Began Removing Sand From The Yard Drain
[ Friday August 7th 2020 at 7:43 pm ]
The process for my yard drainage project is able to continue now. The concrete yard drain will reach day 14 of curing tomorrow. That means the concrete will reach 80% strength. For concrete that needs the form removed for what is being created this is when the form may be removed.
Today's progress is removing sand from the concrete form. So far about 75% of the sand has been removed. The sun is starting to set. I would just as well stop for night and continue when I'm fresh. Sand was used to reinforce the center so it would not collapse under the weight of the concrete while casting the yard drain.
For those interested in finding out: I used an 8" sonotube centered in a 16" sonotube as the form for my concrete yard drain.
- I used 8 pieces of ΒΌ" threaded rod at either end (like spokes on a bike) to center the inner sonotube. This makes a 4" thick wall.
- I cut 1/2" PVC conduit 5" long. These were positioned every 4". This required a 1" spade wood bit for drilling the holes in the sonotube.
- I used silicone as the adhesive to temporarily hold the PVC pieces in place while the concrete was added to the yard drain form.
- After the silicone cured I applied a column of duct tape to provide additional strength to the ends of the PVC pieces for a final line of defence to prevent it from slipping during the casting.
This strategy has worked well.