I love that it's clear here that you gave full and clear instructions and were patient as he learned instead of just making him watch and complaining that he can't get the motions right in just a few minutes. Patience is the mark of a good teacher. Adding good communication to that makes a great teacher!
Your guys speed is awesome can’t imagine being able to do this day in and day out the strength and stamina is impressive. Thanks for info and willingness to share with others.
Hey Mike. Gatesville Texas. Y’all did an amazing job getting it on the ground, the screeding and bull floating. Young Luke has gotten a lot better at dragging and pulling mud. Great video, excellent teaching. Thank you 👍
Northeast CT, USA YES! I think you guys are super efficient and very fast. I’m a total amateur DIYer and I have found your videos extremely helpful for my own concrete projects. Thanks for all the help, Mike😎
Québec, Canada, Love watching those fast and immaculate pours of yours. Makes me want to pour concrete so bad. I've done 2 pads for myself so far (total of 10 m³) and both times I was struggling a bit. When I watch you guys work i get super motivated and optimistic. Hopefully I find another project soon. Keep it up
I’m down here in RI, I’m a pro-am concreter. I don’t do a ton of jobs a year because I’m semi retired. Def on board with 6-1/2” slumps, it’s so easy to float and also screed. I’d need 4guys, awesome to see the orchestra do this with 3 guys!
Pennsylvania here retired definitely fast and very good and methodical. Very good method used to tamp the rocks down with a hand held 4 ft tamper. And then bullfloated.
Great technique. I'm from phila suburbs and screed everything myself with a 10 stick or smaller. 35 years Wish I had good help like darren ( and josh) That guy reminds me of myself. You better give him a raise.! I use 4000 psi wire and rod all garages around the edges reguardless. I also never cut the air.
Nice video, just did my last flatwoork last Thursday for a Falmouth Lions Safe Housing project. Gave my bull float to Jr. from Scott Construction,They sent me three of his his guys. Have used that bull float for 40 years. Appreciate your professionalism. You have a stellar reputation.
I agree with everything you say about wire and rebar. Most people don't know, that is true. Our slabs here in Florida do crack a lot because they don't do what we used to do in NC 30 years ago. We used to cover it up with plastic or hay or spray water on it so it don't dry too fast. Here in Florida, they just don't care. You pull up any carpet on any slab here, and it is spidered with cracks. They all let them dry way too fast.
Very smooth job. Exactly right: subgrade prep is 90% of the job for a slab on grade. Compaction is a real science. Fill quality and correct moisture. A bit surprised though that there's no flex joint material between slab and wall as it helps reduce shrinkage cracking.
Im glad you explained this, I watched another tuber Nate Petroski do a entire shed slab on a hilltop and say reo was not needed and it scared me how many in comments agreed with him
Thanks so much for these videos! We're pouring a 12'x20' slab next week with confidence thanks to you. We'll be wearing our Concrete Underground hoodies, too. :)
Ex GC here on Cape Cod now. Did public bid work throughout eastern New england from Caribou Maine to PTown Cape Cod. Had a lot of Crete poured for us and did plenty ourselves too. You're pretty damn good Mike!
Finland here and yes.. very fast.. agreed about the rebar.. not needed been pouring for years same sort of way... I also water proof with anti water absorbent around entrance ways as we hit insane temps and the entrances are vulnerable unless sealed.
Nice to see Luke getting the hang of things. You can tell he’s getting better every video. Wish my first concrete boss would of taught me how you teach him. Looks good though!
Outside Worcester,Mass. Love your videos. I do side work putting in small 20 by 12 concrete platforms for Heat pumps. Learned a few things from you making things easier 👍😊
Northern Illinois, getting ready to pour a 42x10 today, very helpful for a rookie like myself, but I have a couple guys coming with experience, after watching your videos, I feel I could try it with my boys, if I had to thanks!
You guys are much faster than anyone else I have seen on you tube .Alot of guys use power buggies to haul the concrete over the black top or set up forms with the wire mess t hey have never power trials on the ground for driveways .
Eastern wa. Monolith pour 36x28. Footing’s 24”x30”. Full load In this location is 7.5 yards. So 2 trucks at a 3500 mix. Then topping with water reducer. It’s all caged with 1/2” rebar 24” o.c. My laser took a 💩 right before our 3 man pour so we drove 3 grade steak 🥩 down the middle and did our best with 2x4 saddles and a ultra tight string line for grade Turns out we were as good as a laser wet pad. It just seemed to take forever! We had a delay on the 3rd truck that worked out perfectly! Love learning from all of your videos. Hopefully we can continue to teach the next generation before done.
