concrete ?

[mike194]

I have been working on forms for a 12 X 20 garden shed. I just finished it yesterday and this morning when i woke up there was a concrete truck outside and my first thought was did they read my mind, I did not even call them yet. so i went outside and they were starting to back up to the form and i was like i am pretty sure you have the wrong house. turns out they were on the right street just wrong house. they saw the forms and assumed it was me.

well here is my question. this got me interested so i watched the truck go to the neighbors house and all the sudden they started emptying the truck right on the ground. and then another truck came and did the same thing.

there were no forms or anything , the ground was not level, no gravel underneath. then they started leveling the concrete one side was about a foot thick and the other about 4 or 5 inches. and then the edges they sloped.


why would someone do this ? seems like they probably used 10 yards and if they used forms they could have used about 4. and it was a little level but not very good.


also he is a contractor so you would think he knows what he is doing

 

[al b]

I seen a guy one time by himself spread 1 truck load on his driveway in the winter time on ice. He spread it with a shovel and left it . I never did see the driveway again so I don't know how it is now. I just could not believe it. On ice.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

If he is a contractor it might be concrete for another job that did'nt work out and he had already paid for it and did'nt want it to be a complete waste, better than average chance, it happens around here every now and then.

 

[mike194]

Lineman, you are probably right, i never thought of that.

I would have bought it , the forms were ready to go right in my yard. I know i should have went over there and asked what was going on. maybe we could have made a deal.

it almost brought a tear to my eye to see $1000 worth of concrete just poured on the ground.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I built my house, I hired out the slab to a guy to pour after I set the forms and rebar. He figured out that I needed 30 yards of concrete and placed the order. Whent he last truck was done, we had several yards left over. The contractor said they brought too much, but I doubted that and just assumed he got it wrong on what I needed and I had bought too much. Not a big deal, but I had about ten minutes to figure out what to do with the extra concrete that I had bought.

My parking area is gravel, so I told the driver to dump it there and I'll spread it out to creat a smoother parking area. It was warm out and the concrete contractor was busy working the slab with his crew, so it was up to me and my dad to spread it out. We just did it by eyeballing it and using a 2x6 without any forms to create a semi smooth pad without any forms or rebar.

It's been five years now and it's cracked into four just about equal pieces. The cracks are very small and not somehting you'd notice. The finish is rough, but sort of rustic. It's not what I would have planned, or paid for, but I am happy with the results and glad that it workd out that way.

Cant imagine why your neigbhor did what he did, but maybe it's something along the lines of why I did mine that way?

Eddie

 

[SPIKER]

some times the trucks are not filled correctly as well, I formed up a shed at my place measured it out and figured I needed about 3 yards and I had one other spot that needed about a yard as well but if it was less it would be fine. I ordered 4 yards and it didnt even finish my shed completely I didnt have ANY for the second job. It was poured rather stiff (my choice) which didnt help it flow/push out easy and had a slight hump but not 1 yards worth. I forget the shed was formed with std 2x4 dim lumber and I had a 6" overhang (shed was built and I formed up around the shed) Jacked the shed up leveled forms & ordered crete. center should have been about 2.5 yards with the shallow center...

ah go figure...

mark

 

[Knotbored]

An easy measurement to remember is 80 sq ft for a pad 4" thick is one cubic yard.
Since many sidewalks and slabs are 2X4 that estimate is a quick calculation- but always have a "spare" place to deposit extra concrete-seems the trucks always carry a little extra- and that estimating method overkills a little because a 2X4 is only 3 1/2"

 

[charlz]

When I was a kid my Dad had some metal strips about 2.5 or 3 inches wide and they hooked together on the ends to make a round step. You could hook two together to make a larger step. Might have originally been designed to make curves in sidewalks or something. Whenever we were pouring and had some left over we would make some stepping stones. They come in handy in gardens etc. Probably wouldn't take too long to knock some square ones together out of scrap wood if you find yourself with left over concrete.

Being snow country some people would also fill old car tires with left over concrete. Makes an easy (easier) loading weight to roll into the back of your pickup for extra winter traction weight.

 

[hawkeye08]

Just go ask the homeowner about it....