riding lessons and he is starting to feel pretty comfortable riding by himself.

Next step is to anchor wooden beams to the concrete piers. We wanted to find large 8x12 timbers to make this span but it looks like making our own beams with treated 2x12’s is going to be by far the cheapest option. Before buying all the wood to do this I bought enough to make one beam so we are going to try to make one over the next few days and see how it goes.