Construction - Slab

Preparing the Base

Preparing the base. Here it is backfilled and ready to lay the plastic and mesh. We did all of the backfilling with the help of a Bobcat. We also set up the plastic and the mesh.

Setting up the Mesh

These two images were taken during the four days it took us to mesh up the slab. It took us a great deal longer than we anticipated as the key joints and step-downs in the wet areas made everything more complicated. The slab was broken up into 10 separate areas, which meant more cutting and measuring of the steel mesh.

The night before the pour was reminiscent of the night before we poured the footings. We worked under floodlights till 11:00 pm to complete everything. This time, however, we had the luxury of the caravan and hot food and drink to keep us going :-)

Because we had to be up early to finish chairing up, we stayed in the caravan over night and arose about 5:30am with the sunrise.

Pouring the Slab

The concrete pump made the work a great deal easier. I don't know how you would tackle a slab this size without it.

Curing the Slab

We haven't seen many slabs that have been cured. I guess it is seen as too much effort for little visible return. Curing does however increase the strength of the concrete by between 40-50%. Instead of using a curing compound we simply covered the areas with plastic and kept everything moist for 10 days.  This slows the evaporation, giving time for the chemical reaction to complete.

Pouring the Garage and Entry Slabs

We poured the entry and the garage separately to the main slab so that we didn't have to do too much to manage at one time.

The result - excellent!

The Finished Slab

The finished product ready for the frames to start going up..