[sotxpanrider]

Last week myself and five others laid a 35X80 foundation for a workshop I am fixing to put up. One of my buddies is a sub contractor and had some of his co-workers give me and my uncle a hand. Well to cut it short the job didn't come out all that great. It is a bit rough and not as lever as I would like. My question is: is there some sort of a top coat that can be put on to give a smoother surface? The slab is six inches thick right now but I had an idea if that perhaps laying a 1" thick coat?
Any expert input would be greatly appreciated.

Have a happy hot rod year.

Pan

[Rob Keller]

Im not sure of a top coat but there is a gas powered grinder that will level it out FLAT!

But its like doing body work

we used it when out in house mason screwed up the shuffle board courts

His line " you gotts be stoned to do stone MAN!! I AIN"T BULL DOG SH TTING YOU MAN!!"" with a Joe Cocker voice

What a stooge!

How bad is it got pictures?

SR66

[58Chev]

Self Leveling Cement

http://www.edisoncoatings.com/html/S...te_floor_t.htm

You can find this or another brand at Home Depot.

Mix up a batch and pour it on and watch it self level itself. Very easy to use.
Good Luck

[Beenaway2long]

I'd be investigating the self leveling topcoats before putting that on. Especially in light of using jackstands, etc.

The problem will be delamination, if you top coat it. Your BEST BET, would be to call your concrete company and ask them for a suggestion. My guess , if you did the topcoat gig, would be using a latex bonding agent, then pouring a topcoat. You would probably have to scuff up the surface pretty good. ESPECIALLY if you used a curing agent on the floor, while it was setting up. Another bugaboo will be where you scored/cut your control joints. (You DID, didn't you?) You will need your topcoat to score in the same place.

[Beenaway2long]

You also could use a concrete grinder (or have it done), and then top it with epoxy to fill the voids. NOT cheap, but...

[R Martin]

Originally Posted by sotxpanrider

Last week myself and five others laid a 35X80 foundation for a workshop I am fixing to put up. One of my buddies is a sub contractor and had some of his co-workers give me and my uncle a hand. Well to cut it short the job didn't come out all that great. It is a bit rough and not as lever as I would like. My question is: is there some sort of a top coat that can be put on to give a smoother surface? The slab is six inches thick right now but I had an idea if that perhaps laying a 1" thick coat?
Any expert input would be greatly appreciated.

Have a happy hot rod year.

Pan

Pan
Do not top it. It will peal and crack. But you can grind it check around for a concrete contractor who does grinding or epoxy floors they do a lot of grinding. Let me know what state you are in ?

Ron

[dinger]

How rough is rough? Is there a broom finish, a trowel or machine finish, what was done there? And how unlevel? I think I would shoot the elevations with a transit before I would get too carried away with anything drastic. I'd also check the stemwall at this time. For floor level, A fairly simple way would be to spray some water and see where there are birdbaths. That's a LARGE slab to be trying to fix. Also, was there any floor drainage (for hosing it down) built into the overall plan. Dan

[WildBill]

Okay. First, some questions. How bad is the finish? Pictures and a really good description please.

Is it just a rough surface or do you have major (1" or deeper) low spots? You can check this by flooding the surface with water and seeing how it puddles.

How hard is the surface? Your concrete supplier can test it for you with a special hammer. How long ago did you pour it? How did you finish it? Machine or by hand? What mix of concrete did you use? (ie. What was the compressive strength?) Any admixtures in it? (ie. calcium chloride, fibermesh, hot water) It was delivered by truck (Redi-Mix) I hope. You didn't attempt to make a mix with a miker yourself, did you?

How is it reinforced? WWM, rods, fibermesh? What is the spacing of the reinforcement?

Is it under cover now? Where are you located? What's the weather like there now?

By the way, I would advise against grinding away at it before you have these answers and a really good plan. This is probably fixable fairly (fairly being a relative term) easily. But, it's real easy to turn a bad finish into a disaster. Forget the self leveling stuff for now. It will make a real fix harder.

And finally: what have you done to control cracking? If you don't have control joints, then now, right now, rent a concrete wet saw, the kind you walk behind, and cut your floor into a grid ~ 10' x 10' to a depth of about 3". And I mean right now. If you don't you'll have a jigsaw puzzle of cracks that will not be easily resolved. And if you have let it "dry", get it wet and keep it wet with a good wetting and a plastic sheet covering it. If the temperatures are below freezing by more than a couple of degrees at night, cover the slab with plastic with about a foot of loose hay.

Get these questions answered asap and I can help you come up with a resolution that will be permanent.

Good Luck.

[sotxpanrider]

The slab was thrown one week ago. 3500psi strength, six inches deep. I am located in south texas. The base has about two to three inches of sand before hitting black dirt. Expansion joints were laid running the 36 foot width and divided the 80 lenght of the shop into five sections. Three sections came out relatively smooth but two sections are rough where the lines from the bull float are visible and also from the whirlybird. Whirlybird being the name that was called for the gas operated smoothing machine. Also visible in about a 3'x5' section is some of the gravel.
I have been hosing down the slab three to four times a day. The temperatures here have been in the upper seventies to the low eighties during the day and dropping into the fifties into the night.
As for pics, I don't have access to a dig cam but if I can get access to one I will try to get a pic.

again, thanks for all the input

[sotxpanrider]

I forgot to mention, as for reinforcement, 4"x4" cement wire mesh was laid on small block supports off of the ground. 1/2" rebar was also laid into 2' square sections and those were supported by rebar chairs or stands. A 2' wide by
1 1/2' deep footing was dug around the perimeter of the slab. Then that same size footing was dug down the middle lenght and width wise of the slab cutting it into four sections. Dug were also 10" postholes about three feet deep every twenty feet length wise of slab. The footings and postholes were also reinforced with the same 1/2" rebar.

[R Martin]

Ok where are you in south Texas ? Corpus---Brownsville---Laredo ?
I sell concrete pumps and have been in South Texas a lot and know some people there. Just mite find some one to help you.

Ron

[STATUTORY GRAPE]

SOMEBODY SUB-CONTRACTS THESE GUYS OUT??????? It sounds to me like they have NEVER worked in concrete. What's there name so NOBODY ever hires them again!!! I hope you didn't PAY them ANYTHING, if so tell them you want it back. Whose idea was it to pour it in separate slabs? It should have been poured all as one slab, power trowelled, then saw cut. JMO

[46chevyfleetline]

imo;I'd cut that area out that you can see the gravel cause it got too dry. That pore got away on them and it set too fast for their expertise or lack of. To be honest if it was me they would be back and cutting out the area that got away on them and re-poring it.The bullfloat and pwr trowel marks can be removed by a scarfire but it should be done by an experienced contractor. Like what was mentioned before find out where your low spots are and get the opinion of a contractor from your area so he can see what is going to have to be done. Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

[dinger]

Originally Posted by 46chevyfleetline

imo;I'd cut that area out that you can see the gravel cause it got too dry. That pore got away on them and it set too fast for their expertise or lack of. .

My thoughts also. Was c/c used in the pour? A green batch of concrete or some calcium chloride and warm weather or what 46chevy says. The marks from the bull float were caused by the lack of moisture or butter, the mud was set up too far to float. Problems with crumbling may occurr in the future in this spot. Dan