laying a yard

jack77

When ever the weather allows i want to put down a concrete yard, say 12m x 10m, it's just a yard between sheds, want to be able to drive and walk through without mud up to my knees. quantity and cost of concrete is what i'm wondering and should i put down hard core under or would i get away going down to solid ground and laying it on that?

Bizzum

jack77 wrote: »

When ever the weather allows i want to put down a concrete yard, say 12m x 10m, it's just a yard between sheds, want to be able to drive and walk through without mud up to my knees. quantity and cost of concrete is what i'm wondering and should i put down hard core under or would i get away going down to solid ground and laying it on that?

Do it once and do it right.
120 Sq M of concrete at 150mm deep will require about 18 Cubic M of concrete. €65 to €70 per cubic M. Total €1170 to €1260 for concrete.

Take the ground down to good ground and use hardcore whacked well. Spend all your time on preparation. Prepare the ground, screeds, and levels.
If it's going in betewwn two sheds you might want an expansion joint.

Plenty of lads will tell you 100mm deep will do. If you're driving on it I'd go 150mm, or certainly 5" screeds.

Norwesterner

100mms with a sheet of reinforced steel is plenty.
The steel will prevent cracking in the future (frost etc).
Put some expansion boards where the concrete meets the sheds to allow movement as it will expand and shrink depending on the weather.
And most importantly, put some planning into the where the water will run off from it.
You don't want it sloped, directing rainfall towards your house.
Vibrate/tamper well and give it a sprinkle with the hose after a few hours to prevent rapid drying.
A days work really. Hire some young apprentice to help you as it is hard slogging.
Also to lower costs, you could mix yourself in a cement mixer if you can get a lend of one.
1 cement/3 sand/3 aggregate