Wth, didn't know you was turning your house into a convenience store! Guess I should read more stuff here more often!

I feel so "out of the loop!" lol

Mr. Gerald,

A buddy just called and said there is some stuff called 'hi-way mesh'. It is used instead of wire. It comes in 6'x12' sheets. You just lay it down between your form boards. I guess cut it to fit. :confused: I'm not real comfortable not using any wire in the slab. I'd hate to go to all this expense and have it crap out. Whatcha think?

My wife got the contract for the vending machines at the hospital here in Asterisktown. :cool: There is no on-site storage so I built one here. I do sneak out there at times in the middle of the night. :smokin:

Awese deal man! Hope it works out well given the modifications being made!...especially the selling of the boat part!!!

I just found out that concrete is goin' for $86 per cubic yard here. :eek:

That's not why I sold the boat.....but, my wife thinks so. :cool:

She asked me yesterday if I thought it would cost more than $20,000 to pour this concrete. Without even thinking, I said, "No". :pissed:

I am not familar with the term "Hi way mesh", so I googled it. It looks like it is large mats made of much heavier "wire" [1/4" or larger dia.] than what is used normally for concrete driveways. Due to your heavy load requirements this maybe what you need.

I did pour a big slab at work one time that was designed for heavy loads. I think it was 6" thick with a fairly heavy mesh wire. The concrete held up fine while I worked there for 2 more years. The soil had a good limestone base foundation.

Salty i poured my driveway with no wire and used the 3500 pound fiberglass mix. I have no cracks on any of the 140 X 12 foot.

Tell the coke sales person that you want your product delivered shrink wrapped on a pallet. When the delivery guy gets there he can lower the Tommy-Gate and drive it right up to the door with an electric pallet jack.

x2 on the shrinkwrap and pallet jack. I sure wish we were getting 85-90/yard in Houston. 3000 psi is going for about 65-70 over here and I honestly think 3000 is all you need. Any more and it is over kill. They use 3000 on almost every street over here. I would definitely use either the fiber mesh or some type of wire. The fiber mesh is a $6 adder over here and it comes out real close to a wash on cost compared to wire. Just regular vehicles, 3 1/2" is enough. If you go back to semi's, 6" would be required. Typcially, for regular flatwork (3 1/2") you can take your total sf and divide by 81 in a perfect world for your yards needed, but I would use 75 is the number to divide to make sure you have enough. Or use 81, but round up.

You obviously know a lot more about concrete than I do but why do you use 81 and 75 to divide by. 81 corresponds to 4" thick and 75 corresponds to 4.35" but why not just Length X Width X Thickness in ft divided by 27. You can always round up or just order 10% extra. Just wondering.

Just a quick easy way for us to quickly calculate a job that we are not physically looking at. Most jobs usually average 4" even if the forms are touching the ground on the exterior. If you knew how many times customers came up 1/4 yard short. Then a 1 yrd minimum delivery and a short load fee now added in because we had to deliver 2 partial loads cost about an extra $175 where an extra $30-50 from the start would've covered it more than easily. For example: 10 x 30 patio is 300sf. My calculation says (300/81= 3.7 yrds) (300/75=4yrds) or (10x30x.29167=1050/27= 3.24yrds). You might could try 3.5 yards if you are really concentrating on keeping it perfectly level, but usually 4yards would be the safe bet and waste a 1/3-1/4 yards or pour a little extra piece or something if your brain won't let you waste something you paid for. It is just too hard to use a calculation based upon perfection in the world of concrete and dirt work and definitely costly if you get it wrong.

Cool, I try to learn something new every day. Now I can relax.

Their's a 3-yard minimum here. That gets real expensive....real quick.

I've got the job lined up to be done in a week or so. Now, my wife is wonderin' if the carport slab can be 'capped' so it will "look like the driveway". GEEZ...........it never ends. :pissed:

Any thoughts?

Yeah....just bust out another thousand and cap it. When it's all finished you will be glad you did...;)

I checked on the 'net and got mixed reviews as to whether or not a 'cap' will hold up. Have you done this or know someone who did, Chip? I'm referring to pouring 2-3" over the existing slab.

i did it on a remodel around thanksgiving the finisher stubbed a few pieces of rebar to keep from the overlay from sliding then rolled on a coat of bonding agent, they call it "milk" . just lay some slate on the porch

My uncle has a house built on piers since the hurricane. He poured a slab underneath his house for parking, patio/party area but the finisher was lacking on skills and it had a 1" 1/2 dip in the middle of the slab, so everytime it rained with a strong wind it looked like a lake under his home.

He layed over his with 3" of concrete but the finisher put down some type of bonding agent before pouring and he has had no problems. This slab/cap is about 3 years old and he parks on it.

Lots of caps on patios and decks, but a driveway is a little different. If you go 3" and drill some rebar through the existing and leave it stubbed up you should be ok. But if you add 3" to your existing driveway, what are you going to do about the height of your new to match. Bring in dirt, sand, etc? Just don't make it 6" thick. That could get expensive.

Poured my driveway Friday. Turned out real good. Ended up pouring 2,050 square feet. They poured 6-7" on top of the original slab. Dude said he guarantees no problems.

Keep that 18 wheeler off of it for a few weeks......unless it is only partically loaded then maybe 2 weeks will be ok.

Did you keep it wet for the first day or so......slow cure is better in the hot sun.

Let us know in a few years......how it is holding up.