Concrete – Get the best results

When laying concrete it is important to get it right because once it sets it is very hard to change mistakes. So I have writen 4 main areas guides to help you when concreting. Whether you are concreting a driveway or a concrete house slab or a garden path the principles are the same. 

Get you concrete design right

Make sure you design your slab correctly. Many times people have told me that they have jacked up their car in the garage of the their new house only to have the jack break through the concrete and the car falls back to the floor. This is a result of bad design and bad workmanship that has been done by the builder. This happens mainly in project houses where the builder is trying to make more profit. However, every concrete slab must be designed to be strong enough for the load that it will carry with extra strength built in. Also some people lay a nice new driveway which gets broken when a small truck delivering some garden soil or similar drives on it. So make sure you have made to driveway strong enough to carry cars and small delievery trucks. The minimum thickness recommended for a driveway is 100mm or 4 inches however 150mm thick is the right way to go if you may have small delivery trucks or large  heavy cars,  drive on it.

Concrete Form work

Form work holds the liquid concrete mix in the correct shape until it sets so it is important your form work is right. Your formwork must be made strong enough to hold the concrete until it sets and can hold itself. Also your form work must be made to the correct measurement because whatever are the internal measurements of the formwork will be the size of your concrete slab. Make sure all of your concrete form work is in place before you order your concrete. Note: concrete is very heavy so make sure you use use strong 100 x 50 or 4in x 2in timber as I have seen concrete break through form work and run out which is both dangerous and costly.

Concrete Strength

There are many different types of concrete from very high strength to low strength fill concrete. Plus many special use concrete from salt resistant to low heat high early strength. It is important to note that for the DIY concreter  20 MPA concrete is a general use concrete used for paths, slabs etc. However your concrete supplier or building designer will be able to tell you the type required for your job. DIY Concrete Slab - check out our page. For a normal car driveway 20MPA concrete is fine for car use however if you run larger trucks over it it will need to be thicker and 35 mpa.

Concrete Finish

There are many types of concrete finishes available from a standard concrete grey smooth finish to coloured stamped, stenciled, and pebble finishers. If you want to do it yourself, go and look around your community and choose what you like and then go to your concrete finishes supplies and ask lots of questions. Laying normal grey concrete is fairly simple however if want a great finish your job will become a lot  more involved. The simplest is coloured concrete, which you can order your concrete with the colour in it and lay the concrete and towel off. Another way is to lay your grey concrete and throw the powered colour across the top and towel it in and then towel smooth. To stamp the concrete you will need to hire the stamps in the pattern you want and then lay the concrete, throw on the colour/s and  towel in, spray on or throw powder release agent, then start to stamp and release until the whole slab is done, then when set and dry seal the whole job.  To stencil, lay your concrete and towel off, then add the stencil and towel in, and  then throw on your colour and towel in. The next day remove the stencil and when dry seal the whole slab.

So as you can see you will need help when laying a slab and to get a good finish you must have the timing right and the correct tools. for more information on concrete check out Renovation Robot Concrete pages.