large concrete floor......

[frank horton]

ok.
this will be the last workshop I ever build for myself and I want a superb smooth floor......
unfortunatley I cant get a 6 wheel conc truck to deliver.....long story but the road is to narrow and extremly steep.....
there are no two axle conc trucks here.....have enough trouble getting building supplies up here anyway....the most in one go is 6 tons....and only 1 firm will deliver......
prob..1...... I'm 72 and will have to mix my self....with help of course....
2 .... I cant trowel out 150plus m2 x 6-8" deep (with underfloor heating) and make it look nice..........
3.... there are no tool rentals within a 3 hour drive and then not sure if they have a power screed to hire....I dont speek Greek yet......lol.....
I've heard about the helicopter type power screeds, never used one, even if I could rent it and so scared of messing up.....
4.... I have seen a rotary tube screed that rotates in reverse direction powered by a geared 2000w 9" big grinder.....2 handles, tube at least 4m wide....2 guy's pulling against rotation whe leveling the wet conc....
I will happily make one for this last job......which I hope would make for a better finish.....???
5.....plan is to pour and finish individual slabs 3m wide by 7m long......working across the entire workshop floor until complete....waiting a day to move the foms and do the next one.....
6.....after how long I dont know but I want to seal the floor...prob 2pack......
7.....the roof is already on so no real weather problems.....

I wanted and was happy to pay a team to come and do the job from start to finish, with ready mix and a conc pump but no acesses...
I've tried for a while to get a team of labour in to help but it's just to much like hard work.....still trying tho.....

ideas and guidence please...this is so important to me.......thanks

 

[gaz1]

dumper truck pours

pour into dumper truck pour from it

or its pumped in via a pump truck

 

[Pete.]

150m2 I'd pump it and get 4 men that know what they are doing to lay it too.

150m2 at 200mm thick is 30 cubes. 5 wagons worth. A hard day's work even with a pump and a gang.

 

[tom2207]

as above ,, too big for one man and not experienced ,,, you need a gang , you have a long time to look at it so its worth getting it right .

 

[8ob]

If I am reading this right Frank cannot get a big truck near the job, I am assuming smaller trucks can get aggregate to him. Either way its a lot of concrete to mix, sounds like a job for a self loading mixer/dumper and some half sensible labour.

Bob

1276 × 957

 

[gaz1]

no way to hire it bob

how many men do you have access too ?

can you get the materials too site?

 

[Agrismith]

How close can the lorries get ??
And if you want super smooth then pooring it in multiple goes will be incredibly difficult to line up perfectly.
The machine you talk of is called a roller striker it only levels it doesn't put the finish on.
A bull float will get it flat and level but will leave a dusty finish
The area you are talking about really needs 2 power floats to get it all done
They are hard work and make your shoulders ache
You can get ride on ones but will need a machine to pick them up and put them on the slab when you are ready to use.
Power floats are always hired in pairs Incase one goes wrong.

If you have no other way than to do it in multiple poor's I wouldn't consider using traditional forms
Do it all on k forms which are cast into your slab and act as an expansion gap
It is a thousand times easier and gives you a better chance of the individual pads meeting up

 

[8ob]

no way to hire it bob

how many men do you have access too ?

can you get the materials too site?

Hire shops a three hour trip, still worth going and getting one. Its going to save a tidy few quid on labour and speed the job up.

Bob

 

[500e]

You want some one who has used it before That's the small one as well

 

[Fraserb]

Anyone local with a forklift, if not hire a dumper and run it from the lorry to the pour site. I'd also recommend getting a hold of someone with experience as it sounds like a polished floor is what you're after and they take a bit of getting right. The lads thatay our concrete make it look really easy but it's definetely not.

 

[Westfield-builder]

30 plus years ago there was a guy in the North East who was the go to guy for finished concrete, his nickname was Pedro (I've completely forgotten his name, but will ask the old man tomorrow).
He did everyone of our big pours and could finish them like glass, if required, often working alone overnight.
While we were all driving Escorts and Capris, Pedro drove a Ferrari !

