Dig 'n pour a sidewalk tips?

[RexB]

After ten years I'm finally ripping the paving stones out and pouring a genuine concrete sidewalk. I poured the foundation and shop pad already and am always looking for tips to make it easier. The walk will be 40" wide x 38' long, poured 4" deep on a gravel base, on a down-sloping yard to the driveway.

Dig out the form with trusty 'ol Kioti, 1"x6"s and stakes make the form.

I used fiber-concrete for the shop pad 10 yrs ago and there's no cracking or heaving at all, under the trucks and tractors {beautiful result if i say so myself patonback haha} so I have the tools already. . . do I really need a steel mesh screen for a measly private sidewalk? And it's a mild climate, max temps are +17F - 98F. I'll cut up some old field fence to use if necessary . . .

Pour 4in of concrete on a gravel base, one asphalt expansion strip in the middle, float, broom it for traction, put in control joints every 5ft, edge it and let dry. Water occasionally the next couple of days.

What am I forgetting?

Here's the mild slope it will be on

 

[Egon]

You need three young fellows to do the concrete work while you supervise.

 

[RexB]

ROTFL you're right, but it's me and Donna doing it again. She's quite the craftwoman and has fun getting dirty

 

[PAB_OH]

And it's a mild climate, max temps are +17F - 98F.

Wow!!!

I guess my opinion and yours regarding climate are drastically different. I'll bet you believe in Global Warming don't you?LOL

 

[Highbeam]

We don't require mesh in our city sidewalks.

Are you proposing one expansion joint in 38'? We require the 3/8" thick by 2" wide asphalt felt dummy joints every 10' and 1/2" deep scribed joints every 5'.

You don't want concrete to dry. As soon as it dries the reaction stops and it stops gaining strength.

How are you mixing the mud? Delivery truck?

 

[rimshot]

We don't require mesh in our city sidewalks.

Are you proposing one expansion joint in 38'? We require the 3/8" thick by 2" wide asphalt felt dummy joints every 10' and 1/2" deep scribed joints every 5'.

You don't want concrete to dry. As soon as it dries the reaction stops and it stops gaining strength.

How are you mixing the mud? Delivery truck?

====================

I think Rex means he is striking a tooled joint every 5' and he should include a control joint consisting of an oiled strip of celotex to break the sidewalk and provide relief for temperature extremes. It's OK to exclude the 6" x 6" steel wire reinforcing but don't count on those fibres to be anywhere near as effective. If this sidewalk is going to have to bear the brunt of a car being driven on it then consider using the steel. You could use 3/8 rerod down each side like in 3" from the forms. It's always a good idea to compact and tell the dispatcher at the concrete batch plant to send you a load with at least 5 1/2 sacks per yard to resist freezing weather.

Don't pour on a day you are expecting rain. Good luck...

rimshot

 

[RexB]

Highbeam our county code is a genuine asphalt expansion joint every 30ft and control joints 1/4th the thickness of the concrete every 8ft. So I'll put in the asphalt joint midway at 19ft, and 1" deep control joints every 5ft (i like the looks of tooled joints closer than every 8ft.)

Will have a truck deliver it -- I'm getting too old to mix up 2yds of concrete by the wheelbarrow full. HA it's getting to where I whine mixing up enough to set a dozen 4x4 posts for the dog kennel.

Rimshot, that 5 1/2 sack is good for a >3000 psi pour with normal curing, it too meets code here and Rempel's Concrete just down the road doesn't let me mess up. A car won't be driving on it but the tractor will be. I may go ahead and use mesh or rebar . . . a cool and dry pour is the word(s).

We don't have a frost line like in y'all's cold country

Wow!!!
I guess my opinion and yours regarding climate are drastically different. I'll bet you believe in Global Warming don't you?LOL

global warming is when the PETA hotties march nekkid in Seattle every summer (I can't figure why they don't march in our 'winter', what with the warming and all.)

 

[Highbeam]

I've been meaning to go to that parade in Fremont but worry that I will be classified being on "their" team. The nekkid folks even ride their bicycles around. Weird.

The genuine through joints are only required in our city at driveways and alleys to make replacement easier. I like the looks of some sort of joint every 5' in a 5' wide walk as well. We, and the state DOT, have actually switched to a 6 sack mix for concrete. I think the local plant's standard mix will be fine here though.

 

[RexB]

I've been meaning to go to that parade in Fremont but worry that I will be classified being on "their" team. The nekkid folks even ride their bicycles around. Weird.

And its gotta' be real uncomfortable on a narrow saddle-seat. Yowch!