In New York the union masons always use a Fresno after the bull float does a beautiful job it’s great watching professionals working no fixing concrete after it gets hard
Been preaching the rebar thing for years I know guys have been doing concrete work all their life or adamant that everything has to have wire or rebar and that’s just not the case like you said if it’s sitting on something solid, it’s good
I did it for the first time for my handicap brother. We put in a new driveway and walk. It was an 11 metre pour and I should have done it in Two pours. It was a warm day and it was setting fast. Holy cow what a lot of work when you're a noob. The job was not perfect when it was done, but it certainly was better than the old drive. I think we had about an hour of work time. Anyway he saved about 5 grand so he's happy.
Thanks for the explanation. I posted a video of my shop foundation getting poured and got some flak for them not putting rebar in. The footings have rebar just not the greater part of the slab. Been subscribed for a while now and love your videos. Like joe dirt says "keep on keepin on".
Hi Mike, I am going to build in 🇧🇷 Brazil. I wish my contractor could get a truck up the mountain. They use a mixer on site. One thing I have difficulty with people here is that when I mention a vapor barrier, they look at me weirdly . I visited friend's houses in the mountains and noticed water problems with their brickwork, and I can smell mold and see how water migrated up through the cement foundation spalling and degrading the bricks. I've learned so much watching your videos over the years! As a DYI guy, I really appreciate your expertise. I wish I hired someone like you for my old house in Massachusetts. I had a terrible experience a few years ago.
I agree with what you said. Here in Florida I’m surprised they don’t require a sub grade of aggregate prior to a poor. The subbase is sand. Which Ive never seen before coming from out west. I’m guessing this might be because aggregate is not so available here. Not using a plasticizer to help move the concrete on large pours probably comes down to cost.
Nice, mag the edges 8 inch pull, I like it. All the carpenters saw with the screed her in Ca. I learned a lot just by watching this. The last garage pour I saw carpenters do did not look good.
I love fiber mesh instead of rebar. I did a 60' X 40' pour using fiber mesh, the concrete guys weren't used to using fiber mesh so they insisted on doing a relief cut down the middle, I didn't want it and told them so, they did it anyway. I never had a crack anywhere in that floor. The next house I did, same thing, they put in relief cuts even though I told them not to. My current garage/shop doesn't have a sloped floor, the guy who did the floor was an older guy, and to me, was a genius. When I told him I didn't want the floor sloped in the shop half of the garage, he said, I don't do sloped floors, instead of explaining, he said, you'll see what I do. Turns out what he did was cut in a slope the last18" inched in front of the garage doors, the slop is about an inch difference from the finish floor height to the outside edge of where the roll up doors are. That way any blown in rain under the door rolls right back out again. It truly is a genius idea. He told me many years ago he was working on a vehicle in his garage and he dropped a socket from him wrench and he had to chase it across the floor. That ended up being the last sloped floor he did. I love the flat floor because my table saw out-feet table sits nice and flush with the top of my table saw. Unfortunately for me, his guys are used to rebar and always saw in relief cuts, so when I saw the guy the next day take out the diamond saw, I told him, I didn't want the relief cuts. He insisted and his boss, the old guy, wasn't around so I ended up with a bunch of relief cuts in the floor that I had to fill with gray silicone so saw dust and finish nails didn't end up in them. Fiber mesh is the way to go. I had a guy come over while the house was being constructed and I showed him my floor and about fiber mesh. He came back about a month later telling me he has a mass of cracks in his floor and it had fiber mesh in it. Turns out he didn't use the same concrete company I did and some other concrete firm. I asked him how familiar his concrete company was with using fiber mesh. He told me they don't use it in their concrete but he insisted they use it. I said, they probably didn't know how much to use or just dumped it all in at once instead of knowing how to us it.
we do bull float always perpendicular to screeding and the setting parameters limiting or influencing bull floating, thereby determines the direction of our screeding
Amateur watching from Minnesota. Appreciate the kick screed lesson. Up here we have two types of concrete. That which is cracked and that which is going to crack. The salt dripping is hard on our garage floors. So is -30 f. I wish that I had a concrete guy that had told me to insulate my shop floor. That 5000 psi concrete cracked where the schmooz runs out the door on year 10. Maybe a drain would have helped but then the epa has your number. Now the crack is taking more saltwater to grade.
