Any builders on here? need a little advice.

Iamzod

Iamzod

Iamzod

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We're currently in the middle of getting the concrete base down for a double garage behind our house and are currently a little unsure on how to go about putting the rebar down in the concrete.

Was wondering if holding it in place by resting it on bricks is a bad idea, will it leave the concrete weak as the bricks will be concreted over?

The damp proof aint down yet as we want to be sure what were doing first, but i have taken a few pics to show roughly what i'm talking about. We'd be concreting the bricks & rebar in place first then leaving it a few days before covering the whole lot & smooting it off.

We'd be covering the entire area with it also.

Just rough pics as i suck at describing stuff like this.

Rebar1800x600.jpg


Rebar2.jpg


Rebar3800x600.jpg
 
Lay concrete down to desired rebar depth, lay rebar on top and spread remaining concrete on top? That seems like the easiest way to do it. As long as you don't leave more than a couple of minutes between each layering of concrete I see no problem.

Alternativly how about sticking the rebar edges on bricks (like at the moment) and start from the centre of each rebar square, lay the concrete through the rebar and remove the bricks (letting the concrete hold the rebar up) and lay the edges?

*only suggestions though, I have never done this.
 
Err, your shuttering looks decidedly suspect & I would think that when X tons of concrete are poured in then the pressure /weight will push it over & you will be in dire trouble as the whole lot will likely burst out.
you need some heavier 2X2" posts knocked well in on the outside to brace against the force of the concrete
 
Iamzod said:
Shuttering aint done yet, just has copper pipe holding it in place



Not quite sure what you mean there, we shouldn't have dug down?
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sorry i meant - it looks like all of the foundation material has jus been layed directly onto the top soil, you should have dug down..............does that make more sense ;)
 
Amp34 said:
Lay concrete down to desired rebar depth, lay rebar on top and spread remaining concrete on top? That seems like the easiest way to do it. As long as you don't leave more than a couple of minutes between each layering of concrete I see no problem.
Click to expand...

The concrete is going down in 9 sections though & doing it this way would mean laying it down over the whole base area first or not having any overlap in the rebar between sections.

We wouldnt be able to get it down quick enough either as a full size cement mixer can only get as close as about 105 feet of the area.
 
its hard to comment on anything here ....if your doing a raft base which i presume you are doing lay some mesh on the floor where you want it, lay some concrete on top another layer of mesh and then more concrete then just give a light tamp off....the bricks would be fine but theres no need for them :)


main thing is to just make sure you have a lot of mesh in :)
 
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teulk said:
sorry i meant - it looks like all of the foundation material has jus been layed directly onto the top soil, you should have dug down..............does that make more sense ;)
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Aye, lol :D

We have dug down, right at the back in one corner we went down by over a meter to get it level, we removed over 17 Tons of soil & clay from the area, the foundation material is now sat on clay.

It's about 6" deep at the front and the concrete is being poured to the depth of the top of the shuttering.

Anyway, the engineer that came out from the council to look at it before the crush went down was happy with it.
 
Schofield said:
its hard to comment on anything here ....if your doing a raft base which i presume you are doing lay some mesh on the floor where you want it, lay some concrete on top another layer of mesh and then more concrete then just give a light tamp off....the bricks would be fine but theres no need for them :)


main thing is to just make sure you have a lot of mesh in :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a raft base, we dug down still though.

Heres a pic from just after we re-started on it a couple of months back after the winter, before we had finished sorting the ground out.

beforecrush800x600.jpg
 
You're constructing a base for a double garage by yourself? Do you have any experience on how to lay bases? No offence but it looks like an amateur job. Have you got any experience in how to lay concrete/level it? If it was just for a shed or something then i'd say you could do it yourself, but a large scale base like that is hard to level if you don't know the correct techniques.
 
its ok so far.....he did right by digging the edges deeper....just make sure its well wackered down...and lots of mesh in round the edges as thats where all the weights going to be....get some more piccies up as it progresses :)
 
Meeark said:
You're constructing a base for a double garage by yourself? Do you have any experience on how to lay bases? No offence but it looks like an amateur job. Have you got any experience in how to lay concrete/level it? If it was just for a shed or something then i'd say you could do it yourself, but a large scale base like that is hard to level if you don't know the correct techniques.
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Not myself no, but my dad has i'm just helping him & paying half the costs as my car is going in there so i can do an engine build & swap over the winter.

He aint done anything quite this large admittedly but it aint going down all at once, it's being done in 9 bays as there'd be no way to get so much concrete down all in one go as theres no way to get to it with a large cement mixer.
 
Ace of Spades said:
Get more hardcore material so its level.
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the edges want to be like that...you want more concrete around the edges and more mesh as thats your main point thats going to have the load

what i would have done tho ...if im correct by judging of the pics, is dug deeper..and more stone...which would have meant you wouldnt need the shuttering as high as you have it .....then built up to DPC (above ground)...then put your finish floor down on your tamped base :)


ohh P.S cut the mesh for around the edges...instead of laying the big sheets like that cut strips of mesh to fit round the edges as the edges are you main priority...(which takes you back to the bricks....you wouldnt need them when you cut the mesh in strips :)
 
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Schofield said:
ohh P.S cut the mesh for around the edges...instead of laying the big sheets like that cut strips of mesh to fit round the edges as the edges are you main priority...(which takes you back to the bricks....you wouldnt need them when you cut the mesh in strips :)
Click to expand...

Think he is planning on cutting strips and having like a second layer around the edges about 3-4 inches lower than the top layer.

So there would be like a brick stood vertically, with a strip of rebar concreted to it, then another brick horizontally on its side with the top layer of rebar concreted to that.

The damp proof membrane is going straight down on the crush and up the sides and out over the top of the shuttering, as it's all below ground apart from the front and half of one side.

Then the garden in front of the garage will be concreted partially too with a y shaped driveway running up to it.

We wanted a flat driveway in front of it, and the council wont let us dig that deep further down the garden as theres a main drain running under the front part of the garden, so it has to be built up.
 
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