In order for the formwork to be as strong as possible while the shotcrete was going up, I had chosen not to make a hole in the rebar cage for the skylights. Instead, we just built the skylight forms above the steel structure. Now that it is too cold to work outside, it is the perfect time to cut the steel out of the openings and remove the skylight forms.
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Hunter and I were mostly working on different skylights. THis is one of the only timelapse pics to catch both of us in the same shot…
Hunter cut away the steel and then unscrewed the wood formwork. We had built these forms from the inside so all the screws were accessible, but we still needed a pry bar to get some things moving. At this point, the majority of the steel is cut away and the 2×4 structure that held up the skylight buck is removed.
Once the wood and steel were removed, there were some spots where the concrete had not made it all the way to the forms. “Shadows” in shotcrete lingo. This one was the worst of them. I ended up packing these gaps full of hydraulic cement.
Some of the sheets would come out whole… Others were a bit more reluctant and I would need to tear them into pieces, either with a jig saw or just with the pry bar. Of course, this is all done while standing on top of a 13 ft ladder.
In one or two areas it was really difficult to get a grinder in to cut the steel, so I used a cutting torch. My son really wanted to practice with it. I couldn’t let him use it up on the ladder, but I let him cut up a piece.
My son really loved using that torch.
Response to Clearing out the skylights
Craig Mooring says:
Looks like you should have greased the outside of those forms. Maybe on the next homeintheearth? ;^)
Simon says:
No, not grease. Maybe water? Or maybe you are just seeing the black from the carbon nanospheres (aka fly-ash) that were in the shotcrete mixture?