Do-It-Yourself Concrete Pad

[Greg]

JD, I'm with you on not knowing much about concrete work. I DO know however that the concrete vibrators we rent are almost always out. Someone must be using them for something! We rent 3 different sizes, may be worth reading up on.
Mark, How about a concrete planer or grinder after it dries? Greg

[JD]

Our floors were so big (to me anyway) that we also used those gas operated power trowels, which are like commercial floor buffers with trowel blades. The pole barns we built mostly garages and shops and a glass finish was not required. But after the power trowel, it was all our two guys could do to hand trowel the floor before the concrete would start setting. We would usually be working the last section pretty hard to get the mud to come up.

Greg - I was very young when doing this concrete work. To me, rentals was taking money out of my pocket. I owned 2 jitterbugs and they were cheap. It was later in life when I understood that the right tool would save me money. I am sure the labor costs and well as my own labor cost me more than the rental would have. But again, I did the concrete just like my foreman had taught me when I worked for him. If I had been smart, and capable of saving a little money , I could have bought the vibrator and rented it out to the other 12 or so foremen that were pulling plans from this pole barn company. It would have been working everyday.

JD

[Mark]

Greg -- is there such thing as a concrete planer or grinder? Do you rent them? For the slab I just poured, I probably wouldn't do anymore planing as I'll run into rocks and make it worse.

For Tuesday's pour, I will try to 'vibrate' the mix with shovels.

Mark

[JD]

Hey Mark,

You should be able to get a jitterbug from a construction type rental place (not home depot) for $10 a day. Just a thought. I would think a shovel will just push aggregate sideways. Hopefully it will work for you. But that is the step you are missing if the rock is that high in the concrete.

JD

[Maureen]

Hey guys, busy wedding weekend here!

I've been keeping up with the post Mark. From your photos Mark, I'd have to guess that you used the broom a little too soon. The concrete wasn't set just right. Another tip, don't use a nylon broom. The brushed finish seems way to rough and deep. Yes. it is an art to find the right time and the right brush to use.

Now, I learned old school... I mean way old school with a cement mixer! My father and his brothers were true DIYer's back in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They didn't have much more than hand tools, a table saw and the cement mixer! They laid many pads for parking slabs, patios and cinder block buildings!

One thing that they all did, while in rubber boots, was to sort of dance through the newly laid cement. Might be where that jitterbug bug tool got it's name LOL! Basically, it pushed the gravel down and brought the a smooth surface to the top to work with. Yep, it was a lot of work... but another reason why they were in real good physical shape!

Most of the work they did is still in use today! It ranges from 60 to 30 years old, oops forgot about my cousin's house, that is still just 10 years old. We had two large patios off the ranch house that they built. That's where I grew up. One was 12'x40' the other was a half sphere off the house and about 12' x 35', both were tinted to match the brick work on the home! That was done in the 50's... unheard of back then unless you were really rich! We also laid two garage pads and lots of sidewalks! Those I helped with!

I'd have to give novice cement layers this advice, practice on a small 4x4' pad first. You can mix enough cement in a wheel barrow by hand to to create this. Consistency and timing are key factors here! How many people you have to help, your area, etc! There are so many variables when laying cement!

It's like cooking from scratch, you get use to the consistency of the recipe and get a feel for it!

Maureen

[altasnowman]

Hi Mark,
On a serious note when my dad and my uncle did their garages they could not afford the price of a jitterbug so what they would do is take a piece of 2x4 about 6" long and attach 2x2 handle and work the 2x4 like a plunger through the concrete before they leveled it. When they had everything done they had an old shop broom that they used to finish the concrete off. Asked my dad when to start the brushing and he told me that they would start brushing when the concrete would just barely support them and if it got to the point where the brush would not leave its mark on the crete they would wet it down.