More than 20 construction students from Warwick Area Career and Technical Center in Warwick, R.I., visited Wednesday morning for a 90-minute tour of the FHB House. Last spring, teacher Michael Haynes and I planned to get his students involved in the project from the get-go, but delays in obtaining a building permit ran out the clock on the school year. So now with the new school year ramping up, we’re hoping to have students working several days a week on the site.

Seven students and Mr. Haynes came early today (Thursday) to help pour the garage slab. Bruce and I prepped the form along the door opening, set grade lines, and placed two screed bars ahead of time. Ordinarily we would have let the students do the prep work, but the timing worked out better to get the slab placed Thursday so that students could walk on it Friday and insulate the garage wall.

For the pour, students broke up into different groups. Three roughed in the concrete to the grade lines and screed bars with drags; two used manual shaker screeds to level out the surface; and two floated the perimeter. Bruce and I doled out tips and kept an eye out to make sure the workers got the concrete at the right level. In about 45 minutes, they placed seven yards and washed down all the gear.

As the concrete started to firm up, each student got a try at bull floating before having to head back to school. The students did as good a job as Bruce and I could have and left us with a flat, smooth surface ready to hit with a fresno and hand trowels later after the bleed water disappeared.