Concrete drive

[david.cawkwell]

Hi group,

Advice please on concreting.

I will be replacing my driveway and area around the house with concrete. It is currently a mixture of road plainings and concrete slaps. The road plainings are a real pain and seem to trap dirt which gets moved about so it is all coming up. This is a farmhouse and heavy machinery moves around on it.

7 ton jcb, 2 ton fork lift with load. It also will have to deal with a tanker lorry deliverying bulk LPG. So it will have to handle Weight.

Currently the concrete that was put on by the previous owner is simply not up to the job and has cracked and given way.

1. What base should I use? How deep and what materials.
2. What mix of concrete and what depth of concrete.

Ideally I'd like to use white concrete rather than dull gray unless anyone can think of other finishes. A smooth finish is required. No patterned stuff as I move a pallet truck around on this.

[Lobster]

Have you looked at the excellent

?

David

[david.cawkwell]

Suggested values here would crack and break on first use with my little forklift. The forklift has become known as the destroyer. 4 tons of load on something smaller than a mini would soon break their suggested values.

[Phil L]

It needs excavating to about a foot deep, then 5 inches of crush and run, this needs compacting with a vibrating roller, then you need at least 7 inches of reinforced concrete, if you don't want it to crack you need to lay it in slabs of about 15ft by 15ft, the edges will need to be filled with a mastic type substance to allow the concrete to expand and contract with the weather...forget white, unless you are very lucky and it happens to dry white, it will be the colour of concrete, IE a dull grey, take a look at any garage forecourt to see what I mean.

if the drive itself is currently compacted hardcore, you can save money by concreting directly over this, but again, it will need doing in sections and it definately needs reinforcements...how big is the total area?

[david.cawkwell]

Thanks for the info. About 5 or 6 bays of 15 ft square around the house. Then a long driveway maybe 50 ft. I plan to do it in stages.

Phil L wrote: