Concrete Pad

[JLawton]

Anyone pour a concrete pad for an RV/tow vehicle? I have a dirt driveway and a new car and don't want to rust out the bottom like I have my other vehicles.

Is it a DIY or bring in a pro?

[Jeremy Billiel]

Who cares about the pad... What did you buy?

[dj10]

Anyone pour a concrete pad for an RV/tow vehicle? I have a dirt driveway and a new car and don't want to rust out the bottom like I have my other vehicles.

Is it a DIY or bring in a pro?

If I were you I would dig out an area about 4 to 6" deep and put in #2 gravel to allow for good drainage. Do the pad if you're planning to use it to work on the vehicle. If you are going to pour concrete make sure there is some slope for runoff. It's the same as in a garage. Don't forget to use 3000# concrete mix, wire and at least 4 to 6" thick depending on the weight of the vehicles.

[StephenB]

What Dan said.... I met someone that does pads, bridges, and buildings. His company is recycling chain link fences as the "wire" with great success. He seemed very knowledgeable and had great success, I found it very interesting.

Stephen

PS: on a side note... I would never attempt it!

[lateapex911]

You'll need a dozer to go down about a foot, and a place for the dirt you remove. Then you'll need a dump truck of gravel, and you'll need some wood for forms. Then a concrete truck with the concrete, and some rebar, of course. Get some floats to smooth it, and some big boots too, and don't wear anything decent.......

And good luck pouring the whole thing without labor to float it.

So, yeah, not exactly DIY for a pad that big, and it's not 'easy' work either.

[Dave Zaslow]

And a concrete vibrator to settle it in and avoid airholes.

DZ

[Greg Amy]

Jeff, one of these days soon (waving!) Jake is contracting to do improvements to my garage, part of which is concrete work. So why not contact him about doing the same for you?

I paid someone several years ago to dig up the area next to my driveway and put in gravel, that area where I park the truck/trailer. I thought about concrete but the estimates I got were PRICEY. I think gravel is almost as good; it drains well but I'm sure it's not as dry as if I had concrete. It's starting to subside so I should look into getting a new top layer thrown down...

GA

[quadzjr]

In the field I work in I have done it but it isn't a DIY. Closer would be a DIWF (Do it with Friends). You won't need a dozer, you could do it with a simple skid steer or a backhoe. Then once you dig up the area, use a plate compactor, or even some time with the bucket of the backhoe. to hammer down the soil. Frame it out with some cheap 1x4" wood. Now depending on how nice you want it, this is where it gets tricky. I have done small driveways buy buying a long piece of 2x4 and resting it on the frame and workign it back and forth to rough it out, then coming with some floats to finish it off.

At minimum you will need one guy runnign the shoot, two placing the mud and maybe a finisher. Concrete work is hetic and quick. So plan ahead and have everything ready before the poor. and just like anythigne else the quality of your prepwork will determine your finished product.

You can increase the set time by making it "wetter" and if you feel real lucky decrease it by adding lyme.

Also get some nice fiber re-inforced stuff concrete. harder to make a baby smooth finish, but alot stronger. Also if you can't make it look right, it is common to jsut take a shop broom and just before it hardedns run teh brrom across to give it a textured finish.

Or you can pay the 2500 to 4000 to have someone else do it. With DIWF or paying someone, the majority of your cost is materials.

[quadzjr]

It's starting to subside so I should look into getting a new top layer thrown down...

GA

If yo ubelieve that the gravvel has been compacted enough you could spreadying some dry portland cement or concrete down. The water it. This will firm up the void spaces between the gravel.

Another option, is to pull the gravel out, sell it (as it is still valuable), and poor concrete.

[dickita15]

I have found locally masons work pretty cheap.

[240zdave]

Winter is not the best time to be pouring concrete in Connecticut. Concrete setting up too fast will not be a problem in cold weather. You will be standing around at midnight waiting for it to get hard enough to finish. If you have to pour in cold weather, you or your contractor will probably need to use hot water in the mix instead of cold just so you can get done with the pour before the sun sets.

I don't recommend dumping bagged cement over your gravel, either. You don't want to fill the voids in the gravel; those voids between the individual rocks can accomodate a lot of water while it waits to soak into the ground.

If you were pouring a 4' x 4' pad outside your workshop door, I'd say go for it, do it yourself. If it looks like crap, you can always tear it out and try again. A pad the size your are talking about needs some experience and know-how, better left to the professionals.

Also, chain-link fencing would be a poor substitute for welded wire mesh/fabric reinforcement.

[dj10]

Winter is not the best time to be pouring concrete in Connecticut.
Also, chain-link fencing would be a poor substitute for welded wire mesh/fabric reinforcement.

I concur!

[joeg]

You would be making many many trips to the local Lowes and HD for bagged cement.

Hire a pro.

[dj10]

I met someone that does pads, bridges, and buildings. His company is recycling chain link fences as the "wire" with great success. He seemed very knowledgeable and had great success, I found it very interesting.

Stephen

PS: on a side note... I would never attempt it!

Stephen, please tell me the guy you met is not working in Pennsylvania, or is he?:(

;~)

[StephenB]

No it's actually a quite large company in new hampshire. It is a company that promotes recycling and I think it's more for patio, not anything to do with road construction. I don't know anything about concrete work so I was just passing along something I found interesting Since it does involve recycling.