Back in my youth, we never put bar in domestic floors. Now Engineers always ask for it…just in case. What a waste of energy…can’t afford that now . I would also suggest most domestic floors could be done with just a well compacted subfloor. Plenty solid enough. I was an Architect. I do recall that in UK and EU, specialist firms can lay industrial slabs without reinforcing. They very carefully control the mix, I believe they keep as dry as possible to minimise shrinkage, and use good vibration (as almost all slabs here get)
Retired recently after 45 years of doing this. I agree with everything that was said, but for the second half of my career we tossed the wire mesh (we would use 6 gauge instead of 10 gauge on occasion) and put in #3 (even #4 rarely), usually at 18" o.c. Cheap insurance on an expensive commercial project or a multi-million dollar house. Control joints are best invention ever when it comes to slabs, with fiber mesh not far behind. Crazy thing is my desert house (only house I've ever own I didn't build) has a walkway where the concrete is heaving a bit, this in an area where it never freezes (not even close), gets about 10cm (4") of rain a year, and over nothing but sand. Go figure.
Aloha Mike Tuning in from Hawaii. Your process is very quick for an open area. Most of my pours are for residential monolithic slabs that have plumbing protuding. As for the water reducer, is their a formula for the ratio to get that nice and easy flow that you get? Thanks for the video have a beautiful weekend. David
I use to also believe wiremesh had no other purpose than holding it together if cracked. However in the case of slab warp it can restrain some of the potential warping especially if it warps up the wiremesh should be closer to the top to prevent. I would think about 1/3 away from top. But im sure there’s better way to spec how close. Similar to rebar in walls should favor the side stress can break in soforce wont fold rebar through concrete. This is also why fiberboard against walls concrete is poured at floors to reduce stress. I know almost nobody does it in residential.
Very cool!! Didn’t know that was possible! Question How much money do you save compared to a normal concrete slab garage with a typical steel framing??
York, PA wanting to build a 28x30 garage and trying to figure out how to do it myself you guys make it look pretty easy and simple but I know its not lol
thanks for the vid. When you talk about concrete strength I think you need to be more specific as material strength can be defined in a number of ways; tensile strength, compression strength, impact strength, yield, hardness, shear and many more. So to say rebar doesn't make it stronger is not true. It does and it does quite a lot. Just a point to make as a Civil Engineer.
Montana. All the concrete contractors here are way behind times. Most of the flatwork here cracks or flakes off the top. I am building a new shop next year and it's been a pain to find a good flat guy.
Having good guys raking is the key we tape Lazer receiver on rake .rake to right grade and leavel and used bull float sright on concrete go over as many times different directions no spreading required.if mix is workable like yours 3 guys is all you need if mix is 90-110mm need 4 guys on that size poor.
My neighborhood was built in 1951/52 and none of the garage floors have rebar in then and none of the sidewalks do either and I'm pretty sure none of the house foundation did either and Ive never seen a crack in the garage floors and only the sidewalks by trees are cracked or where someone drove a full cement truck over one. They used a very stiff mix and apparently no one cheated. These are 19x20 ft garages
I’m sure you have explained it somewhere else, but what’s the deal with the pin you mentioned in the middle along with the laser? How do you know when you first start screening that you are exactly at the right level are there lines on those forms that yourup to?
How large of a floor can you pour against the foundation without joint foam? Asking because I just had my floor poured 48x32 for my garage (has stem walls, like this one) and the inspector, engineer, and concrete guy all separately recommended I do that.
Nice to watch the Pros in action. In Rhode Island planning a one car garage pour. 4”, 4000, 3/4’, with fibers, no resteel. What is the water reducer called, how much more perCY? Thanks, Roger
If the sub grade layer is strong enough... stiff enough... then even cracked concrete will "hold" the loads... because... it is not holding any loads. It is just a "stiff surface", on top of stiff subgrade... Why reinforce concrete... that is "on top" of a subgrade, that is already as strong as the reinforced concrete? just got to make sure the corners are never loaded / no extra rigid support from foundation there.
All concrete needs reinforcement (even minor settlement can crack slabs). I prefer fiber over mesh simply because mesh can sink during screeding (if it's manually kick screeded) - when old slabs get ripped up, the mesh is often sitting at the bottom of the slab doing almost nothing, or worse, it's rusting away.
