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Homeowner Forum / Construction / November 2003Concrete Driveway
Can anybody help please? I'm widening a concrete driveway by 4ft to make car parking easier and would be grateful for some tips (a neighbour did the same and ended up with an embarrassing amount of excess ready mixed concrete, with hindsight he'd have hired a mixer instead). The drive slopes down from the front door to the road at approximately 8 - 9 degrees adjacent a level garden, hence the soil varies from top-soil through sub-soil to compacted sand / gravel all held back by a wall I'm in the process of rebuilding. There are no flood or drainage problems in the area..... yet ;-) A quantity of hardcore is available from the dismantling of the original wall, plus some old common bricks. Is about 2" hardcore + about 4" concrete sufficient (existing drive appears to be about 3") What's the ratio of ballast / cement / water? What's the conversion factor for concrete (cu Feet / Metres to Tons / Tonnes)? Should I use add mixes (i.e. frost protector / rapid hardener)? In the event of a ground frost should I cover it, or should I not do it at this time of year? At what intervals do I place expansion joints (bear in mind the slope too)? I have some 2" x 1" sawn softwood from a previous project, is this okay for expansion joints? Assuming the work's done in the next couple of weeks, how long before I can park a car on it? Thanks in anticipation. -- Remove NOJUNK to email Regards, Neil Neil, people don`t generally use hardcore anymore, unless covering a huge area. you can have 1 ton bags delivered of different degrees roadstone, which you flatten with a whacker plate. Your friend probably ordered more than he needed, just to make sure, however the concrete mixer cant take any excess away , he has to drop it, as it cures fast. When measuring, length x width x depth =m3 so if its 8.4m long and 1.2m wide and needs to be 100mm thick 8.4 x 1.2 x 0.1 = 1m3 of concrete required dont forget to dig out to a depth of when you order your concrete, they will ask for the sizes, give accurate sizes and they will confirm your order size, tell them what the concrete is for and they will mix the concrete with the correct additives if required. I think you will need an expansion gap if over 10m in length, I`m not sure about the exact lengths maybe someone else could give us the exact figures. see the page listed below on how to prepare the ground. hope its some help http://www.lafarge-aggregates.co.uk/lafarge/lafarge-aggregates.nsf/0/ECCBAE9229E 61172C125699F003B6E40?OpenDocument&expandsection=4&arg=question http://www.dlsharrock.freeserve.co.uk/diyguide/layingadrive.htm mike > Can anybody help please? > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Neil Did they use rebar or a net? When I have my backyard paved I'm thinking 6" concrete in rebar with an expansion joint at the house, the back alley, and 2 more in the middle. But then again, we are talking about a Baltimore row home with a 15' x 30' back yard. Might sound like overkill but I don't want it to crack, and given the realtively small size it shouldn't be too terribly expensive. >When I have my backyard paved I'm thinking 6" concrete in rebar with >an expansion joint at the house, the back alley, and 2 more in the >middle. But then again, we are talking about a Baltimore row home >with a 15' x 30' back yard. Might sound like overkill but I don't >want it to crack, and given the realtively small size it shouldn't be >too terribly expensive. Ahhh, but it *will* crack. You just need to tell it _where_ to crack. If a contractor tells you that it won't crack, find another contractor. What are you going to do on this concrete? Drive, walk??? 4" thick is plenty thick for most residentail projects. 6" concrete for a patio, etc is just wasting your $$$ CM > Ahhh, but it *will* crack. You just need to tell it _where_ to crack. > > If a contractor tells you that it won't crack, find another contractor. Yes. But I want to keep it to a minimum. A neighbor behind me doesn't have any expansion joints and no cracks yet. It looks at least a few years old. > What are you going to do on this concrete? Drive, walk??? 4" thick is plenty thick for most residentail projects. 6" concrete for a patio, etc is just wasting your $$$ I have no idea what is standard. I am going to park a car there. Just want all the extras in case they don't do as good a job prepping the ground, etc as I hope they will. Probably 4" with rebar and a nicely compacted surface is OK (that along with the expansion joints). Order some mesh from the builders merchant, it comes in 2.4m X 4.8m sheets so get one and cut it down the middle to do 4 foot wide( hire bolt crops or a petrol cut off saw (whizzer) from local tool hire shop) Try A393 mesh and set it on some bricks so that when you pour the concrete the mesh ends up in the centre of the slab, this will stop it cracking up. Dont use accelerators in the mix, it will be pretty hard after 24 hrs and will continue hardening. After about a week it will take the weight of a car. Doing a thinnish slab like this would not be a good idea if there is a danger of the free water in the mix freezing in very cold weather. Be prepared for some hard shovelling, invite the neighbour. Good luck. > Can anybody help please? > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Neil |
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