THIS WENT AS BAD AS IT COULD! STARTING OUR MOST IMPORTANT BUILD YET!
November 24, 2024 · 21 min · 111K views
What this video covers
Matt pours a 24-by-10-foot concrete slab in Puerto Rico as the foundation for a solar panel and battery storage building, and the pour goes badly.6:56 A concrete truck struggles to reach the remote site after three dry days finally allowed access; the driver's slow screeding pace consumed nearly an hour, leaving Matt no time to finish the far side before the mix — described as a hotter-than-usual batch with extra lime — set up.0:51 The fast-setting concrete chemically burned any skin it contacted, stripping it raw.12:36 The finished slab is uneven and rough, usable for the utility structure but far below the standard Matt wanted.9:27 He drills steel rebar pins into the cured slab and begins laying concrete block walls for the 7-by-10-foot, 7-foot-tall battery house, mixing Weco ready-mix mortar by hand.11:37 Intermittent rain repeatedly halts block-laying, compounding the frustration of running a gas generator that the solar build is meant to replace.18:43 Matt plans to lay three block walls individually and pour corner piers rather than interweaving corners, trading some structural elegance for speed.15:28 The lesson: on a small pour, controlling the screeding pace from the start matters more than deferring to the truck driver.7:21
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