Pouring Footings: Small Modular Cabin

The very next day a truck backed in with a concrete pump. There was no rain in the near forecast, so we are going to have our footers* poured. I will be so relieved. Last time our footers took months and cost tens of thousands of dollars, so this is the part of the process that has me the most anxious.

This is a concrete pump. With all of the rain, the cement truck is likely to get stuck. So the truck pours cement into a pump, then a hose snakes over to the trench.

They hammered a pin into a strap to hold the hose the concrete will go through.

Earlier they used the self-leveling rotary laser to mark the height of the cement with these pegs.

The first concrete gushes into the trench!

That’s me bundled up int the green jacket.

It takes three men to pump the concrete. One man controls the hose. It bucks with every pump. One stands on the hose to help control it. A third man jiggles the cement level with a concrete placer.

The next cement truck pulled in just as the first truck was emptied.

The pump started coughing when they were almost, but not quite done.

The cement truck driver climbed up and scraped as much cement as he could into the pump.

There was just enough concrete to finish.

I didn’t catch a photo of it, but before they wound up the hose, they threw water and sponges through the pump. The sponge shot out of the hose.

The footers are poured and there is not a cloud in the sky!

Did you know that cement trucks have a hose with fresh water? He washed off the cement before he left.

We are ready for the foundation now! Things are moving fast again!

This is a drone view of the whole project up to now. The waterway, a pile of saved top soil, our footers and the gravel driveway.

The contractor for the job is Fowler Excavating. Taylor Fowler lives near here, between Brevard and Hendersonville in North Carolina.

The cabin is from Westwood Cabins. You can see more photos and floor plans at www.westwoodcabins.com and www.facebook.com/westwoodcabins.

*What is the difference between a footer and a footing? A footing is the real word. A footer is what everybody calls it. I’ve only seen footing in print. At least around here, everyone says footer. Is it footer, singular or footers, plural? Since both are technically wrong, I hear it both ways and say it both ways. I appreciate how much you care that I don’t “sound like an idiot” but I think I can live with it.