Anyone lay their own concrete?

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I've done concrete and helped many pours im not afraid to tackle it myself with a couple laborer buddies and i run heavy equipment so everything should pan out just might not have the most perfect finish but ohwell its gonna have derby cars and oil stains all over it anyway except the back half will have my nice cars
 
Josh owen said:
I've done concrete and helped many pours im not afraid to tackle it myself with a couple laborer buddies and i run heavy equipment so everything should pan out just might not have the most perfect finish but ohwell its gonna have derby cars and oil stains all over it anyway except the back half will have my nice cars
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You sound like me a little over 40 years ago. I did a garage slab with help from a lot of friends. Maybe too many friends! They all had their own ideas of how to do it. Long story short, when the truck comes to pour, you better have it figured out, Cause there's no time for planning anymore. We got it done but now everytime I look at it, it's a reminder, I wished it would have turned out better. Now, flash forward to about five years ago when I had my floor poured in my pole barn for a really good price. It came out beautiful! I couldn't have been happier. And then the first cracks started showing up a year later. And those cracks have gotten wider and deeper now and they move with the change of seasons. And now everytime I look at it I'm reminded again of my mistake. Cheap isn't always good. I checked out this guy's work ahead of time. But it was fresh work and looked beautiful and it didn't have time to crack yet. The bottom line is I screwed up twice and I thought I was doing the right thing. Be careful if you contract it out. Check out their older work not their newer work.
If you do it yourself I would get a pro by your side, even if you gotta pay him for his knowledge. Good luck, I think you can do it right if you think it through!
 
I did all this soley by myself right after we built our house last summer. Sometimes ya just gotta dive in full bore and hope it all works out lol not perfect but does the job the brush finish helps hide the small imperfections total cost with rebar and concrete and railroad ties $1800 done my self

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Josh owen said:
I did all this soley by myself right after we built our house last summer. Sometimes ya just gotta dive in full bore and hope it all works out lol not perfect but does the job the brush finish helps hide the small imperfections total cost with rebar and concrete and railroad ties $1800 done my self

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I think you can do it. The only thing I might add, is make sure the site is prepared well.
 
Its a sandy area but im gonna try lime over the sand as a base rather than class 5 gravel since lime packs so well. And fiber rather than rebar for the shed little cheaper and easier to work with
 
Josh owen said:
Its a sandy area but im gonna try lime over the sand as a base rather than class 5 gravel since lime packs so well. And fiber rather than rebar for the shed little cheaper and easier to work with
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Sounds ok, my guy had 6 workers, installed plastic then the stone with skide steer. Did it in quarters (40x60) 5-6” thick top grade concrete (he specified no white concrete) 15 years no cracks yet (reason for the best concrete) in 2007 $8500 for all the work, smooth as silk. 2 six packs and a fifth of Jack bonus. I tried doing a 12x12 shed by myself and almost died till the guys in the ready mix truck jumped in and finished it. Worst than moving mud!
 
Josh owen said:
Its a sandy area but im gonna try lime over the sand as a base rather than class 5 gravel since lime packs so well. And fiber rather than rebar for the shed little cheaper and easier to work with
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Yeah, sand is very, very good. I have clay where my pole barn is. Horrible stuff. The guy that did mine talked me into using fiberglass stuff and no rebar. I think it was a big mistake for me. But for you, being in sand it might work out just fine.
 
Scamp Rhonda said:
Yeah, sand is very, very good. I have clay where my pole barn is. Horrible stuff. The guy that did mine talked me into using fiberglass stuff and no rebar. I think it was a big mistake for me. But for you, being in sand it might work out just fine.
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If you are just removing soil, you should be fine to pour, but if you have to add fill, you need to rent a compacter. Sand also needs to be compacted, if nothing else, use water. Concrete needs to dry slow to add strength. That is one reason for the plastic, the other is a vapor barrier, if you are going to enclose the slab with sides and roof. Water the concrete several times to slow down the cure for about 4 days. We must do our concrete here in Florida differently then what is custom in your area because we always use 6" X 6" mesh.
 
One of the most important things to consider when it comes to concrete installation is the quality of the materials. It's also important to ensure that you're using a reputable contractor with experience working with concrete.
 
Ah I did mine all myself building the building and dirt work and pouring I had one guy help me finish it. Zero complaints turned out awesome and damn near flawless except 2 places the finisher couldnt quite fit.and.i smoothed with trowel. Hell anyone can do this. Use better boards around the base if you got thicker on concrete. We had some bad rain for almost 2 weeks prior.to the pour.and it warped all the baseboards so there was a couple gaps in between some of the boards above the floor but I caulked them inside and outside.if building and epoxy over that so it will never be an issue. Spent 3 nights with a 2x2 packer packing the floor prior to rebar and i could run my skidloader over the sand base and it barely left any impression in the sand.

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IceOneBro said:
One of the most important things to consider when it comes to concrete installation is the quality of the materials. It's also important to ensure that you're using a reputable contractor with experience working with concrete.
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Definitely a difference in quality of the concrete mix.
 
Garethw said:
Hey FABO. I’m planning a 40x48 pole barn shop. The total amount was a little crazy so I’m looking for ways to save. The concrete alone was quoted at about 12k (includes forming, material, and labor). My math says it takes 21yd of concrete for a 4” slab. At $160/yd that’s about $3400 for the material. So over $8k in labor for a slab seems ridiculous. Is it really that hard? Anyone do this themselves?
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I'm curious on by yourself? Just me, and I've done concrete. That's a slab that takes several guys to tend and I'd go more than 4" for a pole barn, do you have a Bull float?
And poles to go with it? Or any hand floats, an edger, how are the trucks getting to the pad? 1 truck is 9 yards. This half of the things to know just before you pour, you have to form it rebar inside the pad after its fomed. When it does get poured, it needs to be screeded flat for that slab I'd have min 4 guys 3 great guys that know what they are doing, you have roughly 90 min and then it starts to harden. All hell breaks loose just moments and during the pour and till finished. It's a orchestrated whoop *** cause it has a time limit. But ya you could do it.
 
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Swinger 340 said:
If you are just removing soil, you should be fine to pour, but if you have to add fill, you need to rent a compacter. Sand also needs to be compacted, if nothing else, use water. Concrete needs to dry slow to add strength. That is one reason for the plastic, the other is a vapor barrier, if you are going to enclose the slab with sides and roof. Water the concrete several times to slow down the cure for about 4 days. We must do our concrete here in Florida differently then what is custom in your area because we always use 6" X 6" mesh.
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We use the high strength w/ Fibre down in this part of Fl
 
Down here, COMPACTION is the key. Same thing in Jacksonville too, just less sand there. Seems to kinda be missing from this thread
 
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