Hi im embarking on a DIY self build extension and to save money im doing a fair bit my self, ive started the excavation dig (by hand) and have organised for a pumped concrete to be delivered Can you share your experiences with me so that I dont make any foolish errors. I have pegged out for levels and it is not too deep at 800mm to a nice firm sand All pointers and tips appreciated!
Nice flat bottom trench & straight sharp sides. You got building control bod, inspecting trench before pouring concrete.
Get yourself a sturdy rake for levelling off, so much easier than reaching over with a shovel. Comes in handy for the over site aswell, both hard-core and concrete.
And avoid cement burn, seen a few diyers with it, hands, feets, it can cause serious burns because of its alkalinity. http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_5345188_treatments-cement-burns.html
They, if its not you, must be super sensitive, been cover in concrete many a time without to much damage, though it does get quite hot as it cures.
I think us oldies are immune to it. With feet, it mainly happens when idiots gets wet concrete in side the boots, or wellies & don't bother to clean it out. Neighbour at a previous place got it real bad on both feet & shins, was up going up hospital for a few months.
It's also common on knees. I know a screeder who had his knees severely burned a few years back. That said, I've never had an issue with it.
On a more serious note for the op, hiring a concrete pump is expensive although if access or distance is prohibitive, can save a lot of time and therefore money. If you don't need many metres, then barrowing it in will save you money. One concrete firm we've used, will mix just what you need at site and often jumps on the barrow with you. They also supply a decent laser level to help with setting the height of the pour. In the photo I posted, you can see the detector fitted to the rake, so just a case of placing the rake head on top of the pour to gauge the depth around the trench. That particular job was started in Jan a few years ago and to say it was cold is an understatement. It was so windy that the digger was rocking! Had to hire a water pump as by the time the trench was ready, the rain had settled in nicely and was constantly a foot deep in water. Dug a sump out to help empty it and had to keep 'bottoming' the trench out with a shovel. It was deemed to risky to drive a concrete wagon up the drive (old unstable Tarmac) and too far to barrow given the length of the drive. I was glad when it was finally poured!!
I guy I know had terrible burns on both knees and elbows .......nothing to do with concrete but he was laying something at the time .........!
All good stuff guys, thanks very much n keep em coming! I've only got one pal here( sad face) an hes helping me on site I have 2 nice metal rakes were gonna be using so thats good along with wellies n gloves I'd love to have that pump/mixer in my neck of the woods - i saw it online before while researching but alas no, neither do any of the conc companies do a barrowing service which would have been another option. So due to access being about 20-30m away I think a £300(!) pump is the best call. Its about 6m cu and most conc companies seem to suggest about 20 barrows per 1m cu - so that would be a full 1hour each flat out just barrowing let alone leveling n dealing with anything else Its a line pump and one thing I heard was to consider the discharge of the conc remaining in the pump n line - I obviously want my levels right - i think that there will be another 1/3 m in the pipe to account for
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