Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

[ndemge]

Getting ready to FINALLY build the shed.<br /><br />Will need a concrete slab 18x36, will be a very lightweight shed sitting on top of it, metal siding, metal roof, basically pole barn, but without sinking poles in the ground.<br /><br />It will be storage and workshop, no vehicles will be driving in it.<br /><br />So, how thick should it be,? <br />should it be a bit thicker where the supports will be? (every 12')<br />How do you do the expansion joints, and how far,?<br /><br />and the final question, would this be too much to try to do by hand with a concrete mixer? I can get 1/2"Minus for about $5 a yard 5 minutes from the house.<br /><br />Thanks for any help

 

[KRS]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

WAY to much for a concrete mixer by hand.<br /><br />I believe you'll need 10 yards for a pad that size (4" thick with 8" downturn), that would be 300 bags of redi-mix concrete!!!

 

[Ron G]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Im not a concret guy,hows your ground?did you dig down and fill with gravel?4" should work with alot of reinfocement and a expansion foint right down the middle.

 

[boling]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

4" of 2500 to 3000 psi mix should do it, joint down the middle. If surrounded by a foundation wall, use expansion material between foundation and slab. Use a 2x4 to check gravel height.(I know it's really 3 1/2", but it works) Use a layer of plastic sheeting between gravel and concrete. Fiberglass is now an option in concrete, so steel may not be needed. We always used 6Ga 10in square, 36"wide mesh before the days of fiberglass. The biggest thing here is surface prep., pack the ground surface well. There is nothing like half the slab sinking a 1/2" one year after install. Get the concrete company to double check your figures, 10 yards will be close. Order 1/2 yard more than you think you need.<br /><br />If your going to finish this one by hand, get some BenGay for the forearms!<br /><br />Have fun.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Thanks for the replies.... will deffinitly get a full truck.<br /><br />Our ground is rock f'n solid, and we have creek gravel that has an amazing ability not to settle, so I will dig down and put 4" of the gravel and rent a compactor.<br /><br />There will be no stem wall on the outside<br /><br />I'm going to talk to my brother that just built his house, see who did his concrete work and see what they want to finish it.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Noel... finish it smooth! It will help if it's smooth and easier to move things on.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

thanks bob... will do. Going to have it like the garage floor, smooth as glass.<br /><br />i'll post pictures of the progress. <br /><br />I have to level a pretty big area in the back yard, my house is on a hill, so have to look at drainage and all that happy stuff, luckily, the creek is only 200 yards away with more rock than I could ever use.

 

[magster65]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

I did mine smooth... easy to clean, stuff rolls on it nice but be careful with wet shoes! SLIP-PER-Y!

 

[Colorado04]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

I have just recently built a "man shed" that is 20'x30'. I use half of it for my ATV. I had the concrete guy put a bit of a slope in the floor to the rollup door so that water/snow that came off the ATV would flow towards the door and out. You might consider something like that for yours. Sure does keep the rest of the floor dryer.The rest of the floor is flat and smooth.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Another idea to consider is a slight slope and a drain. You can have it drain into a drywell sunk down beneath the slab. <br /><br />I lean towards over-design in case the needs of the building changes in the future.<br /><br />Colorado4 I like your suggestion too. My atv's need an indoor home.... and I could use it for my constant tinkering on mine. If you ever need any atv parts advice ask me.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

where I will have the shed, the best that I would ever be able to park in there is a 4wheeler or lawnmower, its on op a big hill, not possible to put a road to it, only a sidewalk.<br /><br />...but mild slope to the rollup door is a good idea, may want to hose it out some day, or if a roof leaks, at least it goes somewhere.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

If you ever intend to hose it out it is best to build your slab with a small curb. The cub should be about 6" high and on all sides except the door side. This will prevent moisture getting into the walls (in particular if you ever in the future finish or insulate).<br /><br />I just like to plan in advance. I lived in MO for a number of years and if you ever intend to heat the place and use it in the winter it will help.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Yeah, post pics! I like seeing other peoples hard work... Makes me feel like I've done something that day. <br /><br />In keeping with Bob's overbuilding suggestion, I'd add a few extra electrical outlets. If it's gonna have power, that is. There's never an outlet around where you need one.<br /><br />spots

 

[ndemge]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

cn spots... your right on the money...<br /><br />I'm putting 100 amp service in this thing, I have a monster breaker panel I got for free a while back, it's loaded with 40 20amp circuits in it now, a few 220's will be put in for compressor/ac/heat/welder, and then I figure every 2 feet there should be a dedicated 20 amp circuit <br /><br />there is nothing I hate more than having to wory about what tool is plugged in where and the same time the other guy is using something.<br /><br />If my brother is chopp'n a piece of metal, and I'm a few feet away with the saw, I don't want to have to worry about it.

 

[magster65]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

It's not a very good picture but anyways... I built this in 99. It's 22x30 with 9' walls. I put a 100 amp sub panel in with a 15 amp outlet every 8' and a 20 amp on each wall. I also put a 220 outlet on each wall as well as a 220 heater hanging on the wall. Overhead lighting is 12 2x4' flourescent fixtures with a single 4' under the cabinet over the workbench. It has an underground hydro feed from the house in 2" conduit in which I ran the phone and cable out. There's a tv, 300 watt stereo / 4 speakers, bathroom, hot water, compressor, and a few other creature comforts. I sloped the floor 2" in the 30' and polished it to a 'burn' (dark). I chose double doors instead of a single so you don't lose the heat as fast if you open it up. Storage in the attic... if I was to do it again I'd put a few more outlets around the doors and outside but I think it turned out pretty good for the budget. <br />

 

[magster65]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

I guess what I was trying to say is go over-kill on everything and you'll always be happy.<br />You'll notice that the driveway has a crack where the center expansion joint ends... there's a bunch of rebar in there but I guess not enough. The driveway and garage floor are both about 3 1/2" thick. That'd be another thing I'd change... go with 4" minimum slab thickness and put 6" WWM instead of rebar.

 

[bootle]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Give that beer keg to ZmOz and he'll make an air compressor with it fer ya

 

[Colorado04]

Re: Concrete guys in the house Slab questions

Thanks Bob, I keep that in mind.<br /><br />Noel,<br /><br />I put three courses of 12" block around the perimeter of the slab, then 2"x6", 8' stud wall on top. Gotta hate it when you slam the ceiling with a 10' 2x4 trying to move it around. Also the extra hight gives you plenty of space to install a garage door opener if you want. In the design of the shed, I had a 10' over hang built inover the front. It gives me a fairly large dry area to work under in wet weather. It also allowed me to have a room above the shed that is 8' high and 10'x30'. This is all under a 12/12 pitch roof. I had to concider snow loads... You will not be disapointed with overkill on the electrical panel. You also may wish to consider a connection to the panel for a gennie. The hydro in my area can be out for many hours at a time so I had the electician install a disconnect from grid and install a 4 prong twist lock plug connector for my 5 kilowatt gennie so I can use the existing panel for power during outages.<br /><br />Hope all goes well...