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Curing and Placing
Placing Concrete
Curing Concrete

Curing and Placing

Steps To Placing Concrete

STEP 1: Basic Equipment

Tools

Wheelbarrow, Garden Roller, Shovel, Spade, Tamping Beam, Steel tape, Spirit level, Wooden float, Stiff broom

Clothing

Long-sleeved shirt, Long ‘working’ trousers.  Boots, Waterproof gloves, Knee pads

A tamping beam for compacting and leveling newly laid concrete is easily made at home.  Use timber 25 mm. (1 inch) thick, 75 mm. (3 ins.) wide and 255 mm. (10 ins.) longer than the width of the slab.  For wide slabs, handles can be bolted to each end of the beam.

STEP 2: Assess Requirements

Examine the area you wish to lay with concrete.  Measure the site carefully, recording length, width and depth.  You may find it useful to draw up a plan on graph paper.

Record as many other details about the site as possible, including accessibility, composition of sub-base, direction and degree of slope (if any), drainage requirements, weight that concrete will have to support, and so on.
Ring your nearest Readymix sales office.

Telephone our sales office, or nearest concrete plant you’ll find our address and telephone number at the back of this guide.

You can request a technical sales representative to visit you to discuss mix type, quantities, access, pump, price, or any other advice you may seek.  This service is provided absolutely free without obligation.

STEP 3: Preparation

Carefully prepare the site by clearing away stones and weeds, leveling off bumps with a spade, and rolling the ground to provide a well compacted base.

If you require the surface of the concrete to be level with the surrounding ground, clear away the top-soil to the depth of the proposed slab. A depth of 100 mm. (4 ins.) is ample for pedestrian and light traffic.

Do not disturb the soil any more than is necessary, but if the base is soft and liable to subsidence, excavate a further 75 mm. (3 ins.) and lay a hardcore foundation of rubble followed by sand before rolling.

Remember to make the base at least 75 mm. (3 ins.) larger all round than the size of the finished slab, to accommodate the formwork.  Include this extra space in the overall measurements you give when you order your concrete.

When the base is ready, build the ‘formwork’ – the frame which will keep the concrete in place as it hardens.  The forms should be made from 25 mm (1 inch) thick timber strips-old floorboards are ideal. 

STEP 4: Formwork

Nail the forms to wooden pegs, 300-450 mm. (12-18 ins.) long, driven firmly into the sub-base at 1 metre (39 ins.) intervals along the outside of the formwork.  This will form the sides and ends of the area you wish to fill.

If your proposed slab is to adjoin an existing slab or building, form a joint between the two with strip of thick bituminous felt.

Check the forms with a spirit level.  For outdoor sites, make the form on one side an inch lower than on the other to allow drainage away from buildings.  If the area you are laying measures more than 4 metres (13 feet) in any direction, such as a path or drive, you will need to divide it into sections.  This is done by making ‘joints’ of soft-wood board 10 mm. to 12 mm. (½ inch) thick, laid across the formwork and to the full depth of the slab.  The joints are supported on the ‘outside’ by wooden pegs which can be removed as each section is completed.  The joints are placed at intervals so that the length of any one section is no more than 4 metres (13 feet).

If the job in the house or workshop and a thoroughly dry floor is important, line the base and sides with a heavy plastic sheeting. 

STEP 5: Order Concrete

When you are happy that your preparations are complete, call your local Readymix  sales rep, by now you would be familiar with hi