concrete question

YotaOnRocks

YotaOnRocks

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Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Location
Madison
Putting up a metal carport to park my 2 tow rigs in. Will be closed in with garage door. Carport will be 24W x 31L x 10H.

If I did a slab could I just level the land and pour pad on the dirt or does it need to have rock under it. Figured up needing about 14 tons of gravel (4" thick) if I do just gravel. Don't know exact price but guessing around $40 a yard. I might do concrete instead if I can get away with not needing rock under it.

Reason for trying to be cheap is I don't plan to be here more than 5 years and when I leave I'll take the carport with me.
 
And the trucks are the 2 dodges in my signature. Don't know if that matters but I know they're heavy so thought I would mention that. Biggest reason for wanting concrete is because I see my truck tires picking up the gravel all the time and carrying it out of the carport and also would be nicer for when I wash & wax the trucks in it.

Only downfall is if I do the slab when I move there will be a 24x31 concrete slab just sitting behind my shop. Which may be very unappealing to the buyers.
 
I'm pretty sure you could leave the structure on the slab and make mo money on the sale of the property to cover the cost of va new structure somewhere else. Make your slab atleast 6inches thick for the mostpart with out side perimeter 8inches thick about a foot inward.You call this a monolithic pour.On the dirt will be fine but put down a layer of plastic. Also use plenty of re-enforcing wire.You will need expansion joints in there also. Since it will bve outside,I'd use joint material instead of just cutting them in. Somebody up your way that works with concrete might have a better idea but this is how I would do one for myself.
 
If I had a buyer interested in leaving it there then that would be fine with me. I just assume since I already have a detached garage and a carport attached to the house that the buyer might be more interested in the yard space.
 
I wouldn't bother pouring 6" thick in the center unless you have money to throw away or are putting heavy equipment on it (like a 10k pound lathe with 4 small feet). Vehicles and typical shop equipment are fine on a 4" slab. Around here concrete is about $110 per cubic yard (3'x3'x3') for the actual concrete delivered. Most of the contractors around here charge about $3 per square foot including finishing and materials for a 4" thick slab, which would work out to 744sqft and $2232 in your case. By the time you factor in the footing and other incidentals, it'll be at least $2500, maybe closer to $3000.
 
I was hoping to be able to pour it myself. I've never done concrete so not sure whats in store but I used a concrete calculator it said a little over 9 yards was needed so figured I would get 10 do it myself and maybe get out for around 1500 all together.
 
[quotkind of inmatt, post: 1229985, member: 304"]I wouldn't bother pouring 6" thick in the center unless you have money to throw away or are putting heavy equipment on it (like a 10k pound lathe with 4 small feet). Vehicles and typical shop equipment are fine on a 4" slab. Around here concrete is about $110 per cubic yard (3'x3'x3') for the actual concrete delivered. Most of the contractors around here charge about $3 per square foot including finishing and materials for a 4" thick slab, which would work out to 744sqft and $2232 in your case. By the time you factor in the footing and other incidentals, it'll be at least $2500, maybe closer to $3000.[/quote]

What size footing would I need to do?
 
Sorry for the crappy quote job I did it off my phone
 
I've misplaced my concrete slide rule I have, but no one has mentioned compaction. Be sure you scrape off any grass & topsoil, down to hard dirt. Might could use one of those Heavy trucks, to make sure your dirt is packed & solid. I'd do 4-5 " slab, with 8-10" deep footing, tapering inward about 16", back to the 4/5 depth. Plastic shouldn't be nessacary, for outside, but it doesn't cost much if you want too. I would put in reinforcement wire, & 3000 psi concrete is sufficient. If you've never worked concrete, you'll be Surprised, how Heavy it is, hard to move, & level! It's tempting to add water, so it flows easier, =the more water you add, the less strength,you'll end up with. TOO much, & the top will eventually scale off, leaving exposed rock.. Been there, Done that!
 
I'm not sure how much you have thought this through...

As far as removing the building goes. After 5 years most Metal Carports...if you rmeove them you wont have much to reinstall elsewhere. Then if you pour concrete you are going to have a large slab with anchor bolts around it, or a large gravel pad in the yard. I cant imagine a scenario where it wont cost you money to remove the carport.

Matt nailed the cost estimate IMHO.

