Pouring cement floor in tool shed questions

[ovrszd]

I do have limited experience with concrete. I have poured several floating slabs for feeding livestock on. The main thing that concerns me is the floor at the entry door. I do not want it to give and crack when I drive on it. I talked to a guy that poured a 2 foot thick lip in front of his door but he is driving large farm machinery into his shed. I will set all the forms, dig the footings, level the fill and lay down the vapor barrier and wire mesh myself. I will hire someone to direct the pouring operations and then get a few buddies to help with the pour.

I poured my doorways as was described above. I went 12 inches deep by 12 inches wide with a 45 degree taper back up to the 4 inch grade of the floor. I also put steel rods clear across the doorways with bars tieing them back into the floor. Then used mesh on the floor. Neither of my doorways have moved or cracked in 15 years. That's in Northern Missouri on a well drained, solid clay grade. Good Luck.

 

[Egon]

If doing it yourself find/hire someone who is good with the chute. He'll save you lots of time and make the job seem easy!

 

[Spark_man]

WOW, you paid $900 for two guys to do your pour. Things must be more expensive out East!!

I'm pretty sure it was 70 cents a sq. ft. I also got quotes from 2 other guys and one was almost twice that. What are they charging out your way?

 

[TOMDUALLY]

Don't -repeat=DO NOT cut corners for a couple dollar savings. I did and now I regret it. My 'cement man' framed up my shpo (24 x26) looked good so I ordered 8 yards for the next day he showed up and so did the cement truck. he had the driver dump all 8 yards at once then as the truck was pulling away he said he was sick and couldn't work. My wife called an amblance (she has a softer heart than I do) Now this left me and my son to spread and level, needless to say, niether of us having any experince or the correct tools, it didn't turn out as nice as expected. Now for the soft heart comment as I suspected the hospital reported back that he had a blood-alchol level of 3.86. He got paid for framing thats all. For another couple hundred I could have had a professional company do the job. OH WELL you get what you pay for; and as old as I am I should have learned that by now.LOL

 

[ovrszd]

I'm pretty sure it was 70 cents a sq. ft. I also got quotes from 2 other guys and one was almost twice that. What are they charging out your way?

Oooopppss, I had to go back and look at your first post. I was wrong, you actually paid $1159 to do your pour if it was .70 cents per foot. My BIL just hired a 30x50 pour in his new shop with one drain in the middle and bathroom plumbing in one corner. Paid $450. That would come out to .30 per sq ft. At your rate he would have paid $1050. He had it all set up and all they did was pour and trowel as you described. They did a great job and didn't even show up drunk!!! That would really suck!!!

 

[scesnick]

WOW, you paid $900 for two guys to do your pour. Things must be more expensive out East!! [/QUOTEI just tackled this project last month on my 30x40 building and Eddie gave me the same advice. I'm sure glad i listened to him and paid someone to do it. $900 labor is not really that bad a deal. I got a bunch of quotes and they were anywhere from the price the concrete would cost ( which was $1,800 all the way down to $750 ) then I remembered my hunting buddy that did this work and he poured it for me for $600.

Believe me, you will not want to tackle this as a DIY !! Even if you do get the concrete looking somewhat O.K. You really have to be good at it to get it to drain towards the drains. There sure is an art to it that I was not aware of before. There is nothing worse than when water is running away from the drains.
One way to keep the cost down it to prep it yourself. I did it so it has to be easy. Just get it to grade, bury your drain, it doesn't have to be all that deep. And be sure it breaks the bubbleIf your not sure about the height of the drains just leave them loose.( and don't glue them until the guy pouring it looks at it. It only takes a second to adjust them if they are not glued). And put the expansion joints around the outside right at the 4 inch mark so the guys pouring it know exactly where 4" is at. plenty of #57 gravel for the low spots, I had plenty of those.

BTW Eddie, I obviously took your advice and contracted the whole thing out. I went with the 3500 lb mix with fiber and it looks great !! No cracks yet but my buddy that poured it guaranteed me 2 things: 1.-- it will get hard. 2-- It will crack !!!

One other tip. Be sure and frame up a place to put any extra concrete left over in the truck. Like a pad outside the walk in door. If not you will either have a huge clump of dried concrete to deal with later OR you will be sending back concrete that you already paid for.

 

[SPIKER]

My brother and I just did a SHED (12' x 16') and I ordereds 3 yards of crete intending to do the shed and one other project, some how the pour ended up either much thicker or I got ripped off as we barely had enough to cover the shed. we had the forms laid out and sand inside with plastic down and some steel mesh all inplace. a slightly below grade in/out ramp thicker to prevent cracking. simple floating slab for a SHED you got a barn that I wouldn't attempt at all. we managed fine with each of us knowinga little bit about the work. him and my nefue helped smooth out the pour with shovels and rakes/hoes. it took most of the day to get the crete down and leveled & trowled. it turned out OK cept for one low spot caused when we pulled a board out which we used to level the slab which pulled crete to one side... leaft a low on the other side. this is going to be a lawn mower shed eventually but needed dry storage for items I couldn't fit into the cabin when my house was sold this month.

there is a post looking for advice here in regards to lifting/raising this shed for the pour or to use T & G wood. glad I used the crete more work but I think long term results will be much better.

Mark M

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Personally, I recommend folks find a small project, perhaps a 5X5 pad, that would be useful for something else, and try doing it yourself. This is a nice size for a couple people to mix and pour and finish. Making it square and level, giving it a nice brushed surface etc. will give you some idea of the work and techniques involved. There's nothing like experience to teach you. Even if you decide to get pros to do the work, you'll find that small concrete pours are useful and once you've done one, you'll be less resistant to doing others when it's really the right choice.

Cliff