The Big Pour - Part 1 - Starting the Concrete Floor

So I finally got back out to work on the space under my deck. For those ready who haven't been following, I started digging out the dirt under my deck to utilize the space - this was earlier this year in April and the digging part extended into about mid-May. Now, 5 1/2 months later I'm finally starting to shape up the floor. My current plan (and things are always subject to change) is to pour a pad along the length and put a retaining wall before back filling. So to start things off I worked on the corner to put in a thick pad (it's about 7-8" - those are decking boards I used for the form). I did this first to establish the height, plus I wanted the pad to slope away from the house. Since it's in a corner this first pour slopes two ways.

Things are really tight in there so I'm mixing the bags of QuickCrete one bag at a time. The reason the pad is so think is due to the 60 gallon compressor I'm mounting above - I want the pad to be able to absorb and vibration. Here's a view from above:

So the plan:

1. Pour a footing to support a temp post to hold the weight of the stairs - this will be in front of that current post you see in the back.
2. Remove the old post and extend the pad to the full width of the space.
3. Dig out about 4 inches for a pad to extend to the front of the opening.
4. Dig away the width of block for the retaining wall to the right of the pad, extending down for a footing and drain.
5. Build a wall of cinder blocks to the height of the dirt, capping to support two metal posts
6. The metal posts will support a beam that's inline with the beam above in the roof, supporting a new deck.

That's where I am so far. Here's the initial pour:

I broomed off the surface then edged it for a neat joint.The rest of the pad won't be as thick so not as much work (I hope) - backbreaking stuff here. I did a bag at a time due to space constraints and this took 8 bags. I may buy a mixer for the rest but I'm not sure if I can even get it into the space - it's really cramped.

-- John