Making Banks and Benches at Marshfield Courts

This summer at the Marshfield Courts we have made a wallride / bank and bench.

This is the wallride / bank side. This is looking southwest. The idea is that you would come from the park and hit the north facing bank, or you would start from the street and hit the east facing bank. You can grind or slide on the top bricks. Here is Mike getting a boardslide to fakie on the east facing wall.

As you can see it is very steep. You have to go at it fast. Going back down is quick and throws you back down. It is intended to be hesh.

June 14

Step one was to dig out the tree. There was a bunch of excess dirt from other gardening projects thrown into this little plot, and we needed it to be dug out all all around so that we could lay cinderblocks for the foundation.

We went underneath the bridge at Pershing / Racine to source gravel.

Digging the gravel out of mikes truck and laying it.

Laying cinderblocks

Two layers of cinderblocks laid and mortared in.

July 1

Third layer of cinderblocks, with a half layer on the bench side. The bench is also meant to be skated, and we had originally thought we would do three layers of cinderblocks on all sides, but that make it a little too tall for people to sit on and way too tall to skate, so we used these smaller masonry blocks.

July 5

We started actually making the bank on July 5th. We got there in the morning and were looking at what he had made, who was there, and what materials were there. We almost called off the build day because everything wasn't perfectly in place, but then we said "fuck it" and decided to make it with what we did have.

We had rebar so we cut some pieces with an angle grinder, tied them together with wire and placed it over the backfill.

Concrete over it.

More concrete.

Smoother concrete.

A bank!

July 12

Same deal on the east facing bank.

The orange thing is a concrete mixer that Old Man Mike has and brings to the Courts. We get power and water from the next door neighbors.

Hanging out is the most important part of all of this.

The plank is for screeding. With identical frames on either side of the concrete mass, you place a plank on either side and scrape back and forth up to make sure that the concrete doesn't slump at any point.

July 19

Laying the bricks atop the bank

More bricks on top and Alex freehand sculpting the corner.

Finished banks! This picture is from the following day. Masonry bricks in the way while the concrete heals – we usually leave our work for a week before we skate it.

July 26

Framed out for pouring the ledges. Created the transition up to the third level of cinderblocks so that we could just pour the concrete and smooth it out.

The concrete is poured and we are smoothing it out here.

There was an issue with a curb being right in the landing zone here so we ripped it out and poured excess concrete here.

Finished bench:

The cinderblocks are still visible and there's a lip on the benches, which will be changed into mosaic tiles on the walls which will be placed into concrete.