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Farmall & IHC Tractors Discussion Forum
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Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work.

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WonderingAl

10-31-2007 07:58:11




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Anyone have any ideas, plans, or information as to making a great flat surface to work on heavy machines; tractors, trucks ect?

From the ground up.

For some reason, working on tractors on an uneven dirt floor doesn't seem to work the best.
thanks




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A/C Boy

10-31-2007 16:34:34




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
If I was building a shop floor here's what I would do. Buy some used railroad rails, invert them weld rebar to them to tranfer strenth to the concrete floor. Space the rails about 8" apart two rows and run them the length of the shop. You can use the rails in the floor to pull from if you want to stretch something also if you work on track equipment you keep the equipment on the rails and it will not hurt the floor. We did this in a body shop and you would never believe how handy the steel rails in the floor are.

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rockerscraper1

11-01-2007 16:11:11




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to A/C Boy, 10-31-2007 16:34:34  
great idea for pulling are floors in are shop quick and cheap and they hold up too 325 cat 300 komatsu d8 and lighter



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rockerscraper1

10-31-2007 14:08:18




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
number 2 stone under concrete 4000lbs wire mesh sheets try to keep in middle of concrete depending on stick build or pole sometimes a foot square honch like a minney footer all the way around lower sill on stick builds anchor bolts exept door ways give a quick powertroll dont make too smooth dont broom finish thats for sidewalks take your demo saw measure up some nice lines saw cut control cracks million different ways good luck

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RobMD

10-31-2007 13:44:09




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
I put 6" of concrete on top of 19? mil plastic and used 1/2" rebar placed in one foot squares.

Tough, never moving shop floor.



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Michael Soldan

10-31-2007 11:08:32




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
A lot of good advice. I did my shed at home and I put the steel reinforcing mesh in it, not that expensive and it does a good job. The day after the pour I sawcut a groove down the middle each way and then every 8'. I cut the groove about 2" deep with a masonary blade, you can rent a machine to sawcut concrete floors. This will give the floor a fracture line so if the frost does heave it the fracture follows the sawcuts..and in fact by the next spring when I dug down outside the building you could see a crack down through exactly where the sawcuts were. If you live in a climate where the ground doesn't freeze solid it isn't necessary, but where I live all concrete gets sawcut...driveways sidewalks building floors...

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LarryD

10-31-2007 10:32:43




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
You should make sure your site is well drained and stays dry. Moist soil will freeze and heave in the winter. You should run your roof downspouts well away from the building too, a minimum of 4' but 6' or more is better.

Before you put down any gravel or sand you should cut back the top of the soil a foot or two and run a sheeps foot compactor over it, if it's mainly clay, or a vibratory roller if it's granular. Then fill back to where you want the top of dirt to be, compacting every 6" or so of fill material. Then put down your gravel/rock/granular base.

A thickened slab at the entry doors is a very good idea. Heavy loads comming onto the edge of concrete can crack the concrete. Are you going to have a concrete or block foundation wall around the perimeter of the building? If so, then the slab should be poured over the top of the foundation wall at the entry, with it thickened and rebar added.

You should use either 3,500 psi concrete or 4,000 psi concrete. Any weaker strengths are more likely to crack or the surface to be easy to scrape. The higher strength also helps to prevent skrinkage cracks, the concrete shrinks as it dries out. Make sure you use a "low slump" concrete mix, this means there is less water in the mix. You want the mix stiff and taking some work to spread. Don't let the truck driver or the concrete workers add any water to the mix, they want water added to make it easier to move the concrete. The added water makes the concrete more likely to shrink and crack and lowers the strenght of it.

Cover the concrete with plastic or better is wet burlap. The longer the concrete takes to dry out the less the shrinking.

