After the slabs cured and sat in the molds for a few days, I de molded them to get them set in place.
At this point of the build, I experienced my first in a series of COMPLETE MORON rookie mistakes. When removing the molds, I knocked off the upper right hand corner of the upper slab. Not the end of the world… When I say “knocked off”, I mistakenly took off the upper corner, but slab was still in great shape. I stress the word “WAS”…
Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to pour two separate slabs instead of one big slab. Lighter, Easier to manage and easier to set in place.
When I was installing the first slab (upper in picture) I realize that I made the slab the exact same width as the opening. On one hand, I was impressed that I actually measured so precisely. One the other hand, I realized that I needed the slab at least 1/8” more narrow to fit it between the walls. Of course I realize this in the moment, as I’m trying to make this thing fit.
At this point, the slab is now stuck between the walls about halfway down, so what do I do? Break out the rubber mallet to try tapping this thing into place. I finally got it into place, but it’s not perfectly level. I mortared underneath, and started trying level it with my rubber mallet. WELL, I cracked the corner on the inner edge. Conitinuing on with my complete lapse of reason, I continued on. The slabs are reinforced with wire mesh, I have them fully supported and they’re going to be covered with fire brick anyway, so I patched it up and moved on. (See attempted patchwork with darker concrete…)
So slabs are in, repairs are made and even though it was a little rocky, I felt good about moving on, considering the circumstances. I did a dry fit with the fire bricks and realized that the top of the fire bricks are about 3/8” higher than my measurements. I quadrupled my measurements here BEFORE pouring my slabs, because everything has to line up at the top so the cement board will lay perfectly flat on top. After going through every scenario in my head, I realize that I had intended to use masonry construction adhesive under the slabs instead of a 3/8” bead on mortar. But now, I have one slab that I forced into place and both are now mortared in. What’s done is done, so I resigned to the fact that I’m just going to have to cut the whole top layer of fire bricks. I walked away and after 20 minutes, I decided to remove the slabs out and take out the mortar. In the moment, this was a huge pain in the ass, but would me save a ton of time with cutting bricks and risk damaging fire bricks that are $3.10 each!!!
Pulled the first slab and scraped off the mortar. Tried removing the jammed in slab and that thing was STUCK! Pulled out the pry bar and got enough clearance to squeeze in there with a flathead screwdriver and scrape off the mortar. Scraping away at a slab that’s propped up just high enough to fit my forearm in there and I dropped my screwdriver down into the hole under the slab.
Oh well! Not getting that screwdriver back.
Finished scraping and decided to hang this up for the day to regroup before making any more stupid moves. With one slab removed and the other stuck between the walls once again, I hear a loud “POP!!!” The pressure of the stuck slab broke the mortar joints… Thankfully, it was a clean break and could be easily repaired. Even though this was a HORRIBLE day from start to finish, I’m happy that it happened considering the fact that I had a damaged slab stuffed into place. Pulled out the damaged slab, destroyed it and started the process of pouring another slab. And I got my screwdriver back!
Moral of the story, stop when things start turning to S@#&! Hopefully this was an isolated day of horrible circumstances…
Moving on…