Can I pour this concrete myself?

[4570Man]

I would hire it out. It is way more work then you think. If you don't want the concrete truck on your driveway leave it parked in the road, and haul the concrete in your tractor bucket.

 

[Streetcar]

Pouring a floor is something that requires skill to get a quality finished product. It is not a project you want to learn on. From your questions I assume you do not have much concrete experience
The ready mix concrete is usually cheaper than bagged concrete. If you use three yards or more
If mixed properly you can get a good final product from a bag mix

 

[Billrog]

You'll need 3 yds. of concrete for a 4" floor which is plenty thick for a shop. Anything over a yd. you should have help preferably with experience or the floor may not be as level or nice as you'd like. Even wheeling it if you don't want the truck on your driveway is only 27 trips.

 

[s219]

I wouldn't do it by yourself even with a concrete truck -- at minimum it's a two person job, and 3-4 people will make it go a lot better. And no way sacks of concrete are feasible for something that big.

I suspect the existing floor isn't 8-10", but instead 4-5" with a thickened edge (so that the edge has some structure).

Whatever you do, bring in gravel to get the level up and plan to pour a 4-5" floor for general use as a shop.

 

[jim_wilson]

I bought a property last year with a 24x24 post and beam horse barn. Half of the barn has a concrete floor, but the entire barn has a concrete foundation. In the other half of the barn, where the stalls were, the concrete is just under the walls (perimeter) and the stalls are open ground. As I intend to turn the horse stall area into a woodworking shop (or other shop) I would like a concrete floor in there that is level with the rest of the barn. I havent measured it yet but I would guess that the stall area is about 12x20' and once I am done shoveling out all the bedding and horse stink dirt I figure I will be down about 8-10" below the floor in the other half of the barn, which is about how thick the concrete appears to be....

Would this be an insane, unreasonable, or unreasonably expensive thing to try to do on my own with a whole bunch of quickkrete? Part of me feels like I have an advantage since the existing foundation really serves as the forms for the floor I want...but then part of me thinks thats going to be real lot of quickrete...


Additionally, and this would be a separate project...not sure which would get done first... On the outside of the barn there is a "shed" that has been built off of one side (Looks like there is a beam running down the outside of the barn, then this roof comes off of that beam and there is an outside wall and 2 end walls). It housed 2 outside horse stalls. This is about a 12x24 area with only dirt for the floor...not sure if there are even footings for the posts on the outside wall. I want to use this area to store things...like jet skis, maybe an ATV etc...and I feel like, especially for the jet skis, getting them off the dirt with some kind of floor would be a big step toward trying to keep critters out of my stuff...so for this area I was also thinking could I do a DIY concrete pad?


One of the reasons I would think of DIY is because I have concerns about the impact a concrete truck would have on my paved driveway which took a real beating this winter....and also I would have to take down some fencing I imagine for the truck to be able to get close enough to the pour areas.

Any thoughts?

I've poured a lot of concrete. First thing I would do is make a calculation of how much concrete you really need to pour. Because then you can figure out how many bags of Quikcrete it would take - vs getting it delivered.

I've poured a LOT of Quikcrete in 80 pound bags. I've got an electric Mix-N-Go electric mixer from Multiquip: MC3SEA that will take 2 80 pound bags of concrete at a time. If you're setup "right" you can go thru a lot of 80 pound bags - but by "right " I mean - having ALL of the bags you'll need - having them located literally right next to the mixer so it's a simple job to pull one and dump them in -and then the mixer needs to be right next to what you're putting the cement into.

Even then - the biggest jobs I've done in one day - by myself - are a concrete pad approximately 16 ft long by 2 1/2 foot wide by maybe 8 inches thick. Last year I poured a top on a cistern I built and that was about 6 ft square - by 1 foot thick.

After having done this for a while - I think that's probably about the limit for one person in one day. You could probably do more - but you'd need a bigger mixer - and at least one more helper.

Past a certain point - besides the work aspect - it just makes more sense to get the concrete delivered also because it costs less. For a 12x20 area - to me anyway - that would definitely fall into the realm of "get a truck delivered".

