minimum thickness of concrete

[Forever Fendt]

We do our cubicle beds at 3" deep concrete and never had any problems. 5" on scrape passageways and 6" on feed passageways

i will except cubicle bed could be less than 6"or any paths but anything with any traffic i would not consider less than 6" infact we have no concrete less than7" cattle/sheep shed 7" 1layer 7mm mesh
workshop 8" 2 layers mesh
yard 8" 2 layers mesh
drive 9" 2 layers mesh
no cracks or broken concrete anywhere done about 3 acres over the 25 years and have no regrets of doing it a good thickness

 

[Frodo2]

i will except cubicle bed could be less than 6"or any paths but anything with any traffic i would not consider less than 6" intact we have no concrete less than7" cattle/sheep shed 7" 1layer 7mm mesh
workshop 8" 2 layers mesh
yard 8" 2 layers mesh
drive 9" 2 layers mesh
no cracks or broken concrete anywhere done about 3 acres over the 25 years and have no regrets of doing it a good thickness

Assuming an average saving of 2" over 3 acres that would be 600m3. @£80/m3 that would be £48,000. Thats a big insurance premium that I would rather spend on holidays.

 

[pycoed]

If you can not afford or justify to put concrete down min 6" don't do it

6" of concrete for a shed you can only get a barrow in? You must have some bloody big barrows in Derbyshire!

 

[Forever Fendt]

6" of concrete for a shed you can only get a barrow in? You must have some bloody big barrows in Derbyshire!

and thick concrete,no one would convince me to put it any thinner

 

[Forever Fendt]

Assuming an average saving of 2" over 3 acres that would be 600m3. @£80/m3 that would be £48,000. Thats a big insurance premium that I would rather spend on holidays.

remember some of it done 25 years ago so maybe half or less for concrete, i remember paying £30 ish per meter but could have been for foundations and labour less than £5 per hour and the yard /shed floor is still as good as new and workshop could have had 15,000 ton steel through in that time .If some of that would need replacing now factor in the cost of taking it up crushing hardcore and relaying yard materials and labour it would add up , take off the tax allowance and it comes to know where near the sum you quoting and the asset is still preserved when it comes to time to sell on, for every man you can show me who said they have laid concrete to thick i will show you 5 broken up yards , my uncle and cousins have relayed there yard 3 times only reason to thin

 

[Right-arm fast]

Depends what's going to be done with the building. If it's going to have telehandlers and other heavy kit running around shovelling up grain/ muck no less than 6" thick. I would treat the old floor as just a good base for the new floor or I would expect it to crack at some point and move about. The concrete below might not have been laid on any base stone or with any thickness.

 

[Philip Watkins]

Depends what's going to be done with the building. .......

See below

bearing in mind that the access is by a pedestrian door only, so will never take any vehicular traffic?

 

[JohnDeere8530]

many thanks for all the replies

It as said definitely wont have anything other than pedestrians inside as the doorway is only 2ft6 wide !
Upon reading these posts I think I will go for around 70mm thick, as the base isnt bad tbh, 6inches is way too much primarily if that thick 21tonnes of concrete will need barrowing approx 50yards !!

 

[Unbrako precast]

I think the sharp sand is only when you want it to stick well to the existing , which obviously can't happen with the membrane. We used it with our parlour pit as the levels were wrong . It went from 2" to nothing at all and never moved for 20 years but the concrete it was on was solid.
It would be bad in this case as it is weaker than standard concrete .
I do know 2" would be awful hard work to lay and very weak , if you could do 3" instead it would be easier to lay and the way concrete works it would probably be a 3x stronger floor.
Also cut ,break / dig a key trench across the door this stops an edge breaking ties it in and lets you finish without an impossible feather edge , you can form the small ramp in that area.
Or as suggested maybe the Tarmac slurry is worth enquiring about , it would damp proof and flex with the cracked floor all in one. That could get away with being quite thin I guess , albeit cow muck would make it cough.