DIY Concrete Slab Pouring: A Beginner’s Tutorial, Save $1000s

Hey welcome back to our Channel where We're going to talk about a project Today that is probably near and dear to A lot of homesteaders and a lot of Homeowners we're going to be discussing How to build forms and pour concrete for A six by eight foot pad three and a half Inches thick We're going to start by removing all of The organic materials from where the Pad's going to be poured Once we've got the first two or three Inches of soil removed we're going to Bring in some backfill rocks crushed Rock here and we're going to pack it Down really well we're going to try to Level the pad out as best we can not Going too overboard at this point You can rent a little gas-powered packer At any of your local rental stores Since we already have the small tractor We brought in the gravel and we used the Bucket to spread out the gravel evenly We then took the tractor and ran back And forth over the gravel to make sure That it's packed down really well we Used a crushed kind of gravel that has a Clay mixture and a little bit of sand Mixed in it it's really great for Packing Now let's actually start the build Building the forms is the first step in Our process We needed the following materials

Eight foot two by four thick screws a Drill a level and a saw we'll be using The two by fours to build a rectangle That is six feet by eight feet You'll notice in the video that our Measurements are just a little bit shy Of six by eight and that's because of The tight building we're putting up We're building this pad to fit the Building and we just change the numbers To eight by six for the video just to Keep the math easy Just keep in mind when you're building Your forms that you have to take into Account the thickness of the two by Fours twice because you have it on Either side We added three inches extra to the Measurements of our short boards and Then made sure to put the short boards On the outside of the longboards when we Made our rectangle for video purposes we Cut two pieces of the two by four eight Foot long and then we cut two pieces of The two by four six foot and three Inches long Then we assemble the pieces by screwing The shorter pieces to the longer pieces At the corner making sure the edges are Flush We level and square are form a little Bit on the unusual side We do this for the Simplicity of it and It really probably is not feasible for a

Very large project but for a small pad It's very feasible and very user Friendly take one of the long two by Fours and put it in place level and the Right direction that you want the Building to lay then place the short 2×4 On the outside of the long two by four Foreign Then we're going to mount the short 2×4 To the long 2×4 making sure it's flush By putting a single nail in the very Center of the short 2×4 don't worry We'll put more Nails later but the Single nail in the center will allow That board to Pivot Next measure the diagonal distance from Opposite corners of the form and make Sure that they are equal if they are not Equal we'll need to adjust the form Until they are Next put Stakes around the outside of The form being very careful not to knock It out a square check it often it's too Late to go back once the concrete is Poured Now raise or lower each short side Making sure it's level and then Place One Nail in each short board Move to the other shortboard and do the Exact same thing If you've done this right your secondary Eight foot board should be level but Check it anyway Once you have your final stakes in your

Retract for square and level If you're happy with both of those then It's time to nail we used our nail gun Which makes it easy to put nails in Without disturbing the stakes too much You could do this with the same results By using a drill and screws Once everything is nailed in take a Reciprocating saw and cut the top of the Two by fours off level with all of the Outer form two by fours This will allow you to pull the board Across the top of the form screeding the Concrete as you go Next we bring in more of our gravel sand Mixture we'll use this mixture to raise The base up level with the bottom of the Form you may have to do this several Times and each time it will have to be Packed down If you don't pack it down this will Cause your concrete to fail prematurely Now that our forms are level and square We'll need to put down plastic as a Vapor barrier we'll be using heavy duty Plastic sheets that are six by eight Feet the plastic keeps ground moisture From penetrating the concrete Now that our forms are ready we can Begin the concrete pour Foreign Perfect two and a half gallons for every Three bags Another option is to rent a concrete

Mixer this will cut down on your labor We use what we had on hand to mix the Concrete to save a little money If your DIY is like us I recommend Starting fresh Once you start to pour you're committed Till it's done It's the general consensus that we will Not need rebar A 5000 psi concrete and fiber is more Than enough for a pad this size Each different brand of concrete Requires a different amount of water Depending on the mix and the variation Follow the instructions on the back of The bag We're using our tractor bucket to mix Concrete however this could be easily Done with a wheelbarrow If you want a smoother surface you can Rent professional tools or in our case We're going to be pouring a lot of Concrete over the next few months and Years so we decided to buy our own At minimum you'll need a concrete edger To round over the edges of your concrete Next to the form One last thought if you're going to do DIY it's probably better not to use a Fast curing concrete It may start to sit up before all of the Form is full Start on one end of the form and work Your way towards the other end

Add concrete and screed as you go be Sure to fill the forms completely full Of concrete all the way to the top Making sure there's no air pockets in The concrete our form is only three and A half inches deep if it was a little Bit deeper then we would need to go Around the outside of the form tapping It with a hammer to make air bubbles Release If you Screech your concrete well with a Three and a half inch form you shouldn't Have any problem If you're okay with a rough surface then You're pretty much done we want it a Little bit smoother surface so we Brought out our floats one thing I Didn't take into account was that the Different kinds of concrete went in one End of our concrete was pretty much Ready to float by the time we were done While the other wind was still fairly Wet After making that mistake we let it cure A little bit longer We then came back with the float and Smoothed it out After the concrete has started to set up It's the time that you want to run the Edger around and round over the edges of The concrete next to the form During this time we'll make sure to keep The concrete moist by missing it with Water several times a day we poured our

Concrete in a very cool time of year After looking at it several times it was Always moist there's plenty of debate on When to remove the forms I recommend 36 To 48 hours we're also giving our Concrete seven days to cure now there's A lot of leadway and different factors That go into this but if you let it set For seven days you should be okay leave Us a comment if you think we left Anything out Foreign