If you're worried about the driveway - have the guy park the truck and fill the bucket on your tractor - haul the concrete in and dump it - and go back for more. The biggest concern there would be how long a round trip would take. You could eat up a lot of time going back and forth and the trucks usually want to offload as quick as possible and get out of there. I'd say having a helper if you go down this road would be the best way - somebody drives the tractor full time until all the concrete is poured - and the other person spreads and helps empty the bucket.

Keep a hose handy and wax the tractor well before hand so any splatter gets hosed off immediately.

If you're REALLY thinking of doing it yourself ( by using bags )- then divide it up into four sections - with expansion joints between each. That would give you 4 sections approximately 6x10 each. I think that is doable - even for just one person - if you're all setup right there to do it.

Says you're located in New England? If you're close - I could show you the rig I have to give you an idea of what is involved.

 

[Deere Dude]

I have a lonnng blacktop driveway that I didn't want concrete trucks busting up and needed about 12 yards poured. I did it myself {and wife} but poured in small manageable sections. I have a HF mixer so I hauled sand and gravel from the ready mix plant and mixed our own with Portland cement. But my wife did a lot of shoveling of sand and gravel and she could keep up with me and the wheelbarrow. For the walls in our 7' tall storm shelter I dumped the mixer into the tractor bucket to get the height. It probably cost as much to do this manually as it would have to bring a redi-mix truck in, but it was manageable.

I have a 45hp tractor with a 61" bucket and hauled a lot of concrete with it but the capacity was about a good wheelbarrow and a half before it would start slopping over. I would never trust my speed dumping from a truck into that unless I was more sure of myself and had a good backup plan, because something will go wrong.

If you can keep the concrete 4" thick, get a 3-1/2 cu ft mixer, haul sand and gravel and Portland cement, it would work. The biggest part I would do by myself with someone mixing by hand would be maybe 2 yards at the most in a day. Section it off so you have smaller pours because it is hard work.

 

[Dftodd]

I had 10 yards delivered last year when I redid the end of my driveway. Price was around $850. If I did it again though, I would hire someone that knows the ins and outs of concrete and be there assistant for the day. Driveway turned out halfway decent. But would have turned out great if I had taken the time to find a good handy man that knows concrete and paid them to finish it My in-laws mixed bags in a mixer to do there shop floor. It turned out really good. But way too much work. They couldn't get a cement truck into where the shop was. It came to around 4 pallets of concrete for a 12x16 work shop. I'm not sure how thick the floor was poured. And it was poured in 4' wide strips

 

[jim_wilson]

One of the things that really made pouring concrete by myself easier - was getting a forklift attachment for the FEL on my tractor - and making a number of pallets out of 4x4" pressure treat with 1x6" deckboards for across the top. I made them about 2ft x 4ft in dimension.

Now what I do is go to Home Depot - and buy a bunch of Quikcrete in the bag. My utility trailer will hold about 2500 pounds. So I have them put it on a pallet and then their forklift just slides the pallet into the back of the trailer. If I decide that I don't want to deal with having to return the pallet - then put some of my pallets in the back and they pull the forklift right up so offloading the bags from their pallet to mine - is a simple matter of a lift and drop.

Then when I get home - I use the tractor to just lift the bags off the trailer by pulling them out on the pallets. If I'm using the concrete relatively soon - it goes over to where the pour is going to be and gets covered by a tarp. If it's going to be a while - or I know it's going to be raining a lot - the pallets go in my barn. Then I move them directly to where the pour is. When I setup to mix and pour the mixer is RIGHT next to the pallet of bags.

If you're evaluating where to cut corners and make the job go faster - then look seriously at how you move and how much time you spend moving all the concrete bags. Doing that more efficiently is a major time saver.

 

[mikim]

The best wood shop I've seen was at community college and the floor was 1 1/2" finished plywood --- I'd sure do that over diy concrete....never had much luck with diy concrete flat work.

 

[flusher]

Hire that work done. The floor will be done correctly and you'll only have to pay for it once. From your questions it sounds like you don't have done much (or any) concrete work. From experience, I know it's hard, sweaty labor and takes a lot of skill to get the job done correctly.

Good luck