Pouring The Roof

A few days ago I talked about them tearing off the old roof at our neighbors across the street, the blog post is here Putting On A New Roof . Well, the other day gravel, sand and lumber was delivered to make the new concrete roof, it previously had been metal.
Yesterday morning the men arrived and so did a cement mixer. When a cement mixer shows up you know it is a big job, as for most projects the concrete is mixed by hand right on the street. I have read/been told that when you are doing a roof it must all be done at once, if you stop and continue the next day you will end up with a leak where you joined the two pourings. Makes sense to me. It also can mean a very long work day if it is a large roof.
They spent some time building a couple of ramps for the guys to walk up to the roof on with the cement and then they got right to work. They had a big crew and the work went fast. We left and when we returned around noon, it was all done and the men were gone.
Lots of hard, physical labor involved in construction here.
The ramp to get from ground level to roof level. Try getting this past Occupational Health and Safety in Canada.

Carrying the cement up to the roof in 5 gallon pails.



Pouring the cement from the mixer right into the pails.



Smoothing the cement.

Putting On A New Roof

No, it is not the roof over our patio, unfortunately. One of our neighbors is replacing part of their roof, which was metal, with a concrete one. It is interesting to watch the process. Everything is being done by hand, which is usual for here. Cement mixers and other machines are seldom used unless it is a very big job. The cement is mixed out on the street and the rubble is also placed out on the street.

Haven't gotten any good pictures of the job in progress as there are trees blocking the line of sight for most of the project.

Here a truck delivers the roofing supplies, styrofoam panels, re-bar and steel beams.

You can see a bit of the roofless room here.