Senior special structural inspector Michael J. Hess. I have been extremely fortunate to have Mike Hess aboard as a special inspector. Mike works for Krochina Engineering our engineering firm for the Hi’ilani project. We are currently working with a Portland cement mortar mix, which will be applied over the panels, the mix is extremely important.
The Portland cement mix will consist of approximately one part cement and three parts sand and a given amount of water, the mix has to be wet enough to pump and spray, the amount of water is extremely important, also additives fibers and other additives will be tested, the scale shown here is used to weight all materials cement, sand, water and others, so we can remake the same mix.
We started with a basic mix of one part cement with three parts sand, the mix is then placed into small cubes as shown here, each tray holds three cubes rather than cans, the compression test is more accurate, the samples will be tested at seven days, fourteen days and at twenty eight days. We are hoping the p.s.i. pounds per square inch will exceed 3500 lbs. Beau Flack is assisting Mike in this photo.
A close up of the testing cubes, we have now tested a 2.75 to one mix, a 3.00 to one mix and a 3.25 to one mix. Once we get the basic mix down then we will do the additives, we know the additives will just increase the mix strength.
Mike Hess speaking to Rod Hadrian Sr. and engineer Ty Drake, Mike is checking the soil compaction prior to pouring the cement slab, all compaction-testing needs to be complete prior to the rebar placement.