How do pour a concrete slab

Recommended products Although you can use any product from the Cement Australia concrete range, we recommend Cement Australia's Concrete Mix. Concrete Mix. Quality product designed for small projects. Designed to deliver twice the strength of a standard concrete mix. How can you tell which method of concrete mixing is best for your job? A handy guide is any amount of concrete under 0. For jobs between 0. For any job over 0. Ideally concrete should be placed and finished during the early morning, before air temperatures and wind speed rise and the air humidity drops.

Ensure you have any relevant approvals or permits. Ensure there are no pipes or services below the ground; contact Dial Before You Dig on or via their website www. Safety Before you begin any project, please ensure you protect yourself with the following:. Face mask. Team lift.

Wellington Boots. Look after yourself properly Protect your skin and eyes. Cement based products are alkaline and can cause burns to exposed skin or eyes. When working outdoors, be SunSmart - Slip on some sun-protective clothing — Slop on sunscreen - Slap on a hat - Seek shade - Slide on some sunglasses.

Use our simple Calculator to work out how much Concrete Mix product you will need for your project. All 20kg bags of cement products require 2 people to lift them safely.

Always follow safe lifting procedures to avoid injury. So you will need a friend to assist you with mixing, placing and screeding the concrete - the more friends the merrier for larger jobs! Play Guide to getting the consistency of Concrete right. If using Extra Strength Concrete Mix, formwork can be removed in half the time. For example, for mm thick slabs purchase mm x 50mm timber to make your formwork. In hot or very dry weather you need to prevent the rapid loss of surface moisture by: - Soaking the compacted base under the slab thoroughly - Minimising the finishing time by having enough workers available to complete the pour quickly - Use light mist sprays to prevent excessive evaporation - Begin the curing process as soon as you have finished smoothing the surface of the slab.

With the hammer , drive the four stakes in the ground at each of the four corners of the intended slab. Run the twine tightly between the stakes to define the slab area. Use a shovel or a turf-cutting tool to remove turf, or lawn , about 6 inches beyond your marked area.

The intent is to provide yourself with extra working room on all sides. Open the bags of all-purpose gravel and pour them into the slab construction site. Use the tamper tool to compact and flatten the gravel. After it is first poured out, the gravel sub-base will be about 1 inch too high. However, tamping will bring down the level to its correct height. Mark off four sections of the two-by-fours each measuring 3 feet, 3 inches, and use the circular saw or electric miter saw to cut them.

Drive the 16d galvanized nails into the boards to build the form. Place the form on the sub-base. Cut four scrap pieces of two-by-four to about 12 inches long and sharpen each one to a point one end only. Pound each stake into the ground near a corner of the form. With the cordless drill , screw each stake into a side of the form to help stabilize it. Coat the inside of the form with vegetable oil or a concrete-form release agent, such as Kleen Kote's water-based release agent.

With the garden hose, lightly wet down the sub-base. With the wheelbarrow, hoe, and hose, mix the ready-mix concrete according to the manufacturer's specifications. When it has a peanut-butter-like consistency, pour it into the form. Push the concrete around the form with the hoe and with gloved hands. With a scrap 4-foot-long piece of two-by-four, screed the top of the concrete slab. This is done by moving the piece of lumber the screed back and forth in a sawing motion to level the concrete and remove excess.

Let the excess drop off the side for later removal. After screeding, tap all around the outside of the form with a hammer. This will remove air and spaces on the edges that would give a "honeycomb" look.

Let the concrete settle until the surface water evaporates. Whether you are pouring a concrete slab for a backyard basketball court, a new driveway, or a slab for your new shed, knowing your dimensions will help you know how many pounds of concrete to order. You can also use an online concrete pad calculator to calculate what you will need.

The ground below your concrete slab is critical to a successful job. This is no different than the foundation for a building. A concrete slab is not intended to be self-supporting. The only layer that is absolutely required is the subgrade—you have to have ground to place a slab on ground on top of. If the natural soil is relatively clean and compactable, then you can put a slab right on top of it without any extra layers; however, the soil may not drain well and it can be muddy during construction if it gets wet.

A solid foundation is important for your foundation. After the base is prepared, build the concrete forms. Wooden forforms are the most basic and conventional type of concrete forms. Click here for a guide t o create concrete forms on your own.

Smooth the ground with the flat side of a rake and fill in any low spots with extra dirt. Check for level by placing a level directly on the ground. Tamp down the surface with either a hand tamper or a machine tamper. Pack the soil until you can no longer see a footprint when you walk across the surface.

If adding gravel, pour the gravel base and tamp it down to pack it tightly. Check for level again. Continue this process until the base is level.

Rebar is easy to set in place prior to your pour and it helps reduce the cracking and breaking common in concrete. Rebar provides strength to concrete and saves money because the project will last longer. Reinforcements are not required for all concrete work. Projects such as pathways, some driveways and small shed or playhouse floors, generally do not require any steel reinforcing.