Curb Your Enthusiasm!

We are finding, as we age, we are very easily entertained.  Just a bug in the backyard can keep us entertained for a long time!












So imagine how entertained we were when the workers began laying in our new curb!  It started with the rumble and growl of the big cement mixer early in the morning.



Then we heard a mysterious clanging sound, like metal on metal, but the truck was just sitting there.  Russ went out to investigate and found there was some kind of problem with the whatchamacallit or the thingamajig.   First the guy in the orange vest tried to fix it, then the guy in the green vest took over but it still wouldn’t work, so the guy in the orange took the job on again.



Which all goes to show, if it doesn’t work, just get a bigger hammer!!  They did eventually get the doohickey fixed and the truck started to roll.



There are actually two parts to this process.  The concrete truck in the front sends glops of concrete up a conveyor belt and where the glops are dropped into a bin on the extruder.  The extruder then lays a two level ribbon of concrete and the men go along and smooth it out with trowels.  That’s gotta be back breaking work.

The yellow arrow in the picture below shows a level line and the guide that the truck follows.  The red arrow shows where the concrete is extruded into the desired shape.


The concrete truck and the extruder move independently.  The extruder goes slowly along and when it starts getting too close, the truck inches forward.  There is a very brave man who stands between the machines to tell the truck when to move, or maybe it's to keep the concrete spout in the right place!  At any rate, I don't think I would want that job!  Here’s how it all works.



Once the concrete ribbon is extruded, it looks like this.





They will finish off the street side to match the height of the curb and on the other side will be a narrow planting strip (what a waste!!) and then the sidewalk. 







The last step was a guy going along in a truck spraying water on everything.  I guess he was the rain-man!




This is what our driveway looks like now.  No ingress, no egress!!



It could be as long as two weeks before we can use the driveway again but we are hoping for a shorter time frame.  It all depends on when the work gets done and then how long the concrete needs to cure.

See, I told you we are easily entertained and I’m sure there will be more excitement next week.  Stay tuned to the Concrete Channel for the next episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”