Sheesh . . . Digging stumps is a heckuva' lot easier, in a way, than precision digging a sidewalk trench 6 inches deep and level -- my hands keep wanting to dig deep. I curse to myself "NOT STUMPS! NOT STUMPS!". I'll figure out the finesse of a 6" cut keeping the boom draw and bucket curl moving at the right depth -- in about a hundred more hours

And who's got a dump truck to loan? My wheelbarrow and ridermower trailer get filled up in about six scoops. Climb off 'n on, off 'n on, to dump them out in the woods. And the dogs are having a ball watching.

.......Is there a country song in here somewhere?......

 

[IXLR8]

And its gotta' be real uncomfortable on a narrow saddle-seat. Yowch!

Sheesh . . . Digging stumps is a heckuva' lot easier, in a way, than precision digging a sidewalk trench 6 inches deep and level -- my hands keep wanting to dig deep. I curse to myself "NOT STUMPS! NOT STUMPS!". I'll figure out the finesse of a 6" cut keeping the boom draw and bucket curl moving at the right depth -- in about a hundred more hours

And who's got a dump truck to loan? My wheelbarrow and ridermower trailer get filled up in about six scoops. Climb off 'n on, off 'n on, to dump them out in the woods. And the dogs are having a ball watching.

.......Is there a country song in here somewhere?......

Lets see... you have dogs, tractors, work, folks in pain.... yup... there has to be a Country song in here somewhere.

 

[unhappykioti]

You don't want concrete to dry. As soon as it dries the reaction stops and it stops gaining strength. (From Highbeam)

Seems to me I read on a concrete website that concrete never stops curing, it continues to get harder and stronger through it's entire life. Just curious which is right.

 

[RexB]

You don't want concrete to dry. As soon as it dries the reaction stops and it stops gaining strength. (From Highbeam)

Seems to me I read on a concrete website that concrete never stops curing, it continues to get harder and stronger through it's entire life. Just curious which is right.

I remember a Discovery program on Hoover Dam said the concrete pour is so thick that it will "always" be curing and strengthening. A house foundation is considered "cured" enough to build on after 30 days. A sidewalk ready to walk on after about 30 hours, heavy loads after a week. Depends on the concrete mixture, pour thickness, curing additives, climate . . . Here's a DOT writeup on curing Chapter 3, Guide for Curing Portland Cement Concrete Pavements, Volume II, FHWA-HRT-05-038

 

[RexB]

Lets see... you have dogs, tractors, work, folks in pain.... yup... there has to be a Country song in here somewhere.

LOL I got a couple of pickup trucks and been to jail. And the wife drinks more beer than I do. So there has GOT to be a song in there.

Welp, the backhoe work is done, now time for the hand hoe work. I didn't want to get out of the seat, where's the magic tractor that does everything?

 

[Highbeam]

Yes, concrete continues to strengthen so long as there is moisture available. It's a hydration reaction and needs the H20. We're not talking about needing to be underwater (though that helps) but the more the better.

Won't be an issue for the sidewalk, just trivia.

 

[RexB]

unhappy, did that answer your questions? There's lots of information on the web for the particular job you need to pour for. The important thing is to let the properly mixed concrete cure long enough for its intended purpose, dependent mostly on how deep the pour is and how much weight it has to carry.

,

The trench is done, the Kioti loved it, now go get the form lumber and gravel. It's raining, the weather forecast says five more days of the wet stuff.

 

[unhappykioti]

Yea it did. Hopefully here soon I'll be pouring a pad for a shop, waiting for the dealer to get a subframe mount for my CK20 to mount the new Woods X70 hoe I'm getting, then I'll really be diggin.

 

[RexB]

Good, and ya' know that you'll love having a backhoe and a new concrete pad in the shop. I always slid off the creeper trying to roll it on the gravel, lol.

 

[RexB]

Finished the walk, now to pull the forms out. Because I dug the trench too deep, it is 6 inches thick with 4 inches of gravel bed. Sheesh. Concrete is ridiculously high now, only two places to order it from here and they have matched each others' price rises. A nice cool day gave me plenty of time to float, edge, and put in control-cracks before it set up. Photo courtesy of Donna, who helped screed and brush it. What a trooper.

 

[Gittyup]

Nice Job, Rex. Looks great!

 

[RexB]

Thanks, I'm not a concrete guy and made a mistake by keeping the end of the form open to fair the sidewalk down
into the gravel drive. To roll a handtruck and things up and down it easier. Anyway...it was fugly and "not right" so I cut the end off straight and bevelled it to meet the driveway.

Levelling the forms -- After clearing and looking at this back yard for years I wouldn't have guessed there was a 4 inch grade drop sideways right there, in just 38 inches of sidewalk width. It took two yards of fill dirt on the north side just to smooth things out.

Time for a beer to make my back forget the abuse. Why doesn't this stuff get easier as time goes on?

This looks and works better