How NOT to pour a concrete slab, sidewalk or driveway. Beginner mistakes & Red flags! 4k video

you've been down this road far too long he left you're a little behind but still what are the beginner mistakes the things these guys should they think they should do you see guys doing but they're actually the wrong thing to show that you [Music] it's like dying bomb you only get so much time to pour it finish itself [Music] your tears they say a thousand [Music] all right so we got a lot going on in this jobsite we're pouring a new apron and a new set of concrete stairs right Ron all right all right guys this is my buddy Ron Graf from concrete arts we work together for how many how many years now Ron that's probably 20 years dammit that makes us old all right so you've got the everything excavated out the soil you're gonna be hauling away no organic material goes beneath any concrete ever right I mean that's my rule of thumb I mean it's what's underneath it besides what you put over it so but we get rid of all the vegetation and the grass yeah topsoil basically yeah so I'm gonna jump in here because what you do beneath the concrete is gonna have a major impact on how well your concrete performs long term you don't want to put your concrete on organic materials in any way shape or form you want to have some base preparation made and what we're looking at here is this is what's called a class-five base this makes great material but let's talk about the depth that you need so if you're gonna have just a residential light traffic load you're gonna want about four inches of base material over your raw soil again non-organic material but still Ross oil 4 inches of class 557 stone anything that will be compactable is excellent material for beneath the sidewalk now if you have a heavier traffic load and you're gonna be bumping up maybe going into a driveway area you can stick with the 4 inches but then I'd recommend maybe going up to 6 inches for a typical driveway like you see behind me now in extreme cases where semis and you're gonna have a heavy traffic load then you're gonna bump that up to 6 8 even 12 inches if you're in loading docks or loading ramps or things like that the base will impact how well your concrete performs long-term yep now you've brought in recycled class-five in this case right yep I'm good I'm good yep so recycle classify I'm just these guys no I just swallowed a bug right down my throat instantly that was not fun all right so recycle class five has three quarter inch material plus fines in it has made from old chunks of asphalt and concrete and it packs up like new concrete it's just it's May it's an amazing material we have it locally I don't know if you guys have it in your neck of the woods or not but we use that underneath all new slabs you can also use your standard 3/4 with - I think I feel it squirming in the back of my throat all right so what if what are you using to reinforce this concrete with Ron wire mesh next by 6 by 1.4 gauge wire mesh and that's this stuff right here now this is for the apron you use different material for a set of steps right typically use some rebar reinforcing in the stubs would you use rebar in this area - sometimes we do yeah and if you've got a heavier load so when Ron talks about application I think you're talking about the load that the concrete's gonna be experiencing in the span that it's got a hold is that right or am I wrong okay so that all makes sense so the forms do you ever use a release agent on the forms Museum the steps okay why is that or four inches it it usually breaks way pretty good once it sets up just tap along it and we don't usually sometimes don't strip these until the concrete set up or the next day so it breaks way pretty easy the steps are a different story because we got to strip the face of them and rub them out so we kind of want to put some type of oil or some table release in there so the concrete doesn't stick to the form kids diesel-fuel work we do use that it's not recommended though you know just because environment t see if we got a some release called bubblegum release okay sometimes we'll do we use Pam cooking spray a lot oil because we do a lot of pool decks so we spray that around the coping so the concrete don't stick to it no tricks of the trade right awesome okay so do you order the mix in a different in a different as a weight or slurry or anything when you do steps to aprons about a four or five slop for sidewalks okay steps are usually around a three or four now you're doing both today and a lot of these guys may be doing both you know so which slurry are you using cuz I'm guessing your neck is a five slump usually for the sidewalks and so we're gonna see how that looks when it gets on the site because typically it's a little stiffer after sitting in the truck so we'll probably for the steps first oh crap you had about a four slump by the time it comes here we unload but it's too wet we'll just come over the sidewalk is there for in this first so that's what I want these guys to know so if you're gonna be doing steps and an apron together you got to do the steps first right yep yep because that has to you've got this it's got to be a thicker slump for that loose and you can actually pour water back into it to loosen it up a little bit or do you recommend against that no you put you gotta put water and as you pour it's you know setting up the destructor King tickets over to show us what we're doing on the other side all right Ron I got another question for a it's not like I don't have enough of them right yeah what are the beginner mistakes the things these guys should they think they should do you see guys doing but they're actually the wrong thing to do as far as