Major progress at Korumburra Men’s Shed

KORUMBURRA’S spacious new Men’s Shed has taken a major step forward, with its concrete floor now constructed.

The second and final concrete pour occurred on Saturday, with an enthusiastic crew hard at work.

Around 100 cubic metres of concrete went into creating the approximately 800 square metre floor.

That required 14 concrete truck loads, with seven used on each of the concrete pouring days.

Braeside-based ‘Case Concrete & Constructions’ carried out the floor project, with its owner Campbell Eddington having strong South Gippsland connections and his parents still living in Loch.

“I really enjoy working down here and it’s a great part of the country,” Campbell said, adding that while the weather can be challenging, it’s a terrific community to work in.

A friend put him in touch with John Davies of Korumburra Men’s Shed, leading to Campbell’s involvement in the project.

John supplied the crushed rock for the base on which the concrete has now been poured, with the rock sourced locally from Chapman’s in Kongwak.

“We had the machinery and the labour to level and compact the subgrade,” Campbell said of constructing the base for the floor.

Reinforcing steel mesh was installed and the slab edge formed.

Work on the floor is anticipated to be complete around the middle of this week and will include expansion cutting.

“When the concrete is drying, you get shrinkage and as it’s shrinking it builds up tension inside the molecules of the concrete and that’s what makes cracking, so you put cuts in there to relieve the pressure,” Campbell said.

John of the Men’s Shed was clearly impressed by the high standard of workmanship being demonstrated, while watching proceedings on Saturday.

He is already envisaging the future work that will take place to create a meeting room, kitchen and toilet facilities.

Currently, the building is a vast open shed, having been created to house locomotives.

Permits need to be obtained for future work and to change the status of the building to an appropriate classification for its intended new use.

John expressed his appreciation to Minister for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien for making a case to then State Transport Minister Ben Carroll for funding of the new Men’s Shed floor.

John is also appreciative of the fact Ben took that up with VicTrack and the organisation came to the party and will reimburse the cost of the floor project.