The Concrete Experience With Concrete Results
It was just after the millennium by a couple of years. The world did not end when the millennium dawned, as was the concern in those days. It kept turning and life carried on. Many continued in their jobs, the banks did not shut down with hopelessly locked money vaults, and many other disasters, also didn’t happen.
It’s an interesting look back on the mindset of those times. Y2k, as it was then called, was a big deal in the years leading up to the big 2triple0. Lots of worries and concerns over what was then an insolvable conundrum. Turned out to be fixable and the world carried on.
Concrete Experience
In the years after Y2k business went on as usual, in most sectors. I was in the building industry in those days, and had taken on a large demolition contract. It was the selective demolition of three large attached warehouses. The new design called for an alleyway to be created between two of the three structures.
There was a significant amount of concrete in the floors of the structures, and removing a large section of this concrete was part of the demolition. The work began at the roof, and soon all was done, and opened up, save for that concrete floor. It still needed to be removed. It was a 20 foot wide and 110 foot long section. 2,200 sq. ft. that needed busting up and removed.
Among the options for tackling this project was the hoe ram. Jack hammers were also needed, the sweet 90 lb. kind, all pneumatic with the shovel bit. But it would be the hoe ram that was the main workhorse.
The only hitch in the plan was no one on the crew knew how to operate a hoe ram. Except for me. I knew because I said I did, when I signed for it, after it was unloaded from the back of an eighteen wheeler. I then hopped in and did a serious crash course, on driving a hoe ram for the first time. Ever.
Concrete results
Over the next week I grew to truly enjoy the smell of diesel exhaust, (not really) and learned a great deal about hoe rams and busting and removing large amounts of concrete with a hoe ram. Soon the alleyway was created and the future shopping plaza was well begun.
The eighteen wheeler returned for the hoe ram, and we said our goodbyes. The machine was an excellent resource for clearing large amounts of arduous and labor intensive work, quickly. It was also fun as hell to drive and operate. So were the 90 lb. hammers, but those are always fun. Crash course learning, has also been called learning on the fly. Either way, it can be fun at times.