Repurposing a Concrete Slab
It's always rewarding to repurpose materials and put them to good use around my farm.
Now that the weather is warmer, I asked Pete Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew to clean and organize an area in the back of one of my fields where I store various building materials including wooden stakes and boards, metal framing for our protective burlap structures, spare wire fencing, etc. Soon after starting the project Pete found an old concrete slab once used as a base for an automatic horse waterer and thought it would make a good foundation for the outdoor faucet in this space.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Do you have a storage shed or space where you keep spare lumber and other materials? Is it all in order? This area is located just behind my compost yard. Once a year, I like to go through it and take stock of what is there, what is usable, and what needs to be disposed.
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- Underneath some lumber, Pete found this four foot square piece of concrete once located in one of my paddocks and used as the foundation of an automatic equine water source – one of those things I saved “just in case” it could be reused.
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- In the center was a hole lined with a piece of industrial drainage piping.
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- Pete thought it would work well as a base for this existing free standing hose bib. Here’s Phurba digging a level space to fit the concrete square.
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- The new base would provide a place to stand and store a hose. It will also keep mud from ponding around the faucet.
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- But the area must first be prepped. Pete rakes any stones away from the space.
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- He also goes over it with a four foot wide gravel rake.
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- Phurba uses a four foot long piece of wood to tamp down on the soil.
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- And then the area is checked for level. It must be perfectly level for the concrete to sit properly in the space.
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- Meanwhile, using a steel digging bar Pete removes the underground drainage pipe from center of the piece.
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- It takes some elbow grease to remove, but in a few minutes, it’s out and discarded.
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- Next, Pete uses the fork of the Hi-Lo to transport the concrete to the faucet.
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- With Phurba on the side to direct Pete’s positioning, the square is carefully positioned with the center hole just above the faucet.
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- And then it is slowly lowered into position.
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- Pete uses the digging bar to make sure the piece is completely straight.
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- Next, he uses the gravel rake to move the soil snug around the base.
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- He surrounds the faucet pipe with gravel to keep it sturdy in place.
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- And then tamps down lightly to ensure the gravel is settled.
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- It looks so much better – as if it was always there. If you’re doing some spring cleaning around your home, take a look at what you have – you may just find something you can reuse and repurpose.
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