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Hair Raising job
I’m (almost) at the end of my tether with a job I’m busy with. If all goes well, I will have solved the biggest problem by tomorrow this time…… 😀
This horror story goes like this:
A client calls me up, and ask if I can design, manufacture, and install a billboard for him. The sign is rather big: 9 x 6metre, with a 3m lift on the legs. Ground level to the top of the sign is 9m – about 3 stories.
This is to be a freestanding sign next to the main road entering town.
No problems so far.
Can I have it in a week’s time. 😮 NOOOO, but 2 weeks is ok.
Or so I thought……..Got cracking, ordered all the steel, welded the frame in sections, transported to the site, welded sections together, paint etc. 1 week gone. Now, I just have to dig 4 holes for the I-beam legs to plant this baby, and Im done with the structure…….
……in solid granite… Got a big compressor and 2x Jack Hammers on site. At the end of the first full day, with 2 relieve teams working, the chisel bits are busted, and I have 2 holes about 300mm deep! Try another day – now I have 4 holes 300mm deep. Go back the next day with said big compressor and 2x Rock Drills. Drill 1,5 metre deep holes (40mm dia) about 40 mm apart. Fill the holes with "Slow dynamite" (expansion grout) and go home. Wait the prescribed 24 hours, and return to the site, expecting to find 1,5 metre deep holes filled with rubble.
Nothing. The expansion grout huffed and puffed, and eventually expelled itself from the top. So I tried again, using cold water to mix, covering the holes to keep the temp down, and reloaded.
Same results!!
By now I’m starting to see red. So I drill dozens of 1,5m holes in the base area, (and break BOTH rock drills, which I now have to repair at my expense) and cement in 3m long rebar in all of them. Build a 9 x 1.5m wooden box to co around the perimeter, and weld in a bunch of rebar. If the hole does not want to go down, I’ll cement a new surface upwards!. Need about 8 cubic metres of concrete to fill this box.
So, tomorrow a crane is going to lift the frame with legs attatched in place, we’re going to weld in a bunch of temporary supprts to keep it upright, install the wooden box (for casting the concrete) and have the concrete guys pour in 8 cubic metre of concrete. When all is set, I will remove the box, and cut the temp supports.
All in all, 2 weeks just to plant the sign!! And about $15 000 in additional expense.
I’m still making good money on this, but gawd, I had to WORK for this one!
The money for this will come in just in time for my well deserved 3 week holiday. I’m going to go deep into the bush where there is no cell reception, and almost no people. Only Elephant, lion, rhino, and SILENCE. And I’m going to take a bottle of Single Malt along and drink it till I weep.
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4 Replies
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Good luck Gert – post some pictures please
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Got to the site 7:30 this morning, as arranged with the crane driver.
He did’nt pitch. Called him on his cellphone. He’s in Windhoek – 400 kms away. Had a family emergency, and left last night……
It is 11:16 now, and I’m still waiting for the replacement I arranged by 8:00 already (hot)
But well get there, even if I have to work under spotlights tonight!
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FINALLY got the friggin frame up today.
First truck with crane was way to small.
Got a bigger truck from one of my clients. Got stuck about 20m away from ground zero. Struggled for 2 hours to get it out. Then, when it tried to lift, the boom did not have enough reach. We re-rigged, but now the crane did not have enough power to lift…….
So I commandeered a grader working close by, and we did a very risky "pull it to the balance point " type maneuver. Got it up, but the support ropes were now tied to 4 vehicles. So we got a compressor and a rock drill so we could put in some anchors.
Then we made the box for the concrete, which was not really ready for the concrete truck which arrived 1,5 hours early…….
Short and the long, the frame is up. I’m printing the PVC face tonight, tomorrow we finish and install.
Jippeee 😀
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glad you got it sorted Gert.
I can empathise with you on jobs like this, you sort of you wish you never took it on, but great satisfaction to finish, I will say this though, you are a man of honour and determination, a lesser man would have walked away, long agoWell done
Peter
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