If you have never worked concrete before and dont ave help from someone who has, a pad of that size as your first endeavor is a pretty big elephant to eat.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
[quotkind of inmatt, post: 1229985, member: 304"]I wouldn't bother pouring 6" thick in the center unless you have money to throw away or are putting heavy equipment on it (like a 10k pound lathe with 4 small feet). Vehicles and typical shop equipment are fine on a 4" slab. Around here concrete is about $110 per cubic yard (3'x3'x3') for the actual concrete delivered. Most of the contractors around here charge about $3 per square foot including finishing and materials for a 4" thick slab, which would work out to 744sqft and $2232 in your case. By the time you factor in the footing and other incidentals, it'll be at least $2500, maybe closer to $3000.

What size footing would I need to do?
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Around here, you have to go 10" deep minimum for residential construction. Not sure about a garage. Here in Gaston County, they have a lot of information on the Building Inspections website. You may want to check for whichever county you'll be building in, and on top of that, if you're in the city limits of Winston Salem, there may be additional restrictions. However, depending on zoning and land use, you may be able to build an "agricultural building" with little or no restrictions or inspections. I have no idea what a good rule of thumb is for footings, but typical footings are designed more for carrying the weight of a studwall, and preventing the slab from shifting in a monolithic pour. With a carport, the most weight it will ever see would probably be the snow from this past week. Code requirements here were 10lb/ft^2, so assuming 6ft between supports, you can figure 6x15.5x10=930lbs plus building weight for that area, about 1000lbs per post in a heavy snow. Average ground strength for compacted clay should be around 2000lb/ft^2, so you really don't need much IF the ground is solid. If it were my garage, I'd do an 8-10" deep and 8-10" wide footing with a 45 degree taper into a 4" slab like Rodney is suggesting. But I'm cheap, so if I were digging it myself, I'd thin it up a couple inches in the area where there wasn't a post since you don't really need the load bearing strength, and then thicken it up at the door.
 
Ron said:
If you have never worked concrete before and dont ave help from someone who has, a pad of that size as your first endeavor is a pretty big elephant to eat.
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Thats why I paid someone else to do my house and shop. Its not worth the hassle and risk of screwing up. Yeah, it cost more, but I guarantee you the 3 white guys and 4 mexicans that did mine worked hard to make sure it was all done right, and while I work harder than most when I need to, I don't think I can outwork 5 people.
 
Thanks for the help guys I think I may end up just doing gravel. Might be able to find a rock that my tires won't try to pick up to bad. I just can't justify cost of concrete for a few years of using it.

Ron I am curious why you say after 5 years there won't be anything to move. As far as I know the metal that they're covered in is 29 gauge same as many residential metal roofs. Other than maybe rusty hardware on frame I thought it would last a long time. I've never owned one though so that's why I ask.
 
And moving gravel shouldn't be an issue. I have a 7ton dump trailer and can borrow a skid steer to scoop it up and haul off. I would think only cost would be grass seed.
 
I've got "railroad ballast" in my driveway and the tires don't pick it up. Something like a big TSL might, but a typical mud tire doesn't. Only downside is it will twist your ankle if you don't pay attention when you walk across it.
 
I just installed a 24x30 enclosed metal garage my land was not level so I formed it up was about 2 ft of fall, then came in about 12 inches off the outer form and built a wall out of cinder block to back full with sand so I wouldn have to buy as much concrete, and concrete around here ranges from $102 to $112 a yard I wished it was still $40. As I had to have 13 yards
 
I was talking about the rock being around 40 a yard. I'm pretty sure that's around what we paid last time we got some
 
Jeepinmatt
I was thinking of going with a big stone like that. I'm gonna run by Vulcan some time this week and see what sizes the different rocks are.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Ron I am curious why you say after 5 years there won't be anything to move. As far as I know the metal that they're covered in is 29 gauge same as many residential metal roofs. Other than maybe rusty hardware on frame I thought it would last a long time. I've never owned one though so that's why I ask.
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They will last a very long time and are nice. However they are a system structure. When you take them apart they will have stressed, warped, settled and aged some over time and will not reassemble as strong as they did the first time.
 
As for doing gravel, & I like Cheap, look into crushed concrete [recycled]. Most places that sale it, have 3 or more sizes to choose, & generally about 60-70% cost of granite. Should be fine in a carport. I have learned, using it in my driveway, the concrete does wear off the stone, & will become very dusty, in situations, as driving a lawn mower across it, with the blades running. When it's fresh, it looks like white rock!
 
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