The first half of tonights project required the close up image above to show what took 2 hours to complete. Each intersection of the rebar laid out last night was tied together with the #14 bare copper wire. I used the copper since I did not have anything else on hand that heavy. There is a steel wire made for this purpose but the lumber yard does not stock them and I would need to buy 1000 ties at a time so decided to do the copper wire instead.
I was also able to get the center footing started. The two 2 X 4's are attached to the forms of the garage floor and span across "the swamp." I guess I forgot to mention it rained overnight again and dropped another 1/2" of rain on us, so the puddles did not go away. I hauled in some rock, by bucket as it was too muddy for the trailer, and started the backfill needed to support this footing. The old concrete machine shed floor will support it on the west side of the shop area.
The first pour area is now ready for concrete. I have it scheduled for Saturday morning and have some help lined up for this heavy work. I used some scrap angle iron to support the rebar above the gravel and will leave them in the concrete. This insures that the rebar will remain in the center of the concrete where it is needed.