Sidewalk in Barn

[barticus73]

I am going to put a concrete walkway along the backside of my barn(On the inside under roof). It is an old two story barn, animals in the bottom and storage on second floor. The type with the standard barn bridge to drive into second story built into the side of a slope. The walkway is to go in the bottom along one long side for better access for feeding the goats. It will be approx 4' by 50'. The current floor is hardpacked soil. The barn has probably been there for close to 75 years so that is how long the dirt has been there getting packed, lol. The location is western Pa. What do you guys reccommend I do for the preparation part? I will have the concrete brought in mixed in a truck. Do I need to dig down and put in something for a base like sand or stone or just put it down right onto the dirt? Do you need a vapor barrier for a sidewalk? I was going to use 2x4's for the forms. Do I need rebar or wire mesh? Only thing on the walk should be people or animal traffic. No heavy equipment. Thanks.

 

[dtd24]

If it were me I would put down some crusher run gravel first. Helps with movement of the soils due to weather. I would also get a 4000psi mix and add the fibermesh to it to make sure no cracking occurs. You should put in relief joints as well.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't know your area, so soil prep isn't something I can comment on.

But I would highly recomend you run at least two sticks of rebar the lenght of the pour, and put some short cross ties about every four feet to help hold it all together. Rebar is cheap and you won't need a whole bunch of it anyway.

As to the width. Why four feet? I've found that three feet makes a nice sidewalk and saves 25% on materials. Do you plan to have allot of two way traffic or are you gonna be walking side by side with another person while on the sidewalk? Do you need to drive something on it that requires four feet of width? Most of the time it's just one person walking on it, or if there are more, you walk single file, so three feet is a really good width.

Eddie

 

[sandman2234]

Rebar is cheap and you won't need a whole bunch of it anyway.
Not as cheap as it used to be, but still a good idea!

As to the width. Why four feet?
Do I see a golf cart or other 4 wheeler in the picture?
David from jax