Pouring concrete pad for a car - advice?

[phillysrt4]

I'm interested on pouring a concrete pad with the idea of building a small 1 car garage. Would probably be starting in the spring. Can anyone who has poured concrete for this task tell me what needs to be done differently than for something like a small patio due to the loads it will have to handle? I was told I need to reinforce with rebar but I wanted some advice from someone who has done it. I want to price this project out and evaluate the difficulty to see if its even feasible.

Thanks.

[SonofaBish]

I've never done it but I think you definitely want to reinforce it with rebar.... also, i dunno exactly how thick you want it to be, but i know the pad for the garage in the house i'm building will be 4" thick... so, maybe you don't need that thick, but i'd think you wanna keep it close to that

[phillysrt4]

I had planned on something around that thickness. Thanks for the info.

[Silverhatch]

I know ViperEd will chime in, I believe he poured his 2 stall driveway with no reinforcing. The concrete had fiberglass in it. Its been a few years and the concrete still looks great. Hopefully he'll be on to get everything straight.

[John4cam]

You can go the fiber mesh route as well as wire mesh. 4 inches thick is your standard pour for any driveway or parking pad.

The only bad thing about the fiber mesh is sometimes the finish doesn't come out the way you like. For that reason alot of people prefer using the old fashioned wire mesh. Its available at lowes, home depot ect. It equals about the same price wise.

[John4cam]

also a little quick formula for cubic yards of concrete needed for a 4" thick pad is length x width, then divide that number by 81. There is your yardage needed. The fiber mesh usually costs an extra 6-7 bucks per yard now I think. Concrete keeps sky rocketing in price..

[phillysrt4]

This is some great help and advice! Hopefully vipered will stop in too.

John- where I am things are measured in metric, so its just sliding a decimal point to get the cubic metres of concrete I need (4 inches is 10cm=0.1m for all intents and purposes) :)

[John4cam]

This is some great help and advice! Hopefully vipered will stop in too.

John- where I am things are measured in metric, so its just sliding a decimal point to get the cubic metres of concrete I need (4 inches is 10cm=0.1m for all intents and purposes) :)

Where is this??

[phillysrt4]

Where is this??

north of the border

[John4cam]

north of the border

Oh I see..

If you're worried about rebar, It never hurts to put some in. The main area to put a couple bars in would be around the garage door apron(entrance).

If you do this go with at least a number 5 bar (5/8th's), anything smaller would be useless and a waste of money IMO. I put one bar across my garage door opening and there are no cracks anywhere. If you have any questions feel free to pm me. I'm in the masonry field..:)

[phillysrt4]

^^^ SWEET!!! thanks!

[97LaserRed]

use you HONDUH to make the surface flat .....vtak

[phillysrt4]

nevermind...

[yeahloh95]

i just had my basement poured its 4" think and has the fiber in it , we ar egoing just a little thicker in the garage for the areas of the lift posts

[Viper_ed]

Everyone will tell you 4" thick, but they actually mean 3.5" thick since that is what the width of a standard 2"x4" is. Standard 2"x4"'s are what 99% of people will use to build their forms with. I did this on my driveway and poured it with fibermesh only, no rebar or wire mesh added at all. It has been almost 5 years now and it still looks the same as when I first poured it. Weight has not been as issue as I have even had small 5 ton dumptrucks parked in it loaded as well as car trailers. For a 1 car garage, this will be all you need. If you were to be adding a lift, I would consider 6" of concrete for at least the spots the lift will sit on the floor.

Since you're a numbers guy, compare the cost difference between the wiremesh and fibermesh. You will be suprised how much money you will save. Good luck!

[85stang]

have you looked into heating the concrete since its going to be a garage? nothings better than working on a warm floor in the middle or winter.

[John4cam]

To make it a true 4" all you have to do is raise your form the extra 1/2 inch if you're really worried about it..

[phillysrt4]

thanks for all the advice, especially the part about considering lift in the future.

I hadn't considered heating the concrete, but now that you mention it some sort or passive heat system via tubes filled with glycol in the floor might not be a bad option.

[wick]

Everyone will tell you 4" thick, but they actually mean 3.5" thick since that is what the width of a standard 2"x4" is. Standard 2"x4"'s are what 99% of people will use to build their forms with. I did this on my driveway and poured it with fibermesh only, no rebar or wire mesh added at all. It has been almost 5 years now and it still looks the same as when I first poured it. Weight has not been as issue as I have even had small 5 ton dumptrucks parked in it loaded as well as car trailers. For a 1 car garage, this will be all you need. If you were to be adding a lift, I would consider 6" of concrete for at least the spots the lift will sit on the floor.

Since you're a numbers guy, compare the cost difference between the wiremesh and fibermesh. You will be suprised how much money you will save. Good luck!

Exactly. The fibermesh is the ticket. I did my patio this summer. 14X21. Used the fiber concrete. It cost $630 for 4.5 yards. I did it roughly 5" thick and did 3 areas 2X2X2' thick for the roof we are putting on this comming summer.

[yeahloh95]

there are also differnt grades or stengths of concrete mine is the 4000 psi i'm not sure what else is out there but i have heard of at least 3000 ???