 

[gaz1]

there is another way

and you could make one up

one good thing you can make a pan mixer out of car parts set on a trailer with legs to support

then use chutes to send it where you want

 

[Screwdriver]

Sounds like you really need to get a team of experts in to do the job to your spec and currently the problem is you can’t find them. So I’d step back a bit and find somewhere locally that has had such work done recently and find out who did it from them.

I guess you’d start with estate agents, new builds, local construction industry or possibly architects. Must be difficult in a foreign country. Good luck.

I did a 4m x 7m concrete slab, hand mixed with a few mates. Wasn’t that difficult in one day but it wasn’t a particularly good job, nor was it anything like 8 inches! Getting a good polished floor is yet another level of difficulty for an amateur so I would certainly be putting all my efforts into finding the right contractor to get it done right.

 

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i was going to suggest a pto pan mixer, but you still need two tractors and bodies. The polish bit……pay a man who can

 

[500e]

Mate bought one of those pan mixers @gaz1 from ebay did two biggish sheds & sold it for about same money, still wants. minimum of 2 better with 3 people
The roller leveler is OK but won't give you a dust free polished floor
as said find a gang with a known reputation & have a look at a floor they did a while ago

 

[frank horton]

from where u could get a pump to sit safely is roughly 1/2 kilometer away.....
the last bit of road to my place is about 40degrees of a tilt......
the delivery firm for stone etc.....uses an ex German army 4wd Merc truck...normal looking truck, 12 tonner 2 axle job....
u wanna hear it wind up as it comes up the hill...
I borrow my mates petrol Nissan 4x4 pick up the odd time.....anything heavy like bags o cement means 4wd low.....!!!!!!!
I created a parking spot for trucks on the land with good acsess for a c/pump and r/mix trucks but they just refuse to go up the hill....
so looks like a hand job.....have 2 decent mixers so really need 6 guy's....still looking....
thanks for the guidence.....feeling better all ready...
when they build here there is usually a lot of room, being in the sticks or they just block the road off and pump the stuff....
nobody seems to mind.....
at my time o life it's a great place to live.....
did I say I like a challenge......hahaha.........thanks......

 

[frank horton]

forgot to add, there are no dumper trucks here....unless an ex pat has brought one over.....so doubtful.....
any big works are done by crew's and gear brought over from the mainland....say a factoy build.....
there are a lot of JCB 3cx and the like but most are wreck's...that are available to the small builder....
theres just one crane hire firm that I can find this end of the island.....
Have seen a drivable cement mixer like 8ob suggests but it an antique and will never run again....
most builders are hand to mouth with a few specialists.....
they still use 4x1 n 6x1 nailed up as shuttering....!!!!!!!!

remember what ever u pay for equipment in the UK used or new it will be almost double here.....so nothing get bought really.....
a 10-12 year old 4x4 pick will sell for 10,00 euros...and looks like Ben Hur owned it...and no cant bring em in as I would cos the import duty will bring the price back up to here.....

I do have a pertol driven vibrator so looks like a down on ur knees trowel job and just get on with it.....
so smaller sections and do the best I can....
perhaps thats why the place is still a nice place to live......all a bit olde worldy except in the big towns.....
again thanks for the help...

 

[Bravheart]

Buy a dumper sounds like there's a bit of hire work to be had after if its the only one.

 

[KimB]

If you can, find someone with a pump or even if someone can come over to do the job with one? I know it’s in the UK but I paid £350 for a pump to move concrete 40-50m roughly. It made life so much easier.

It would be worth it’s weight in gold.

 

[Gareth J]

What is your floor build up? Considering you have UFH in there, you'll have insulation at some point?

Maybe you were planning on a single concrete slab on top of insulation laying directly on a well prepped sub base but maybe you could go for the slab under insulation with a screed on top.

More forgiving putting down the bulky base slab as you can finish it pretty roughly. Then the insulation with ufh pipes clipped on top and a final screed. The final screed could potentially be poured if access were possible, or, it could be done with a "dry" mix which can be carted about slightly easier.

Maybe these, relatively thin, top layer options are unsuitable for a workshop?