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Watching from Minnesota! When i was young, i only helped pour feeder floors for hogs, pretty forgiving. @ 57 yrs old, nice to watch professionals!😊
Omaha, NE. When you’re good, you make it look easy. Thanks, Mike!
I love that it's clear here that you gave full and clear instructions and were patient as he learned instead of just making him watch and complaining that he can't get the motions right in just a few minutes. Patience is the mark of a good teacher. Adding good communication to that makes a great teacher!
I’m obsessed by concrete work. I watch three vlogs regularly: Mike Day, Hauses and Odell! Beautiful work today, Mike.
👍👍👍
Add Victory Outdoor Services to the list.
There can be only 1 (Mike)
@@macomberfilmsBondo built
I watch all of them.
Your guys speed is awesome can’t imagine being able to do this day in and day out the strength and stamina is impressive. Thanks for info and willingness to share with others.
Hey Mike.
Gatesville Texas.
Y’all did an amazing job getting it on the ground, the screeding and bull floating.
Young Luke has gotten a lot better at dragging and pulling mud.
Great video, excellent teaching.
Thank you
👍
Northeast CT, USA
YES! I think you guys are super efficient and very fast. I’m a total amateur DIYer and I have found your videos extremely helpful for my own concrete projects. Thanks for all the help, Mike😎
Yes, love your pro work! Fast and efficient. I’m viewing from Chula Vista, CA.
You guys are rockin it. Nice.
Québec, Canada,
Love watching those fast and immaculate pours of yours. Makes me want to pour concrete so bad. I've done 2 pads for myself so far (total of 10 m³) and both times I was struggling a bit. When I watch you guys work i get super motivated and optimistic. Hopefully I find another project soon.
Keep it up
I’m down here in RI, I’m a pro-am concreter. I don’t do a ton of jobs a year because I’m semi retired. Def on board with 6-1/2” slumps, it’s so easy to float and also screed. I’d need 4guys, awesome to see the orchestra do this with 3 guys!
Pennsylvania here retired definitely fast and very good and methodical. Very good method used to tamp the rocks down with a hand held 4 ft tamper. And then bullfloated.
Great technique. I'm from phila suburbs and screed everything myself with a 10 stick or smaller. 35 years Wish I had good help like darren ( and josh) That guy reminds me of myself. You better give him a raise.! I use 4000 psi wire and rod all garages around the edges reguardless. I also never cut the air.
Nice video, just did my last flatwoork last Thursday for a Falmouth Lions Safe Housing project. Gave my bull float to Jr. from Scott Construction,They sent me three of his his guys. Have used that bull float for 40 years. Appreciate your professionalism. You have a stellar reputation.
The young Luke is learning great from a great teacher 👏 🎉
I agree with everything you say about wire and rebar. Most people don't know, that is true. Our slabs here in Florida do crack a lot because they don't do what we used to do in NC 30 years ago. We used to cover it up with plastic or hay or spray water on it so it don't dry too fast. Here in Florida, they just don't care. You pull up any carpet on any slab here, and it is spidered with cracks. They all let them dry way too fast.
How true, the days of properly curing concrete are long gone.
From Michigan enjoying your crew. Nice work.
Very smooth job. Exactly right: subgrade prep is 90% of the job for a slab on grade. Compaction is a real science. Fill quality and correct moisture. A bit surprised though that there's no flex joint material between slab and wall as it helps reduce shrinkage cracking.
Yes! You always want to isolate the slab from walls
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. You make it look so easy, but that is years of experience and great teamwork.
Im glad you explained this, I watched another tuber Nate Petroski do a entire shed slab on a hilltop and say reo was not needed and it scared me how many in comments agreed with him
Watching from Lebanon, Tennessee.
Great skills. Best method. Easy and short time ensuring fast works. Greetings fm PNG🇵🇬
Watching from New Zealand, nice job,
#1: Ontario Canada here. #2: I love watching your videos.
Watching from New Zealand.
Northern MI. Youre a great teacher. Very well spoken!
UP of Michigan...always great work from Mike Day !
Much appreciated
Australia, pretty to watch guys, it’s so easy when you have everyone on the same page.
watching from Romania. super job as always!
Awesome! Thank you!
