"The" project begins next week...

B_Skurka said:

Dargo, just curious but why concrete instead of asphalt?

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I plan on staying here until they plant me; and I hope that will be a while yet. I have many friends who have asphalt driveways and they all complain about the constant maintenance, weak edges, worrying about having any heavy truck drive on them, and two of them are having their asphalt driveways ripped up and are going with concrete. Concrete is just considered permanent with basically no maintenance required. When done right, there will be no soft spots, no ruts, no dips, no soft shoulders, and I'll never have to do it again. My contractor actually stays fairly busy ripping out asphalt driveways at what he calls "McMansions" and putting in concrete. He was referred to me by a friend who owns a huge business and was using him to replace his asphalt drive as well as using concrete for a relatively large parking area at his business.

Especially around my barn, I would have had to have a base put in, rolled level, and then I'd still have future issues with asphalt. Now I won't have those issues on the new areas and I also can run my heavy forklift basically anywhere without any issues as well. I suppose the overall strength, no maintenance, and lifetime plus durability would be the reasons. It certainly wasn't to save money...

A couple other factors of reasons to use concrete over asphalt.

Asphalt, being black gets very hot in the summer. You can't walk on it in bare feet. Kind of a bugger for kids that want to play or draw with chalk or whatever.
Asphalt isn't as tolerant of chemical and petroleum spills.
If you turn your wheel on hot asphalt, it could rip it up. With concrete, you just get a black mark from the rubber tearing off the tire.

I haven't done anything to my (concrete) driveway since it was installed. I am constantly helping friends patch and re-seal their (asphalt) driveways. I prefer the "no maintenance" option myself.

Well, it seems as if the Cure & Seal is actually going farther than first thought. It seems to be going at the highest sq. ft. per 5 gallons rather than the lowest. So, I did go ahead and seal all the new concrete so far except the part that will be under the rear addition.

Brent, great pictures! Looks impressive already! Am really happy for you
I am disapointed that none of the workers have got the "crack" thing going on though

Dargo said:

Thanks Bob and Al. Al, do you think it's worth the extra $250 to go to 14" thick on the bridge deck over 12" thick? I can never go back and add 2" later. Also, I agree, I don't see a real need to go wider than 12' at the bridge. But do you think I need to go higher than 8" on the side curbs there?

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$250 seems pretty reasonable to me to gain another 2 " . You must be talking about additional 2 yards or so of concrete .

As far as a curbing : What about setting some flat steel plates flush with the concrete , with rebar inforcement into the bride deck and then just weld some steel columns and add a couple pieces of W guard rail to each side . That would leave a way for water or snow to melt off and also act as a saftey rail too . I also saw one done where they put bent 3/4 bolts on the side and bolted steel rails to that . It left the whole finish width for driving and the rails were bolted to the sides there by not using any of the bridge width .
Like I said before , concrete gains the majority of its strength within 28 days ,so make sure you leave your temporary supports and bracing in place that long .
Just a thought ,
Allen

Here is the progress made yesterday. Today I will be playing bridge. I have to weld up supports and braces.

Looking Good!!!

Brent,

Looking very nice!! Whomever did your forms apparently had a few beers under his belt as it's weaving back and forth...

I don't see many joints in those pics.
I see a couple contraction joints in the middle pic but I don't see any in the top picture.
Did they put them in after you took the pic or are you going to sawcut later or just risk it and not put any in?

Very nice Brent!

bczoom said:

I don't see many joints in those pics.
I see a couple contraction joints in the middle pic but I don't see any in the top picture.
Did they put them in after you took the pic or are you going to sawcut later or just risk it and not put any in?

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Oh, they're there. I didn't notice that they are not showing in that one pic. Ah hell, I'm not good with the camera anyway!

I've been out burning rods building braces for the bridge forms. It's the first time I've welded with my generator running my stick welder. It works just fine except I have to run the welder settings about 25% higher than normal. I dunno why, but I've burned enough rods to know how they burn at certain settings. I burned 5 pounds of rods today and, once I set the welder about 25% higher, everything worked great.

Back to work...

Phew, glad to hear they're in there.

OK, another dumb question...
It appears your new driveway is sitting about a foot higher than the surrounding terrain.
Is there a reason you didn't dig down so the driveway would be flush with the surrounding turf? Are you going to backfill and have a slope up to the driveway?

bczoom said:

It appears your new driveway is sitting about a foot higher than the surrounding terrain.
Is there a reason you didn't dig down so the driveway would be flush with the surrounding turf? Are you going to backfill and have a slope up to the driveway?

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Yup, I had a very hard existing road base that I wanted to take advantage of. The better the base, even under concrete, the better it will hold up. I have quite a bit of dirt that was dug out in the areas around the barn I can use for fill. Otherwise, I will start chewing away on the 1000 cubic yard dirt backstop on my shooting range for additional fill. Even in the hardest downpours I won't ever have water on my roadway.

