Pouring a Patio - iCanReachIt's First Big Pour | Page 4 | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

Thought I finished drilling the holes tonight (not very patient so I've burned some bits, some holes are 6" deep, some 2" deep, the majority lie somewhere in between).

Went to tap in the rebar and I couldn't get it to full depth. Instead of forcing it (difficult when pounding the whole 20' stick) I'm just going to go up one size and epoxy them in.

You can see the chairs that I got for them here. I figured it would be easier than tying all of the rebar and helps maintain the height while maximizing the amount of concrete around the joint. 

Should I spray the ground before laying down the vapor barrier? Seems like it would defeat the purpose...

Alright, busy weekend. We managed to drill out the holes to 1/2", lay the plastic (double layered 4.5mil plastic), epoxy the rebar in place, and put the chairs in. I didn't really understand the "cat's meow" until I ran out of those. Absolutely recommended.

First up, we had to temporarily move a 4x4 that's holding up the porch roof. As you can see below, we jacked up the porch roof, dropped in another beam, and pulled the one that is currently sitting below grade. The previous post was actually somewhat buried.

Temporary beam in place:

Then we laid down the plastic, folded it over, and trimmed the edges:

Epoxied in the rebar:

And laid it all out:

So we added a few more sticks after the last photo and I tied into the chimney to keep it from sliding down the hill eventually. Unfortunately, that slab was barely poured deep enough for me to tie into it so I drilled at an upward angle.

Should have the truck in next week. Can anyone confirm this process?

Pour & distribute - 15-20minutes

Screed & rake - 15-20minutes

Bull-float - 15-20minutes

Wait about 30 minutes

Start cleaning up with an aluminum float

At what time is the concrete strong enough to cut the stress relief gap and start finishing with aluminum trowels?

Alright. Concrete showed up bright and early yesterday morning and it's now curing.

Quick summary: concrete was waaaaay too watery, but we just kept pulling the water off the top so that it wouldn't crack and so that we wouldn't form what I've heard of as a "seal" on the top.

Here's how it sat before the concrete went in with the re-bar finalized. You can see how I tied in the fireplace. No real issues during the pour,except that it was really watery. Despite spending 45minutes at the box store looking for a straight piece of lumber, our screed still had some mild bow that we tried to take out in bull floating.

Here she is just after the brush finish. We weren't planning on a brushed finish but the tool marks were very visible so extra texture was welcome. Also, having washed it now, even the lightly brushed finish is slippery so I'm glad that we added it.

Bought a cheap tarp so that we could keep it out of direct sunlight for the hottest part of the day.

Aaaand because I bought a cheap tarp, the eyelets ripped out so I just laid it on top for day 2 (today)

Lessons learned: do a slump test on your concrete (ours would have failed), screed with your 2xlumber twice, multiple directions if possible. Set your tarp up first (we had uneven drying). Also, maybe buy a bag of concrete and just pour it into a bucket and play with it. Knowing how the stuff dries and what to expect is paramount. We winged it (3 people) and didn't have any issues but there were some times when we thought "Oh, oops, we should have started troweling sooner". For first timers (even if you've done smaller projects before), a "dry run" is recommended.

I am now spraying it twice a day (thorough soak) and leaving the tarp on while it's sunny out because we're hitting triple digits. From what I've read, you can even do a "pond cure" so I'm not too concerned about keeping it too moist.  I pulled the form boards off this morning and everything popped off easily considering I didn't even spray them before the pour (no oil either as I'd read some people encounter staining). We did get a nice grain effect on the sides.

Any recommendations on backfill around the slab? I was just going to buy sand, small river rock, or topsoil (topsoil is cheapest).

Also, I will cut the stress relief marks in three weeks.