Thanks so much for these videos! We're pouring a 12'x20' slab next week with confidence thanks to you. We'll be wearing our Concrete Underground hoodies, too. :)
Send me some pictures. everythingaboutconcrete@gmail.com
Near Flint, Michigan. You guys are definitely veteran pros!
Ex GC here on Cape Cod now. Did public bid work throughout eastern New england from Caribou Maine to PTown Cape Cod. Had a lot of Crete poured for us and did plenty ourselves too. You're pretty damn good Mike!
Finland here and yes.. very fast.. agreed about the rebar.. not needed been pouring for years same sort of way... I also water proof with anti water absorbent around entrance ways as we hit insane temps and the entrances are vulnerable unless sealed.
Watching from western Washington. Your screed technique is nice.
Hi Mark! I'm watching you from San Paulo, Brazil! You are one of the biggest references on stamped concrete on TH-cam. To me, you are an artist!
Nice to see Luke getting the hang of things. You can tell he’s getting better every video. Wish my first concrete boss would of taught me how you teach him. Looks good though!
20 minutes to pour and float for a pad this size is great.
Quebec, Canada !! nice job !!
Thanks! 😃
Northwest Montana. Very nice work guys. Thanks for all your knowledge.
Bluffton SC...Nice work. My back hurts just watching...lol
Outside Worcester,Mass. Love your videos. I do side work putting in small 20 by 12 concrete platforms for Heat pumps. Learned a few things from you making things easier 👍😊
Sounds great!
Kalapana, Big Island. The true mark of a pro is making it look easy. You guys made it look way too easy!
Northern Illinois, getting ready to pour a 42x10 today, very helpful for a rookie like myself, but I have a couple guys coming with experience, after watching your videos, I feel I could try it with my boys, if I had to thanks!
As you said the base prep is most important. How you did it here is how most of the garages/indoor spaces are poured here in northern michigan.
You guys are much faster than anyone else I have seen on you tube .Alot of guys use power buggies to haul the concrete over the black top or set up forms with the wire mess t hey have never power trials on the ground for driveways .
Orlando here. Never poured a slab or assisted. Just appreciate hard work made to look easy via skill.
Eastern wa. Monolith pour 36x28. Footing’s 24”x30”. Full load In this location is 7.5 yards. So 2 trucks at a 3500 mix. Then topping with water reducer. It’s all caged with 1/2” rebar 24” o.c.
My laser took a 💩 right before our 3 man pour so we drove 3 grade steak 🥩 down the middle and did our best with 2x4 saddles and a ultra tight string line for grade Turns out we were as good as a laser wet pad. It just seemed to take forever! We had a delay on the 3rd truck that worked out perfectly! Love learning from all of your videos. Hopefully we can continue to teach the next generation before done.
In New York the union masons always use a Fresno after the bull float does a beautiful job it’s great watching professionals working no fixing concrete after it gets hard
Been preaching the rebar thing for years I know guys have been doing concrete work all their life or adamant that everything has to have wire or rebar and that’s just not the case like you said if it’s sitting on something solid, it’s good
Great job love watching your videos you guys did great work 😊 good job
I did it for the first time for my handicap brother. We put in a new driveway and walk. It was an 11 metre pour and I should have done it in Two pours. It was a warm day and it was setting fast. Holy cow what a lot of work when you're a noob. The job was not perfect when it was done, but it certainly was better than the old drive. I think we had about an hour of work time. Anyway he saved about 5 grand so he's happy.
Thanks for the explanation. I posted a video of my shop foundation getting poured and got some flak for them not putting rebar in. The footings have rebar just not the greater part of the slab.
Been subscribed for a while now and love your videos.
Like joe dirt says "keep on keepin on".
Hi Mike,
I am going to build in 🇧🇷 Brazil. I wish my contractor could get a truck up the mountain. They use a mixer on site. One thing I have difficulty with people here is that when I mention a vapor barrier, they look at me weirdly . I visited friend's houses in the mountains and noticed water problems with their brickwork, and I can smell mold and see how water migrated up through the cement foundation spalling and degrading the bricks.
I've learned so much watching your videos over the years! As a DYI guy, I really appreciate your expertise. I wish I hired someone like you for my old house in Massachusetts. I had a terrible experience a few years ago.
From Philly , you guys are very fast !!!
