Check out the entire deck build time-lapse here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SehPijelC4g.html Thanks for watching! and don't forget to Subscribe to my channel! bit.ly/SubscribeToTheFixer
For sure! Good point. In addition, just that inch reduces the amount of soil that can run over your pad every time there is a hard rain. The concrete pad will stay a lot cleaner.
Nice. Disadvantage of making it flat and rough with the broom is that in the low sun time of year/winter water stays on there and causes green attack on it. So puting the from in a 2 degree angle is an option. Second wat is really nice is just to stick rocks of pieces or slade on the top in the concrete in color with the deck. Grind smooth with a sponge after 2 hours (slidely hardend top). The natural stone and concrete stone filler will provide the anti-slippery and looks great.
What u are doing wrong with the concrete is playing with it way to early ,wait until the bleed water has dried ,then trowel ,the idea with concrete is u want to keep troweling it as it is drying ,say every 45 minutes, when u trowel and broom when wet u have a good chance of concrete going dusty .and getting shrinkage cracks. Good try anyway.
Note: You can leave every other end of the welded wire fabric a little long (2-3") and bend down to provide a "built in" way to raise it up to the middle of the pad.
@@TheFixerHomeRepair haha I try to watch as many as I can. Not just for views but also because I'm genuinely interested lol Everyone is good! Baby is growing fast, she'll be a year in 10 days 😬 Hope all is well with you too!
Love the voice over but also love the other way too:) You have a great way of conveying the process and whoopsies too!!! Keep up the vids and love the content!!!
As a young man, 34 years ago, I formed and poured a 90 foot walkway, from the front steps to the back steps, all manually. A lot of work by hand! It still looks good with no cracking. If I had to do it all over, I would have had a truck pour the concrete. As we get older, we work smarter, no harder!😉
I don't know if the concrete will sink, but there's another possibility: over time (meaning quite a few years) the earth around it may rise. No, really. Roots grow under, and grass grows/dies/rots/becomes new topsoil. I guess that's something to worry about much later though.
That looks GREAT! I hope you’ll video putting in the stairs because I’m interested in how you handle where the wood meets the concrete. My deck leads to a bluestone patio and the wood stairs rest directly on the stone. It seems to hold water there as the wood is getting green. No idea what to do about that.
Hey! You will see the stairs in one form or another… spoiler alert, I just sit the stairs and 4x4’s on the concrete. This is what I have always done as pressure treated wood can sit on concrete. I also wrap the stairs with PVC trim so you won’t even see the wood. Maybe this is an option for you? Thanks for checking out the video!
You have many great videos for a variety of projects. I’m retired so I guess I will use them as a reference. Thanks for your efforts, appreciate the details, they’re extremely important. Peace
...mmm perhaps if you put a very slight down hill angle on the pad away from the house = the rain would flow off of it ! a edging tool to round over all of the edges cost $10 dollars
Thank you. This gives me a good idea of how it's done. We had a portable cement mixer when we had to pour concrete pad. Didn't fill in the middle with dirt enough & didn't really pack it down. You can use a square-shaped ground tamper to pack the dirt inside to make it more solid. I also liked that you put down some rocks underneath. Did you say that was pea gravel? How long did it take to dry before you added water on top to keep it wet? You must not have dogs or cats in the area. A contractor in my area once said if there is a dog or cat within 10 miles of fresh poured concrete, they will find their way over to step in it. We ended up with small shallow cat paw prints on the edge of our porch. LOL.
I enjoy your videos, I’ve seen this one a couple of times. I know you’re in a cold environment, same here, we’re up in Rhode Island - do I need to worry about frost (line) when I build a slab like this? I’m guessing not, since it would be ridiculous to go down 40 inches, but I don’t understand why we need to worry about frost line for piers (under deck) but for slabs it’s a non-issue. Also, would it be recommended to install (screw on) 4x4s into a slab like this, for either side of the steps? Thank you again for a succinct and informative video.
I think you can too! The more I work with it the cooler I think it is of a material. There is so much more you can do with it than just pads and piers. Would be fun to experiment. Thanks for checking out the video!
I love how you're always so positive and that you create simpler solutions thinking your way through a project. Great finish work on this; would have never known it wasn't poored. 👍🏾🏠🚚💧
Great video. I have a landing/sidewalk of pavers or large stepping stones to the garage. Either way, the landing continues to sink. I've back filled it with the dirt I had and tamped it as much as I could and it did sink again. Took forever to make it all nice and neat. But I think this next time I'm going to do a concrete landing pad with a good base layer. Never done one before, so I'm watching as many videos as I can. Mine will be level with the grass as well... unless it decides to sink again. It'll only be 3x3 or 4x4. I don't know yet. Just have to figure out how deep the base layer needs to be and what would be best to use. And how deep the whole thing will have to be. It's very high traffic. Also, I will have to figure out how to put a form around the stairs. Great video though.
Although it does not address the pad, I like that you poured concrete bases for your deck posts and did NOT bury them into holes in the ground. This is MANDATORY down south where they get a ton of rain and they are NOT allowed to bury their posts - they WILL rot over time. Nice job on the small slab.
Can you make these pads bigger? I have a deck I am almost finished with 16 feet by 8 feet wide x 16 feet by 4 feet wide L shaped and I need stairs that come down to approximately 4 feet. I live in the mountains.
Thanks for sharing. I ended up here because I have a similar deck stair landing to make - my first, about 6’x 4’ - and been doing tons of research, to learn from others what to do/not to do. What I like about your video: - Your reason for nails vs screws I hadn’t thought of. Generally I use screws for everything because not only are they reusable, but you don’t tear up the wood hammering them out. - Tapping the form to help against air pockets and loosen aggregate - Its nice to have the deck done first to know exactly where to place the pad. But I have to build my pad first because I have under deck landscaping to finish first, that butts the pad. My custom stringers will rest on spacers, so I’ll have some vertical wiggle room - Your easy going style. Some DIY vid builder guys are kinda arrogant and pompous, and give bad info - like laying joists directly on the concrete pad. Suggestions to others I’ve learned: - Coat the forms and scree wood with light grade motor oil, the forms will almost fall off and leave a smooth edge - It’s advised to insert a groove “contraction or control joint” in the middle of any concrete pad as large as this. These seams control where the concrete will crack. When the concrete eventually cracks - as it all does - it will tend to split under the groove and not be as noticeable - More modern techniques use spacers to keep the wood from touching the concrete to control rot
good look on the slab. maybe a joint down the middle? to prevent cracking that will occur. and a little more gravel maybe a half foot around the slab goes a long way. To accommodate climate changes that may happen. Just some wiggle room for the slab changing with the weather
Great work! You explained the process really well. You said your not a professional, but it looks pretty professional to me and you have all the perfect tools to get the job done. Question: How effective do you think using mixing paddles on a drill are? I know that’s the cheaper route for someone who doesn’t do this professionally.