pouring concrete yes for the beginner thing it looks easy but it isn't I mean only get when you get a load of concrete it's like a time bomb you only get so much time to pour it and finish it so you got to move fast you got to stay ahead of it once it starts getting tired if you don't have all your edges and cuts in it then you get problems and the jobs not gonna look very good you know at the end okay what about safe for the homeowner we use it a lot in the summertime we use a a retarder in the concrete and that will help you give you a little more time to work with the factory before it starts getting harder how about fiberglass reinforcement Ron I mean when I when we poured concrete when I've done it I get it with fiberglass reinforcement already built in and that's actually fiberglass material in the concrete yay or nay or not really affect everybody it is they have microfibers which you don't see too much over once it's down we use a lot of microfibers for a smooth finished concrete they have just a regular fibers that actually are thick with like horse hairs but the problem is with always you've been on the application if you see a lot of those in the fitter she wants you boom it so you don't typically use a lot of you know fibermesh [Music] question four here on what are the tools these guys need before they start to do an apron or sidewalk like this or something like that yeah so they're they're going out and trying this for the very first time and they're at the store and they're like oh hey I need this this this and this I mean I see what you need but you'd pick shovels you know typically am where some stakes for me material how about like finishing trowel process if you don't steps usually a Kolb inside don't save cold for the top corners and inside corners can you show us each one of these so we go out there than out outside cold this is your inside the top or you can just you you know we use the edge everything is on the edges and everything then flow phone is what you pour your concrete float it down and we have a big vein out here we have a larger pulp what they call ball float for bigger areas you know the smaller for your hand floating is what you use when you go to finish it right but you you can't actually get to all of it all the time right right doing a larger area like that Sidewalk and apron will use a boat you've got your rebar in place do you try to get that rebar off the ground so it's actually in closer to the middle of the concrete when possible you want to keep it within about two or three inches from the bottom depending the thickness of the concrete okay we'll lift this up as we go you can get chairs rebar chairs to hold it up but it's kind of hard to keep them in place just see is easy one performance to lift up the rebar I was just gonna say it's gonna kill this driveway eyes just say it thinking my head Ron that's gonna kill this driveway all right well I'm gonna jump in here because not everyone realizes that a loaded concrete truck on a driveway like this will absolutely crush it into pieces now sometimes you can get away with it but if you do damage it as the contractor you are responsible for repairing it especially if you're directing the concrete truck onto the driveway you can't put the blame for that onto the concrete truck driver itself and if you're a homeowner doing this and you just don't know the difference it's better to be safe than sorry because I have seen entire driveways completely destroyed with one single truck driving on them so do you have a back-up camera on there just Ramirez all right I seen on camera earlier attack big truck drivers are clean flipping great some a selfie stuff dude some of the stuff I've seen you guys doing concrete trucks I'm like I'd be scared enough freaking four-wheeler and you guys are like yeah let's do it you out that truck where oh no problem yeah so Alex Alex you got volunteered to go into the concrete at the booth right yeah this is first-year labor and on concrete throat third year oh they're here my job is pretty much just do whatever other than that very very much so in this Camry I can actually see where Ron has already set a trough in place for the gutter cuz that'll this blue thing right here will catch they're gonna put a down spot right there they'll go across and then they can get it without running it across the sidewalk water on a site water on concrete like that is yeah you're gonna say oh it's concrete but no you can do something like this your concrete's gonna last longer I mean little things all right you guys well this is where we're gonna stop today but don't worry tomorrow we're going to finish this video so you don't have to wait for part two to come out very long I'm gonna release it right away tomorrow what we're gonna end up doing is breaking this process down step-by-step and clarifying the tools you need what you have to do with those tools how you handle them desired things right kitty does that sound like a good game plan so without wasting any more of your time today make sure you guys hit the subscribe button and come back tomorrow because we're gonna wrap this project up for you god bless go get them and do me one last favor will you guys please hit the subscribe button and the bell notification and if you are already subscribed will you please hit the bell notification because it's the only way you guys will know if I've actually released a new video that's all I got for you today except for this video here if you check it out and that video there if you check out and tell me what you think of this video I want to know what videos I should be trying to make for you guys god bless and go get up we'll see on the next one great kitty catch you guys later