Michigan. I think you guys know what you’re doing. It’s hard work but you make it as easy as you can
Nice work, funny thing - I had the closed captioning on and when the sound of the truck was idling the closed captioning picked it up as : [applause]
I agree with what you said. Here in Florida I’m surprised they don’t require a sub grade of aggregate prior to a poor. The subbase is sand. Which Ive never seen before coming from out west. I’m guessing this might be because aggregate is not so available here. Not using a plasticizer to help move the concrete on large pours probably comes down to cost.
Nice, mag the edges 8 inch pull, I like it. All the carpenters saw with the screed her in Ca. I learned a lot just by watching this. The last garage pour I saw carpenters do did not look good.
I love fiber mesh instead of rebar. I did a 60' X 40' pour using fiber mesh, the concrete guys weren't used to using fiber mesh so they insisted on doing a relief cut down the middle, I didn't want it and told them so, they did it anyway. I never had a crack anywhere in that floor. The next house I did, same thing, they put in relief cuts even though I told them not to. My current garage/shop doesn't have a sloped floor, the guy who did the floor was an older guy, and to me, was a genius. When I told him I didn't want the floor sloped in the shop half of the garage, he said, I don't do sloped floors, instead of explaining, he said, you'll see what I do. Turns out what he did was cut in a slope the last18" inched in front of the garage doors, the slop is about an inch difference from the finish floor height to the outside edge of where the roll up doors are. That way any blown in rain under the door rolls right back out again. It truly is a genius idea. He told me many years ago he was working on a vehicle in his garage and he dropped a socket from him wrench and he had to chase it across the floor. That ended up being the last sloped floor he did. I love the flat floor because my table saw out-feet table sits nice and flush with the top of my table saw. Unfortunately for me, his guys are used to rebar and always saw in relief cuts, so when I saw the guy the next day take out the diamond saw, I told him, I didn't want the relief cuts. He insisted and his boss, the old guy, wasn't around so I ended up with a bunch of relief cuts in the floor that I had to fill with gray silicone so saw dust and finish nails didn't end up in them. Fiber mesh is the way to go. I had a guy come over while the house was being constructed and I showed him my floor and about fiber mesh. He came back about a month later telling me he has a mass of cracks in his floor and it had fiber mesh in it. Turns out he didn't use the same concrete company I did and some other concrete firm. I asked him how familiar his concrete company was with using fiber mesh. He told me they don't use it in their concrete but he insisted they use it. I said, they probably didn't know how much to use or just dumped it all in at once instead of knowing how to us it.
Almost looks like a dance routine. “ The concrete Shuffle “
Memphis TN. I'm blue collar but never done concrete in big jobs. I'd LOVE to do this a day or two.
Pro job is a pro job …. Well done!
I love watching you guys!💞
Good job as always. Just leaving a comment for the algorithm..
we do bull float always perpendicular to screeding and the setting parameters limiting or influencing bull floating, thereby determines the direction of our screeding
Louisiana you doing pretty efficient I’ll say.
the real pros! great work. super fast. You bet.
Great info. Thank you.
From Colorado. Seems timing is just right for a professional crew.
From the UK. Top job! Is there a reason you don’t poker the pour?
Southwest Michigan, smooth and efficient job.
Nice work Mike! Where's Luke, sleepin in ?🤣from Codorus PA
Amateur watching from Minnesota. Appreciate the kick screed lesson. Up here we have two types of concrete. That which is cracked and that which is going to crack. The salt dripping is hard on our garage floors. So is -30 f. I wish that I had a concrete guy that had told me to insulate my shop floor. That 5000 psi concrete cracked where the schmooz runs out the door on year 10. Maybe a drain would have helped but then the epa has your number. Now the crack is taking more saltwater to grade.
Amazing job : )
Watching from North Alabama.
Back in my youth, we never put bar in domestic floors. Now Engineers always ask for it…just in case. What a waste of energy…can’t afford that now .
I would also suggest most domestic floors could be done with just a well compacted subfloor. Plenty solid enough.
I was an Architect. I do recall that in UK and EU, specialist firms can lay industrial slabs without reinforcing. They very carefully control the mix, I believe they keep as dry as possible to minimise shrinkage, and use good vibration (as almost all slabs here get)
this is why they crack. and it does make it stronger in tension. fibre mesh is good.
Retired recently after 45 years of doing this. I agree with everything that was said, but for the second half of my career we tossed the wire mesh (we would use 6 gauge instead of 10 gauge on occasion) and put in #3 (even #4 rarely), usually at 18" o.c. Cheap insurance on an expensive commercial project or a multi-million dollar house. Control joints are best invention ever when it comes to slabs, with fiber mesh not far behind.
