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Re: pouring a new concrete garage floor

To: shop-talk@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: pouring a new concrete garage floor
From: Eric Murray <ericm@lne.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:51:46 -0700
On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 02:48:46PM -0400, Mark Andy wrote:
> 
> Howdy,
> 
> I need to pour a new garage floor over the top of my current garage floor.  
> I'd love to talk to someone that actually knew something about this 
> stuff... I'm a rank novice.
> 
> Details:
> 
> I have an existing 22'x22' garage that has a cement floor. That floor is 
> unlevel, cracked, and on the order of 4" or so lower than the driveway 
> leading up to it. Consequently, when it rains enough, the water leaks 
> into the garage, to the tune of about 5" or 6" deep. As the garage is 
> attached, the water then proceeds down into the basement. It also isn't 
> so hot for tools and such in the garage...

What folks around here who have existing driveways that slope into their
garage do is to put a raised 'speedbump' on the driveway in front
of the garage door to deflect the water.

The ones with new construction put in a real drain in front of the door.
 
> * How should I go about "screeding" (I think that's what its called) the 
> cement, since I'm pouring the floor inside a building? In case I'm using 
> the wrong word, I mean "how do I level the concrete out so that I have a 
> flat/smooth floor?"


You 'float' it.  When you smear a smooth plate back and forth across 
wet concrete, it pushes the chunks down and causes water to rise.
Its not hard to do on small areas but doing a whole floor and getting
it consistent would, given my small amount of experience, seem to
require a lot of experience.


> * One of the concrete places mentioned it'd be another $5/yard for 
> fiber... Apparently you can have the fiber inserted into the mix rather 
> than using rebar or mesh?  Is one method better than the other from a 
> strength standpoint?  How about from a finishing standpoint?

Should be the same for finishing. But if you can get by without the
rebar (dunno if you can) that takes out a lot of work.

Eric






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