Pouring my own garage floor.

[Farwell]

Living in cold Winter country I would suggest 2 inch blue foam board under the slab as well if you plan on spending much time in the Winter working in your pole barn.
I have one inch double foil covered foam under my metal siding and 14 inches of blow in insulation in the ceiling. My pole barn is heated with a Hot Dawg natural gas heater. I keep the barn at around 47 degrees all during the cold season, the heater comes on around once an hour and costs less than $35 a month to heat. It still hurts my hands when using wrenches due to the 47 degrees but it is much better than the inside temp matching the outside temp.
I doubt that you will save any money by pouring the concrete yourself if you consider your time and labor worth anything.
Good luck.
Farwell

 

[Egon]

No comments on the design but for the pour ask you back. It will tell you when it would be finished and which way to go and maybe even how!

Don't forget the cost of raw materials when making comparisons.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't know your area or what you conditions are like. I do know contractors. Some are great, but some are not quite what we'd all hope for.

NEVER rely on one bid. I always think five is about right. You get enough advise and opinions to know what works and who's full of it. Ask the best around and then find the best deal.

Not using rebar or wire might be ok, but it's not the best way to do it, so maybe you need to find out if everyone does it that way, or not.

Eddie

 

[Haystacker]

My wife and I poured our 30 x 40 slab ourselves. I can't believe she didn't kill me. I think we may have saved $400 total cost over having a truck come in. But since the work crew was my wife and me, we went with mixing the concrete ourselves. We took our time and did it in sections. We used wire mesh throughout and connected each section with rebar.
The first section we did was 10 x 20. Way too much work. We then went to 10 x 10 sections. About two hours of very hard work for each section. It's been over year since we finished. Still looks good. no cracks. 4 inch slab on 4 inches of level 3/4 minus gravel.

Have fun.

 

[scesnick]

I think I am just going to contract it out. I was looking for someone that might have tackled this before and get thier opinion if it was worth it or not. I think the jury is in and it is not worth the money you save, if any at all.

 

[Iowachild]

I know next to nothing about concrete except that it is very hard.

Well you know one of the two things the contrator that did my foundation said you can be sure about with concrete.
1. It will get hard.
2. It will crack!

My advice is hire out large concrete projects. Then sit back and enjoy it!

MIKE

 

[InlineDieselFan]

scesnick,

glad too see you going with paying someone to do the work, it is back breaking work and it will look much nicer. You will also be able to use the creeper when working on the tractor or vehicles.

steve

 

[scesnick]

I am going to tackle a basketball court for my boy here shortly. That is why I have a new mixer. I think i will give that a go myself for sure. besides if he wants a court he will have to learn how to push a wheel barrow. You don't get something for nothing !!!!!

 

[CurlyDave]

I built a new pole garage recently 30x40 and I also got a new concrete mixer for a smaller stone veneer project. I need a floor in my garage still and I was wondering if anyone here has poured their own floor with just a 8 cubic Ft. mixer?

1. The last time I looked into this, it was less expensive to buy the concrete ready mixed in a truck than to buy it by the sack. Unless you really enjoy concrete work, you will probably be money ahead to have it poured.

2. There is no need to hire a contractor to do all of it. You can do all of the prep work yourself and be certain to have the right amount of drain rock and sand. You will need a day laborer (maybe $100) and a finisher ($200-250) to help you on the day you pour the slab. I am old enough that I would get a second day laborer so I can do mostly watching, but be ready to work for a few minutes if necessary.

3. While it works for some people, I have never had success with the 6-6-10 wire in a slab. For less than $400 you can get enough 1/2" rebar to put it on 24" centers and really do the job right. Subtract the cost of the wire mesh and I have no idea why anyone uses it. Costs almost as much and is inferior.

 

[bugstruck]

1. The last time I looked into this, it was less expensive to buy the concrete ready mixed in a truck than to buy it by the sack. Unless you really enjoy concrete work, you will probably be money ahead to have it poured.

2. There is no need to hire a contractor to do all of it. You can do all of the prep work yourself and be certain to have the right amount of drain rock and sand. You will need a day laborer (maybe $100) and a finisher ($200-250) to help you on the day you pour the slab. I am old enough that I would get a second day laborer so I can do mostly watching, but be ready to work for a few minutes if necessary.

3. While it works for some people, I have never had success with the 6-6-10 wire in a slab. For less than $400 you can get enough 1/2" rebar to put it on 24" centers and really do the job right. Subtract the cost of the wire mesh and I have no idea why anyone uses it. Costs almost as much and is inferior.

Agreed. What Dave says.