Crazy thing is my desert house (only house I've ever own I didn't build) has a walkway where the concrete is heaving a bit, this in an area where it never freezes (not even close), gets about 10cm (4") of rain a year, and over nothing but sand. Go figure.
Watching from North Windham (Windham), Maine.
Aloha Mike Tuning in from Hawaii. Your process is very quick for an open area. Most of my pours are for residential monolithic slabs that have plumbing protuding. As for the water reducer, is their a formula for the ratio to get that nice and easy flow that you get? Thanks for the video have a beautiful weekend. David
I use to also believe wiremesh had no other purpose than holding it together if cracked. However in the case of slab warp it can restrain some of the potential warping especially if it warps up the wiremesh should be closer to the top to prevent. I would think about 1/3 away from top. But im sure there’s better way to spec how close. Similar to rebar in walls should favor the side stress can break in soforce wont fold rebar through concrete. This is also why fiberboard against walls concrete is poured at floors to reduce stress. I know almost nobody does it in residential.
Has there been any new developments to fibermesh? Different materials, products, composites?
Watching from Georgia
Very cool!! Didn’t know that was possible!
Question
How much money do you save compared to a normal concrete slab garage with a typical steel framing??
Why do anything after floating? It looks so nice! Watching from Northern California.
Power troweling gives you a harder, denser, surface that's more durable.
A concrete slab on a well compacted base does NOT require rebar at all. Most people don't understand what rebar is for or where it should be placed.
York, PA wanting to build a 28x30 garage and trying to figure out how to do it myself you guys make it look pretty easy and simple but I know its not lol
thanks for the vid.
When you talk about concrete strength I think you need to be more specific as material strength can be defined in a number of ways; tensile strength, compression strength, impact strength, yield, hardness, shear and many more. So to say rebar doesn't make it stronger is not true. It does and it does quite a lot.
Just a point to make as a Civil Engineer.
Great point!
I thought this was the only way to pour an inside floor until moving into swampland where monolithic slabs with rebar work best.
Montana. All the concrete contractors here are way behind times. Most of the flatwork here cracks or flakes off the top. I am building a new shop next year and it's been a pain to find a good flat guy.
Having good guys raking is the key we tape Lazer receiver on rake .rake to right grade and leavel and used bull float sright on concrete go over as many times different directions no spreading required.if mix is workable like yours 3 guys is all you need if mix is 90-110mm need 4 guys on that size poor.
My neighborhood was built in 1951/52 and none of the garage floors have rebar in then and none of the sidewalks do either and I'm pretty sure none of the house foundation did either and Ive never seen a crack in the garage floors and only the sidewalks by trees are cracked or where someone drove a full cement truck over one. They used a very stiff mix and apparently no one cheated. These are 19x20 ft garages
Fiberglass rebar removes the big drawback of steel rebar (rust expansion).
cool!
I’m sure you have explained it somewhere else, but what’s the deal with the pin you mentioned in the middle along with the laser? How do you know when you first start screening that you are exactly at the right level are there lines on those forms that yourup to?
Watching in north Georgia I think it’s different screeding without water reducer
How large of a floor can you pour against the foundation without joint foam? Asking because I just had my floor poured 48x32 for my garage (has stem walls, like this one) and the inspector, engineer, and concrete guy all separately recommended I do that.
It shrinks away from the sides as it dries. Foam is for expansion
Nice to watch the Pros in action. In Rhode Island planning a one car garage pour. 4”, 4000, 3/4’, with fibers, no resteel. What is the water reducer called, how much more perCY? Thanks, Roger
It’s called plasticizer. You can get mid range or super plasticizer. Cost depends on area. Here in Idaho it’s about $9 per cy.
If the sub grade layer is strong enough... stiff enough... then even cracked concrete will "hold" the loads... because... it is not holding any loads. It is just a "stiff surface", on top of stiff subgrade...
Why reinforce concrete... that is "on top" of a subgrade, that is already as strong as the reinforced concrete?
just got to make sure the corners are never loaded / no extra rigid support from foundation there.
All concrete needs reinforcement (even minor settlement can crack slabs). I prefer fiber over mesh simply because mesh can sink during screeding (if it's manually kick screeded) - when old slabs get ripped up, the mesh is often sitting at the bottom of the slab doing almost nothing, or worse, it's rusting away.