Stephen

[CRallo]

Is everyone ignoring Jeff's choice of words in the title?

[Lael Cleland]

Me and an STU buddy poured a 8x18 foot slab, inside some footings that we bagged,My arms still hurt, 80# bags get heavy after 70 of them.... For the slab we got a 1 yard trailer from our local U-pour concrete mom & pop store....They dump the wet mix in the trailer, take it home and dump it..... It worked, it doesn't look professional, it was A LOT OF WORK! We used 2 yards @ $125 per yard....$260 with tax, when I took the trailer back the gave ma a 6-pack of bud!!!! It might not be perfect, but my floor has character/history/and love in it!
Rebar & wire cost more than the concrete.....

[JLawton]

So what would be some alternatives?

I was also thinking putting down plastic and putting concrete patio blocks (24x24?) on top. As long as it had a slope all the water would run off. But I'm sure over time you'd get dirt, leaves, etc and end up defeating the purpose.

I'm certainly not worried about looks.

[lateapex911]

Jeff, do NOT put down plastic. You'll have an instant disaster. If using patio blocks, (or concrete or stone pavers) you'll need to put down proper base work of materials, and again, they need to be deep and you'll need to tamp them, then lay the stones. It's a bunch of work.

What about paving? I think it's under $14 a sq foot or so. 8 x 18 would be less than $2K. Or, call around and put yourself on an "overage" list. If a contractor in your area is doing a job and has too much asphalt, he needs to get rid of it, and I think the 'buy back" at the plant is expensive. So he's kinda stuck if he has a bunch. Prep your site and be ready to jump if you get the call. I had a section of my drive done that way and it cost me $500 for 9 x30, (270 sq feet). (you need to watch guys like that like hawks and be on top of what they are doing, as typically it's the end of the day, and the beer has started flowing, etc etc) You'll still need to have a decent base for it.

[preparedcivic]

The kind of hybrid surface I park my enclosed trailer on is functional, well drained and works. It was a good bit of manual labor though. I did have the disadvantage of needed to dig out about 3cy of soil to create the relatively flat spot for the trailer spot near my shed in the backyard. That was one very sore Sunday digging all that out by hand. If I ever do something like that again, "rent-a-hoe" here I come. I did the passing though on pouring concrete, but ready-mix ain't cheap, and trying to float something 12' wide with limited help was too ambititous even for me.

So what I did was a mix of stone and pavers. The subbase of the parking spot is 6" of quarry process/DGA, and from a patio/basketball hoop project going on at the same time, I used the leftover 12"x12" concrete pavers to create a pair of 2' wide "runners" for the trailer tires to sit on. Another couple pavers are placed near where the tongue jack comes down for a solid surface there. Since road base stone is ugly gray and will grow weeds better than potting soil, for surfacing I got a delivery of landscaping stone, with what I picked out a lava rock that is a dark red, tan and brown that goes well with the house and shed siding, the red patio pavers, backyard fence and landscaping. The space has about a 2.5% grade back to front. It never ever has water standing, as the landscape stone has a lot of voids and the DGA is well drained. I have this same surfacing section on the entire path I drive the trailer on to get it from the driveway to the parkign spot, and it has held up really well since I got it all finished in 2005. The trailer is going on 6 years old and the steel frame underneath looks great.

Materials all-in to do this for one spot would be under $500 delvered.

(on edit - added a picture of the finished job)

[callard]

I did four 12X25 pieces to make my driveway double wide beside the garage. I did all that about 20 years ago and did all the work as mentioned above with two friends. Not the same two friends each time though - now they don't answer the phone when I call.
I did the slabs to park my motorhome and trailer. All in all, the front two slabs have held up very well but the third slab where the motorhome parks all the time has broken up somewhat. I did four inches of concrete and probably should have done six inches there with additional reinforcement.
In those days, concrete was only about 27 dollars a yard so each slab was reasonable. The prep work and labor was free (excluding beer and excedrin) but you really abuse your buddies when they aren't used to it.
Beside my latest garage, I put down about 10 yards of 3/4 inch gravel to park my open trailer and a couple cars. Even compacted, it seems too fluffy for me to consider using as a motorhome parking area.
I've done the ready-mix trailers with a yard bucket for shed slabs and they work well but aren't good for a larger slab.
I've also got a couple old Sears mixers and will do stairs and sidewalks on occasion but usually stop at about a half yard now (5 loads). Carrying sand and gravel in 5 gallon buckets isn't as easy as it used to be.
Hire the pros to do your slab.
Chuck

[joeg]

That reminds me of once being invited to a "Pool Party".

When you got there you were handed a shovel--it was a "let's build a pool party".

[MMiskoe]

A bit late on the timeing but I've seen it done and taken it on myself. Flatwork contractors work f'ing hard and its not easy to get it right.

I did a 25x40 apron in front of my shop a couple of years ago. I had about $3100 into it when I was done, my labor, preferential pricing on the 18 yards of concrete. This included rental of bobcat, plate compactor and backfill materials and rebar etc. I took it down 2-3 feet and backfilled w/ sound fill. It took me several weekends through the fall, then one day w/ me plus 6 guys to place the concrete. It came out OK, it heaves in one corner and has a couple of low spots that puddle.

It kicks ass for things though. Basket ball, roller blades, working on cars outside, keeping dirt out of the shop.