Friday, February 15, 2008

A sidewalk and some texture

I learned that the grooves in the cement are for when the concrete cracks, which is inevitable, even in places that don't have earthquakes. Concrete is very strong in compression (getting smushed), but not in tension (getting bent).
It was also very meticulous and time-consuming. We had to smooth it down every once in a while, and wait until it was the exact dryness to "sweep" it, with a broom, to make little lines that will act as traction.

Today we textured the walls of another house. This was kind of fun because I always see this stuff in houses (actually I can see it now on the walls of my room) but I never really knew how it was done. It was easy, just spray it on with a pressure hose and a special plastic gun thing. It kind of looked like a big plastic milk carton. After a few minutes, when the cement was dry, we "knocked it down" with rubber scrapers, creating the canyon- and mesa-looking texture. Apparently, when the walls aren't smoothed out very well, and there are still a lot of flaws, you want heavier texture. If you spend a lot of time sanding the walls, you can use a finer texture.

Also, the head boss talked to me today about spending more time in the office, doing more design/research stuff.

1 comment:

Jeans Pants said...

You do sound smart...You always sound smart.

Your coming to LA, Say what?!!!!

j/k See you soon.

=0)