Let's Talk About Rebar

re·bar

/ˈrēˌbär/

noun

noun: rebar; plural noun: rebars

1. a steel reinforcing rod in concrete.

And that's our topic for today.

Why?

 Because I'm inside doing more of this...

 ...and this...

 ...and this.

We've been over this.

 This is rebar.

Not exactly decorative, huh?

But that's okay, you aren't going to see it ever again.

And this is steel wire.

 

This is surprisingly simple to do 

 Mark carefully measured and cut several 8 foot lengths of this stuff

using the cutting blade on a grinder.

 He then stacked them...

...cut and twisted the wire...

...and size it for the footing forms.

 There are two different sizes.

You can see how this will drop perfectly in the box.

 Now before we can destroy the existing, uninteresting porch...

 ...the footings have to be set.

 This is a laser level.

This fun little toy is helping Mark line his boxes up flawlessly.

 All he has to do is point the red stream,

 and he knows exactly how high to set the tops.

 Actual levels help him keep the tops in line.

 Rebar through the bases anchor the whole affair

so they won't budge when the concrete is poured.

 As for those stacks of squares?

 They get snuggled right inside.

 So while the ducks are waddling...

....and the music's blaring...

...and Mark is working on tanning his tattoos

(The man has more ink than a volume of Tolstoy)...

...would someone sneak inside and get me

the hell down from here?!?!?!

(Never, ever step on the top of a ladder. This is very dangerous.

I'm just a middle aged bad girl.)