Doing some concrete projects at the house...

[nikdfish]

We decided to get some projects crossed off the "to-do" list for the house.

Since we moved into the house in 2010, the wife has been bugged by the fact that there was not a sidewalk from the driveway to the front door. Both of us were also less than happy with the half-a**ed job that had been done connecting our concrete driveway to the development asphalt road. The driveway had been put in before road was paved & for unknown reasons an arc of asphalt was used to connect drive to road, not even covering all the area that a simple "T" connection would have covered. I had covered the area in crusher run, but it was a pain to deal with when moving snow & ice.

We got a package price from our concrete contractor & he did both jobs the same day with one truckload.

The driveway first, the asphalt & most of the crusher run were removed & forms applied. Then the pour.

Then the sidewalk

The other thing accomplished was some additional prep for a metal garage by our parking area and the delivery of 12 tons of crusher run for use on the pad & a couple of other areas...

Nick

 

[MF283]

Looking good :thumbsup:

 

[czechsonofagun]

Looking good, how many yards of concrete?

 

[joefromga]

Your yard must be hard dry dirt. That truck would have never made it out of there where I'm at!

Looks good. What did you use for the curved forms?

 

[MF283]

Your yard must be hard dry dirt. That truck would have never made it out of there where I'm at!

Looks good. What did you use for the curved forms?

Looks like 1x4.

Ronnie

 

[nikdfish]

The permit for the metal building on slab came through so things got moving on that front too. The 1025R & backhoe got pressed into service for prep work, used the backhoe for the footers on the sides & the FEL for moving gravel...

The building is a vertical roof 22'x21' Carolina Carports metal garage. The frame footprint is 22'x20', so those are the dimensions for the slab.

Forms should be finished by the end of the day, the inspector is scheduled to come out tomorrow, and if all goes well, we should pour concrete on Monday...

I had rough graded the area earlier this year, but forms & gravel still needed to correct a 5" variation from side to side.

Nick

 

[nikdfish]

Your yard must be hard dry dirt. That truck would have never made it out of there where I'm at!

Looks good. What did you use for the curved forms?

It's been hot & dry here for a while now. The boards on the pad forms look close to 2x4 stock, they measure 1 1/2" x 3 3/8". The ones used on the driveway & sidewalk may or may not be the same. The guys did mention that the older they get, the easier they take a bend. They have been using those a long time now...

Nick

 

[EddieWalker]

Your concrete finished out nicely. Really adds a nice touch to your place. Why didn't you use any rebar?

 

[nikdfish]

Not sure about the rebar question. The guys doing the work did the original driveway (before the road was paved) & based on how it has held up for 20+ years we were comfortable with trusting their judgement. I do know there was a significant fiber additive content to the mix.

Nick

 

[dickfoster]

I just had some concrete work done too. The guy I had do the work was a real master at it, you might even say an artist. He did carved, stamped and stained steps, patio and walks and really upgraded the looks out front of our place. The front steps look for the world like they made of natural stone. He was really stoked when he found a nice bonus in the last check.

He used rebar and lots of fiber fill. To allow for carving, he uses pea gravel instead of crushed stone. For forming curves they used some kind of hard board siding cut into strips.

He put me and the tractor to work too. There was a lot of improper grading to correct and some filling that needed to be done. The landscaper had me huppin too. The previous owner actually had water draining to the house so we had to tear out all the existing sidewalks, decks, porch etc then we replaced the whole shootin match with concrete. Looks a lot better than the hodgepodge of different stuff he had going on and no worries about fire, rot or bugs anymore.

If and when I can find a decent steel guy to do the frame and pan decking for the rear deck, I'll have him back for the concrete work.

 

[nikdfish]

The inspector came out yesterday & signed off on the slab prep.

If there are no surprises, we are scheduled for a pour on Monday...

Nick

 

[nikdfish]

After the inspector left, I did some cleaning up. Most of the large pile of gravel that remained got used to fill in eroding areas along the road side ditch area (still part of our yard). The remainder was spread fairly thickly in the area in front of the pad & at the top of the parking area. I can recover some later if needed for coverage in another area.

I moved the chipper (covered in blue tarp) away from the work area using strap-on forks on the 1025R bucket (it pretty much maxed it's capacity...) and moved the burn barrels to one side.

With those out of the way, I moved the pile of topsoil from lowering the grade 4" over to a location of the wife's choosing. She is not one to waste topsoil & already has plans for flower bed expansions. This clears the area to allow the concrete truck to drive straight through if needed. I also cleaned up the piles left from the footing excavations.

This should be it until the pour is done.

Nick

 

[nikdfish]

OK, today the slab got poured.

The truck backed in though the access corridor we prepared earlier.

Because the truck could not maneuver around much at all, they had to use a wheelbarrow to fill the far footing & about half the slab.

The remainder could be poured directly.

The original estimate of 7.5 yards was not enough to finish the job, so the truck left & another was put in route with another 1.5 yards. The shortfall was probably a combination of compensating for the grade & that I had to shave one of the footers wider after drifting from the desired line when I was running the 1025R backhoe.

They floated what had been laid while waiting for the next truck, but it was not much of a delay.

With the final pour done, the slab gets finishing done.

All done!

The concrete guy will come back tomorrow to cut expansion slots. I told the building manufacturer that our slab was poured and to get us on the delivery/install schedule.

Nick

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks great...

Nice Aluminum? trailer you have in the pictures.

 

[nikdfish]

Looks great...

Nice Aluminum? trailer you have in the pictures.

Thanks! Yeah, it's an Aluma 18' car hauler we use to move the 3038e & 1025R around when needed.

Nick

 

[ultrarunner]

Sweet Trailer and it's been on my wish list for a long time...

 

[Snobdds]

I noticed the trailer too, it is nice. And good job on the projects too.

 

[nikdfish]

The concrete guy came by this morning (8AM) and cut control joints into the slab.

The next photo series should be the building delivery/installation (fingers crossed).

Nick

 

[dickfoster]

The concrete guy came by this morning (8AM) and cut control joints into the slab.

The next photo series should be the building delivery/installation (fingers crossed).

Nick

Oh I see you cut them in dry with a saw. Seems to be an odd way to go about it. I've always seen them cut into the wet stuff.

 

[CalG]

cut green is the "modern way",

'Just cut the aggregate that way, the cementaceous material gets flushed out of the way. ;-)