pouring concrete by myself

[randydupree]

I had uncles on both sides of the family that were builders,they did it all,concrete,roofs,plumbing (back in the day) and as a kid i worked for them both.
Key word Kid.
My dad was a do it yourself guy and so am i.
I have done way to much of that concrete work but i either needed the money or had no money,so i had to do it myself.

Down here in the south they don't pat down the rocks anymore,they say its not the way to go (science and all that).
They just screed it off and trowel it down.

Most of the time we just used squares of plywood as knee boards while troweling,watch your toes.
My buddy did his pole barn by himself and he poured it in 3-4 pours.
He poured down each side,like a sidewalk,then he came back and poured the middle when he had time and money,using a movable board along the front of the pour.
That way he could screed off of the "sidewalks" along the side.
Down here we put plastic sheeting on the base,to keep the ground from sucking the water out of the concrete and to maybe stop the pad from sweating.
Old wives tales?who knows.

I like steel wire and rebar,i do not like the fiber.
With a power trowel the fiber may be ok,hand troweling with fiber sucks (well,it still sucks!)

I was pouring RV pads about the same time frame as I75 was getting a 3rd lane added,lots of concrete being poured and if it sat too long in the truck it got sent back,i was buying lots of concrete for cheap but it may come at noon or it may come at midnight and it may come when its raining.

I had forms built and on some 10 or more yard pours i used my tractor with a box blade as a screed.
No way i could have done it any other way.
It all came out ok,a coarse broom finish as it was for bus parking,i pity the owner of that place if he wants to break that stuff out.

You can do it,have plenty of Aleave on hand for bedtime!

[Scratch]

Well, I went and did it. I poured concrete, but my plan had changed. I initially was going to pour it in 3 smaller sections because I didn't think I'd be fast enough to finish the troweling by myself. Then my brother said:
"Just do it in one big pour, I'll help."

I jumped on that and ordered enough for the whole thing... I thought...
I ordered 8 yards which I thought would be enough, but I forgot about this jig that I wanted in the center and I dug down extra deep to help reinforce that, so I was short .58 yards. I'll do that at a later time. I have another slab I think I want in another area so I'll order enough for that also.

I also got some help from some buddies and even my wife and the pour went fine. I made two pairs of concrete sliders. One for me and one for my brother. Those worked awesome!

I did have one problem... I had heard that you don't start mag-ing and troweling until your fingers poke in only about 1/8" of an inch. I kept checking it and after about an hour it was at about 3/8" deep so I kept waiting. Then about 10 minutes later, it was at barely 1/8" so we jumped on it and started troweling. But it was a little late I think and troweling was very tough. We got it done, but it was a workout! All in all I'm happy and we saved about 4000.00 doing it myself.

Here's some pics:

[Scratch]

More pics:

[greywynd]

Looks pretty good! Another thing people overlook is they ‘test’ it near where the last access/pour was done, but the first placed stuff is farther cured already.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[randydupree]

well done!!
Old guys get it done!

[Ironman]

Hat's off to you, I will never do that myself.
I noted rebar at 4x4 centres, I put mine at 2x2, I guess it depends on how much weight you plan to drive onto it.

[Scratch]

Thanks all, cure testing was done where we started and rebar is at 36” since that’s what the concrete guys suggested. I work on 40’s era Jeeps so not a lot of weight.

Afterwards, I was talking with my brother, who is 7 years older than me and helped with the entire thing even finishing. He’s thinking about pouring his himself too with my help so he didn’t think it was too bad either.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Thanks all, cure testing was done where we started and rebar is at 36” since that’s what the concrete guys suggested. I work on 40’s era Jeeps so not a lot of weight.

Afterwards, I was talking with my brother, who is 7 years older than me and helped with the entire thing even finishing. He’s thinking about pouring his himself too with my help so he didn’t think it was too bad either.

I might hire you guys... LOL.

[mccutter]

Originally Posted by Scratch

He’s thinking about pouring his himself too with my help so he didn’t think it was too bad either.

So I guess yours was the "guinea pig"?

Outstanding Job!

My only question is who wore the pink sliders?

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by mccutter

So I guess yours was the "guinea pig"?

Outstanding Job!

My only question is who wore the pink sliders?

The Guinea pig used the pink sliders… I didn’t use stainless when I made them and I didn’t want them to rust right away, so I just grabbed a couple half cans of paint that I wanted to use up.

I’m secure enough in my masculinity to use pink sliders.