Concrete floor revisited

[rusticretreater]

Plastic or Visqueen has been shown to have too much permeance according to residential building standards.  It may be fine for something outdoors, but I'm no expert.

I always worry about things like that and try to do it right.  A rated 10-12 mil vapor barrier cloth would be my choice.

[TimW]

I agree Doc, sidewalks also.

[barbender]

 I'm talking about interior concrete, not exterior. No, I wouldn't use a vapor barrier under exterior concrete.

[tule peak timber]

Pouring a shop extension day after tomorrow. 6 inch thick with rebar on 1 foot centers with a special footing for a jib boom crane at shop entrance to assist in handling. I was lucky to find a really good team of people to do the stem wall and demo/prep the right way. For all the property I own none of it is flat making building a challenge, then there are the glass hard nuggets here and there the size of cars. A big cat keeping an eye on us early on.

[doc henderson]

as always very cool!

[TimW]

@WV Sawmiller , quick get a box!

[WV Sawmiller]

    My late uncle once blinded a half-grown bobcat on a deserted dirt road, left the car lights on and sneaked behind him and caught him. He said he would never be catching another one!

[Old Greenhorn]

^{Was your late Uncle John Eubanks by any chance? (As in "KNOCK OUT JOHNNN!") Just asking'.}

[WV Sawmiller]

   No Uncle Donald could not climb trees but he was a big time coon hunter.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Since you got me thinking about my relatives I figured I'd post this from a recent conversation:

My Dysfunctional Family
                Not sure if the rest of you have families like mine but I often claim I am adopted because I know I don't fit in with many of the others.

                Since the passing of my older brother a couple of years ago I try to be a little more diligent about keeping up with the rest of the family, especially Mom who is in her late 80's. Lest anyone pass it to her and somehow hurt her feelings I will not record a typical conversation with her although they can be very interesting at times. She keeps me up to date on how she is doing and about local events and many people I never knew about but she sometimes forgets to mention things I might really be interested in hearing about.

I still find it is sometimes a couple of months between conversations with my younger brother. They can also be challenging. A typical recent conversation went something like this.

I called and we talked about the kids and grandkids a few minutes then one of us mentioned Cousin Edward. Here is the gist of the results.

Me: "How is Cousin Edward anyway? I haven't thought about him for a long time and I don't think I have seen him in 3-4 years."

Brother: "He seems to be doing okay. He looked good at Uncle Joe's funeral last month."

Me: "When was Uncle Joe's funeral?"

Brother: "It was either 3 or 4 days after he died. No, it was 3 days because the 4^th day was when they had the big Coon-On-The –Log down at the big gravel lake and everybody wanted to be free to go to it so they rushed up the funeral and didn't even wait on Aunt Edna to get back from her cruise."

Me: "I didn't hear anything about Uncle Joe dying and did not know they still allowed Coon-On-The –Log trials."

Brother: "We were wondering why you didn't show up. They wanted you to be a pall bearer as you were one of the few we still figured who was healthy enough to carry him all the way to the back side of the cemetery. Several people asked about you at the Gravel Lakes too"

Me: "Were there a lot of people there?"

Brother: "Oh yeah. The place was packed. You could hardly find a place to park. One guy from Arkansas even came with a big old Redbone hound that looked a lot like Old Red that Grandpa used to deer hunt with. There were several people from Tennessee and Mississippi who brought their hounds down. You could see they were real proud of their dogs and took them everywhere with them."

Me: "I was talking about at the funeral."

Brother: "No, you know the funeral home over at Jay won't allow dogs in the building. They said they think it disrupts the service and they are they are afraid they will get fleas in the carpet and you know how hard they are to get rid of. Aunt Eva sneaked her Schnauzer in to Aunt Betty's funeral and he got loose and hiked his leg on the urns for the remains of the guy whose family was waiting in the other chamber. You know, if they did allow pets Uncle Joe's old bluetick hound, Gypsy, would have been right up on the front seat for the service and would have been riding with him in the hearse. "

Me (Getting frustrated): "No, I meant at Uncle Joe's funeral."

Brother (Unconcerned):  "Oh yeah. There were quite a few at the service and several went to the graveside. Cousin Ruth (Uncle Joe's oldest daughter) gave the eulogy but she was late getting there because they did not have the paperwork ready at the U-Haul place and she was afraid Ed Earl and Buford (her brothers) would get to Uncle Joe's house first and get any of the good stuff before she got there. Now if you wanted to see a crowd you should have seen them at the reception center of the Baptist Church for the meal after the service. You know how big a crowd that always draws."

Me (Resignedly): "Okay. How is Aunt Edna?"

Brother: "She's doing pretty well considering everything. She was upset when Uncle Joe didn't meet her at the port when her cruise was done. If he hadn't died I think she'd have divorced him and she is not talking to Ruth ever since she got home and found the furniture was gone. If you ask me, I think Ed Earl and Buford probably got more than Ruth did but you know Aunt Edna was always more partial to the boys than her daughter."

Me: "Okay. I give up. I have to go. I'll call you later." Click.

My wife has been listening to the one-sided conversation and when I hang up she asks me "Bad news?"

Me: "Yeah, they had a Coon-On-The –Log back in March and nobody called me to let me know."

[M.R.]

Here's a Construction Manual: Concrete and Formwork by T.W Love Published by Craftsman Book Co in 1987 I looked it up and it's < $5.00 to $16.00 new a great read if you're doing it yourself or hiring a contractor.

[Sod saw]

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WV,

Sounds like most conversations with my sister.


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[Tom K]

Let's just say it's interesting to hear how you guys do things in different areas.

HERE, you would never put a vapor barrier under an exterior slab, which is what the OP is talking about. An interior conditioned space yes, unconditioned or tempered can be hit & miss as there are provisions in the code to leave it out. Yes, a layer of foam insulation (XPS) with tapped joints counts as a VB.

I actually poured a little flat work yesterday at our place down in southern Ohio. The driver mentioned several times how surprised he was I used a 6 1/2 bag mix as no one uses that strong of a mix for sidewalks. I ordered a ODOT class C mix that is considered standard for sidewalks & exterior flatwork, which is a 4,000 psi mix with 6% air. That's a very common mix in Northern Ohio, apparently not in Southern Ohio?

In 25 year in construction I've never spec'd out or placed anything higher than a 4,000 psi mix. Using a 6-8,000 psi mix just sounds odd to me. HERE at least, if we need a stronger slab we thicken & reinforce. If we need a harder surface we use a densifier. If we need better abrasion/wear we add a steel wear surface. If the base is garbage we fix that first.

Granted, for a small project it doesn't cost a whole lot more that add a little more bar, or beef the concrete up a little.

Coming from a residential / commercial construction back ground those number add up. We do multiple 1k+ yard floor pours a year, all our floors are a 3,500 psi mix. All our office floors are 4" with W1.4 mesh & a 10 mil VB. The warehouse/manufacturing floors can vary from 6-10", usually W2.9 mesh or macro fiber with occasionally a rebar grid for heavy uses. Vapor barrier usage would depend on the use, if it gets cooling it would have a 6 mil VB for sure. Freezer/cooler building are a whole different ball game. This is what works HERE. We've done work in a handful of other states and we've used similar specs.