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the tractor vet

10-31-2007 10:08:44




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
When my buddy and i built the shop at the time we had Coal buckets and we came home loaded most of the time , And the trucks weighed in at times over 140000 lbs . Now we built this shop from the ground up i did the grading and my buddy who is much better at running the old loose backhoe dug the footers . It was a Butler 40x75 x14 the only thing that we did not do was set the four anchor points . We did the erecting and screwen in all the bolts by hand as we did not have any power at first . First year it was just a gravel floor and two plugs and one lite . Well layen on gravel once a week to grease the trucks change oil or do a brake job plum sucked . The next year we leveled out the gravel or slag as in our case and started first we poured from the walls out to the main door edge with 6 inches of six and a half sack mix with wire . We did a section at a time got most of both sides poured . Then we decided that we should install a drain and did some figuren and came up with a plan , first mistake did not put enough fall from the main door to the top of the drain 2 inches in fifty feet was not enough and two inches from the first pour to the top of the drain was not enough . We dug down two inches more so that the main area where all the weight was going to be would be 8 inches with wire . That part was wright . Over the years of big loads being backed in the main section never cracked . For that fact the only place in the whole shop that had a small crack was buy the old coal furnence , now i can under stand why that happened as at time old BERTHA would get the cherry glow to her all the way around and including the heat exchanger and pipe . After the floor was poured we did not wait for the week that we should have and backed both trucks in four days after the pour both thrck loaded to around 124000 with alloys and we did not have our new tarps till the next day as the old ones were rags and would not even keep the dew off on a dry night . The loads had to be kept dry or we would own it . Thought for sure that we would crack it but the concrete was cheaper then the loads. So other then not adding enough fall to the drain and doing 29 yards in one pour just the two of us by had no power trowel in one day i guess we did good.

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El Toro

10-31-2007 15:49:25




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to the tractor vet, 10-31-2007 10:08:44  
That's one heck of a lot concrete for two men to pour. I knew of a job where 2 men were installing
sewer pipe and had some beer on the job and the next day they discovered they had read the level wrong. Had to dig it all up. I wasn't in it either. Hal



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the tractor vet

10-31-2007 10:17:06




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to the tractor vet, 10-31-2007 10:08:44  
Oh and i forgot one thing lots of empty beer cans .



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ScottyHOMEy

10-31-2007 10:25:51




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to the tractor vet, 10-31-2007 10:17:06  
Those were to take up the expansion, right? ;8^)



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the tractor vet

10-31-2007 10:59:06




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to ScottyHOMEy, 10-31-2007 10:25:51  
Must be as that floor never cracked . We did the main section in two pours with and expanshion joint down the middle And believe me when i say this there were lots and lots of Genny Cream ale can on top of the slag and this also held the wire up . Now today at the price of scrap alu. that floor is worth something.



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benny2

10-31-2007 09:33:23




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
Janicholson Got it right on! Should I add the floor should have separators expansion joints around the floor contacting the foundation. This separation allows for a full floating floor. Consider drains and a grease trap too. The river rock should be of the round not crushed type. Depending on your soil conditions there should be at least 2" up to 4" ballast rock then a layer a 4" of 3/4" minus with fines well compacted over the ballast rock just under the "round river rock" with the appropriate number of separators and crack preventer lines in the finish this should provide for a perfect "floating" machine shop floor. Most local contractor will either quote for the cheapest or minimum legal approved and not for the heavy floors needed in a machine shop. So dont let them tell you it is not needed! This floor make up will fly in most parts of the USA not including perma-frost applications.

PS You may consider exposed steel beams in the floor if crawler trac type tractors are going in.

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scotty

10-31-2007 08:17:52




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
Mornin Al, I have been looking at different building plans along with building specs and I think the minumum floor reqs that you would want doing that type of work would be 5 to 6" of reinforced concrete to hold up to the heavy stuff.I would also research the psi rating of the different concrete grades. It will be more $$$ but will last down the road ! IMHO


scotty



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Janicholson

10-31-2007 08:16:05




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to WonderingAl, 10-31-2007 07:58:11  
Drainage so the edges do not get saturated
Undesturbed compacted soil taken out to 8 inches deep with no new compaction needed (no fill if possible.
2 inches washed river gravel over 4mill visqueen plastic. Light compaction to settle grains.
6"sq mesh welded reinforcement 2" above gravel
1/2" rebar at 12" intervals 4' long at the door to reinforce apron connection and edge used for trafic.
Fibermesh concrete in 6" slabs no more than 12 ft wide with a fiberboard seperator between pours to prevent cracking, and around edges to allow expansion contraction.
JimN

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BOBM25

10-31-2007 08:45:08




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 Re: Pouring a Shop floor...for heavy machine work. in reply to Janicholson, 10-31-2007 08:16:05  
That sounds good. If the concrete is indoors, a good footer under the doorway is a must, I think. 12-18 inches think, min of 32in deep, below the bottom of the floor, the entire width of the door way. Anchor the floor to this. That will keep heavy equipment from busting up the edge and keep the frost from raising the floor so your door closes properly in the winter. I would also seriously consider some kind of radiant heat in the floor. I think this keeps the concrete dried out and warm, thus eliminating sweating and helps resist cracking. To finish, I would use one of those fairly new epoxy paint systems rather than Thompsons or some clear sealer like that. Once you put that stuff down, not much else will lay over top without flaking off.

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