Friday, October 10, 2008

False alert





More rain overnight and at 7am (above) heavy, heavy clouds promised a downpour at any moment. I was up early to witness the big event, but the site supervisor was ahead of me, making a judgement call on the weather. Yes, the slab pour would be delayed until Monday.


As it turned out, there was only a brief shower over North Lakes. According to the Bureau of Meterology, between midnight and 9am Brisbane City had about 22mm and Archerfield had 13.4mm. During the scheduled pour time of 6am to 9am the heaviest shower was at Archerfield. By contrast, Redcliffe had less than 1mm (0.8mm) between midnight and 9am, all of which fell in a brief shower around 8.30am. Despite continuing cloudy skies there was no further rain for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, the tradies told me it would take more than a drizzle to halt the job. I had read various opinions on the Internet about the effect of rain on newly poured concrete, and was aware of the risk of an unstable powdery surface if too much rain fell during the levelling off phase.

So, not knowing quite what the weather was up to, it was a great relief to know that the builder was not prepared to compromise on the quality of the job.

Outlook for Monday: Mostly fine.
Outlook for Tuesday: Frames (already?)

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