Okay, we got going on the bridge pour. First the edges were poured with a thicker mix to hold the curb and the bottom 4" thick to hold the rebar and rebar/mat reinforcement. Then the bridge was poured to 14" thick at it's base. Then, f****** Bruno got out!!!!

Now, odds on Bruno living....?

He's a good boy! Remember, he is your buddy. He is the dog that follows you around and wants to be with you.

Good Bruno. Good boy!

Looking good ....well, except for Bruno's paw prints. He has to learn to do them a little lighter.

Our cat did the same thing last year while we were having concrete work done. It was a mess, but not as bad as Brunos.

Brent, why do you seal your concrete? I thought it had to breath to cure.

Doc said:

Brent, why do you seal your concrete? I thought it had to breath to cure.

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I thought the same for the longest time. Actually it doesn't. It's a chemical reaction and it will even setup under water. The sealer is called "Cure and Seal". I'm told it slows down the curing process to a more controlled rate and also will help prevent cracking from drying too fast and will help the concrete reach a harder overall test strength. The "cure" part of it is far more important than the "seal" part. I don't plan to keep it sealed like the exposed ag on my porch. Some of the side shoulder places on my bridge will have concrete almost 30" thick with rebar everywhere in it.

I got busy with "real" work related stuff and didn't get any pictures of the 2 tons of rebar in the bridge decking. However, unless they hid all the rebar in the woods, they did use it all because when I got back out there all the rebar they'd bent up and tied together was gone.

I'm afraid to see the bill tomorrow for materials. So far I'm almost 60 yards over on concrete alone from things I added and additional thickness on the bridge.

Okay, the concrete guys are actually human. After beginning before daylight this morning on the bridge, they are actually toast for the day now like I am. Here is the finished bridge deck, sans dog prints.

Later, I will add guard rails on either side and add rip rap up to the edge of the concrete by the bridge to finish the bridge. Anyway, in just the pour pictured here, there is nearly 82 yards.

Well, the last day for pouring concrete is here. Everyone is up and hard at work an hour before sunrise. The first trucks start arriving at first light and all is going well until.....crap, crap, crap; it freaking starts pissing and pouring!!

Right after we get the last 75 yards poured it cuts loose on us with wind, lightning and heavy, heavy rain. Shit!!!

That STINKS!!!

I'd be bitching at someone. Who called the concrete company and released the load(s)?
The concrete company shouldn't even fill a truck until they receive confirmation from someone at the site that they're going to pour it. If rain is in the forecast, they normally cancel or discuss with you.

Did it have a chance to set any before the sky unloaded? Basically, did the broom finish hold up or is it now all covered with pock-marks?

Fortunately with enough plastic and good ole elbow grease, the last 75 yard pour was saved. Right now it appears to be slightly lighter in color, but I'm told, and read, that it will blend in and match over time.

Tomorrow starts the next part of the project, filling in all along the side of the new driveway so I don't have a foot drop off into the yard. I'm planning on using all the dirt that was dug out for the areas around the barn first. Then I think I'll put my tiller on the back of my tractor, back up the end of my shooting back stop, run the tiller down the hill, turn around and scoop the freshly tilled dirt with the 84" bucket and use it for fill. That way the dirt will be nice to work into where I want it to go. I don't know how much the bucket will hold, but it's the JD 84" Worksite Pro bucket. The "Worksite Pro" line is the skid steer line of attachments. I didn't really know that the skid steer stuff was that much heavier made until I got this bucket. Here is the bucket specs:JD Worksite Pro 84" HD Utility Bucket The bucket alone weighs 563 pounds and holds 25.4 cu ft. heaped. So, in all reality, I should be able to get about 1 cubic yard per load. When I dug my lake the excavator had a cool crane scale he could put on his bucket. Based on actually weighing my relatively wet soil, I should be carrying about 2850 pounds per load. Which should be plenty to keep my son and his friends busy spreading while I go get another load.

Now all I have to do is to figure how many cubic yards of dirt I'll need for all this back filling and I'll know how many trips I'll have to make. I'm just afraid that with 2850 pounds of dirt, 563 pounds of bucket, plus my FEL and front end of my tractor, my R1 tires are likely to leave pretty good ruts in my lawn on each trip. Oh well, that's why I bought my tiller; right?!

Awesome looking project!

Well, this last weekend was the first time that I really got to put my new JD 5425 through some serious work. As expected, it performed great. Besides having plenty of power to spin all 4 R1 tires (front and rear diff both lock) at 1200 RPM, I was surprised how little fuel it really used. With the rears filled and my HD 8' rear blade, the tractor weighs between 11000 and 12000 pounds. If I filled the huge front bucket with 1 yard of wet heavy clay, it would really push hard; still in 5th, 6th or 7th gear with the RPM's under 1500.

