Observatory Pier

Comment

Comment by KDK on April 12, 2011 at 12:51pm

Posted a few more photos so you could see the top of the pier when finished with the mount attached and the cabeling through the pier to the sub floor.

Comment by KDK on April 12, 2011 at 12:44pm

I posted another photo of the pumper truck and the pier top. Sorry, I meant level in terms of the height dimension - so there was no lean. We dropped the pier bolts down into the wet concrete with a template, made sure things were level and allowed it to set. After it set a bit we smoothed and leveled the top of the concrete. Once dry (after 3 weeks) we used a concrete grinder to make sure the top was level from any monor imperfections. We also used a long depth vibrator down the pier length when pouring to make sure there were no air pockets.

Comment by Charles Dunlop on April 12, 2011 at 12:35pm

you had to line your pier up exactly? there's no give in the pier in azimuth?

My pier cementing job settled a touch off balance, so I had to use washers to level it, took me a long time to get it down.

Comment by KDK on April 12, 2011 at 12:33pm

Thanks for the kind words. Actually we did use a pumper truck. What was scary was making sure it was perfectly level and making sure the pier bolts were in the correct North orientation. Had it engineered to make sure. I think about 13,000 lbs of concrete when it was over.

Comment by Charles Dunlop on April 12, 2011 at 12:26pm

it's great though, even though it's concrete it's sort of stylish cool looking. It's really nice.

Comment by Charles Dunlop on April 12, 2011 at 12:25pm

you poured it yourself, hauled all those bags up those stairs? crazy!!! Almost shoulda just gotten a truck with a pump!!!

Comment by KDK on April 12, 2011 at 12:08pm

Yep, It was very scary pouring it!

Comment by Charles Dunlop on April 12, 2011 at 7:33am

now that's a column!! LOL. Lot of work there.