Also, it is so much nicer when I can carry right at a full yard of dirt with each trip. Even with the rears loaded and a heavy blade on the back, I had to use 4 wheel drive to back up. The tractor didn't really feel tippy per se, but there apparently was so little weight on the rears that they would just spin when trying to back up any with the bucket loaded.

I have a huge amount more back filling to do, but I'm out of dirt right now. I have to go out back and start chewing into my shooting hill to get dirt now. I'll probably need a couple hundred yards of dirt yet to finish the project. The bad part is that the rest of the back filling will be in an area where my tractor won't fit, so I'll have to use the ole shovel and rake to level and finish grading that area. That's gonna suck!

Brent,

Any new houses or other things going in around you? When I have a project of a size similar to yours (and yes, I have...), I call around and find something going on where they have fill they want to get rid of. A lot of times, you can get fill delivered for the price of fuel plus $100/day and they can dump where you need it. I would have about 100 trucks delivered every few days. If I was home, I could keep up with a rough grading with the tractor so I could make sure they were dumping at the appropriate spacing.

I found this approach much easier then digging myself. It also doesn't make all the "battle scars" on the property where you end up with an area that's void of fill where some really belongs.

Well, I've begun the long arduous process of filling in around my new concrete driveway. So far I've moved about 100 yards and appear to be about 25% to 30% finished. Since the concrete isn't fully cured yet, I'm hesitant to put much weight on it, so I'm using my RTV like it's never been used before.

A cubic yard of wet clay soil weighs between 2500 to 3000 pounds. Since I'm tilling the soil to make it easier to load and spread, I figure that a cubic yard weighs around 2000 pounds. As I mentioned before, I can get about 1 cubic yard in my tractor bucket. I now know that if I fill the bed completely full on my RTV (until it's running out on all sides), it also takes about 1 cubic yard per trip. So, since the tractor spots the RTV almost 10,000 in weight, I'm using the RTV to carry dirt now that I need to cross new concrete. If anyone ever wanted to see an extreme test on a UTV, I've been doing that. The Kubota RTV has performed amazingly and is working like a commercial mini dump truck. It carries around 2000 pounds in the bed no problem and has dumped each load no problem as well!

Here is some pics of the RTV getting abused, um, working.

P.S. Yes, the pics were taken from my cell phone. That's probably why the tractor looks green; you know, like Bob's.

Looks like fun!!!

Do you have a driver for the RTV or are you switching back and forth between the equipment yourself?

I agree with BC .....It looks like fun. Wow am I ever impressed with the RTV. It might be the perfect little dump truck for me.
I vaguely remember you did something to the suspension on the RTV, raised it a bit if I remember right. Did you also make the suspension stiffer so that you can carry more with it? Over a ton in that little bed is awesome!

I'd would also assume the dump bed is hydraulic. Is that correct?

Unfortunately I'm switching equipment by myself. It only takes an additional few minutes each trip that way. If someone else was driving I would just be sitting in the tractor waiting with a load in the bucket. BTW, did you notice how that huge bucket seems to dwarf the RTV? I have to pick up all the dirt that falls over the sides each trip as well.

Yes Doc, I do have a 2" lift kit on the RTV, but nothing to give it stronger rear springs. If I drive too fast it will bottom out the suspension at times on dips in the yard. I'm actually surprised that it pulls just fine in high gear (it has low, medium, and high) with a full load up some light hills. After never having to do any work, and just being putted around the yard, I'll bet the RTV is hating me now. It does have a hydraulic lift for the bed, which is much faster than the electric screw type, and it still pretty well launches the bed up at idle. The most I've ever really dumped before was firewood, but it doesn't weigh nearly as much as heavy clay soil.

I also like the looks of the RTV with the top off, I had never seen one that way. They all come with a hard top don't they? Is the top hard to remove? What size motor is in your RTV?

Doc said:

I also like the looks of the RTV with the top off, I had never seen one that way. They all come with a hard top don't they? Is the top hard to remove? What size motor is in your RTV?

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There's a basic model that does not have the top or the hydraulic lift bed. I have both the fiberglass top and windshield since we use it to plow snow. There are a few ubolts that hold it on so it should be fairly easy to remove.

Jim

Okay, this back-filling around all this concrete is reeeaally beginning to get old. It seems that I keep putting bigger and bigger loads on my RTV. Here is pictures to prove that my RTV will haul 3000 pounds in it's bed. I figure the more I can get in each trip, the fewer trips I have to make. Anybody now doubt how tough an RTV is?

It was starting to get dark in the 2nd pic, but I still had my little helper with me. Another month or so and I ought to have the job done...if I don't drop dead first.