I have recently fell into a new trade as a diesel mechanic for tractors kw, international, peterbilt etc. I have got so into it and interested in it i was thinking in the future of doing it at my house and add on to my garage. The question i am getting at is how strong does the concrete have to be to be able to have a tractor, trailer or even both together at one time. How deep does the concrete have to be and other important things should i need to know.
concrete depth
- Thread starter JrTech
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Bondo
Well-known member
Ayuh,... If ya ever plan to jack up a loaded truck on it, I'd think 6" would be 'bout the minimum thickness,...
Chris705
Well-known member
We design outdoor truck dock slabs at 8" and thick with a double mat of #5 bars at 12" oc. This is for fully loaded deliveries. Our mix design is 4000psi, air entrained for outdoor placement. Consider if you might have fully loaded trailers...also must make sure the eu grade gravel is thick and well compacted obviously. If empty trailers as long as subgrade is good you could probably reduce to 6" & a single layer of rebar.
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
A truck loaded with shingles cracked my 6" thick approach.
Chris705
Well-known member
I cannot stress enough how important the base needs to be compacted. It needs to be able to bear the weight of whatever you want to support. And that means stripping out all the topsoil replacing with a well mixed size aggregate that locks together when compacted. Well drained if you are pouring an exterior slab and subject to freeze-thaw.
^^^What he said! We shoot for 90%-95% base compaction for commercial approaches and moisture content is so very important as well
TAMPAGT07
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Chris705
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Jrtech - Assume a truck/trailer combo to be between 70 to 75' long. Probably want to be a min of 20' wide (possibly wider to work on comfortably) and you have 1500 sf. That equals 28 yards of concrete (6" thick) which will run about $6000 to have just the concrete placed. Doesn't include any other materials like rebar or added grading etc. just concrete & finishing.
James-W
Well-known member
I think 8 inches would be OK but just to be on the safe side, 10 inches wouldn't be a bad idea.
Gregg33
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I was told when I got my floor done that 4" is for a city (attached garage) or basement floor, 5" is good for most home shops and will support hobby farm sized farm equipment. 6" is good for big rigs or large equipment. 8" thick or more is for extreme use like warehouse or factory. So anywhere from 6" to 8" would be good for what you need, anymore than that would be overkill and probably a waste of $.
As indicated the base is very important. Get a plate tamper and go postal (although don't go too close to the foundation, years ago I seen a garage foundation crack from over tamping the floor base right against the foundation). I went over my base at least 4 or 5 times with the tamper and I haven't had any problems. Contrast that to my buddies dad shop who didn't compact his base at all (or very little), his floor broke into million pieces after he drove a small, not heavily loaded forklift over it a few times. Before the concrete was pored my excavating guy drove his large dozer over the base I compacted and he said all it did was make small cleat marks, he didn't sink at all, that's how he knew it was plenty adequate. I went with 5" concrete and it's been 3 years now with no problems, even though I store a 60 hp tractor in there and have accidently dropped the front end loader bucket a few times.
As indicated the base is very important. Get a plate tamper and go postal (although don't go too close to the foundation, years ago I seen a garage foundation crack from over tamping the floor base right against the foundation). I went over my base at least 4 or 5 times with the tamper and I haven't had any problems. Contrast that to my buddies dad shop who didn't compact his base at all (or very little), his floor broke into million pieces after he drove a small, not heavily loaded forklift over it a few times. Before the concrete was pored my excavating guy drove his large dozer over the base I compacted and he said all it did was make small cleat marks, he didn't sink at all, that's how he knew it was plenty adequate. I went with 5" concrete and it's been 3 years now with no problems, even though I store a 60 hp tractor in there and have accidently dropped the front end loader bucket a few times.
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Other things to consider is having the acreage to park and turn rigs around. This acreage also has to to be able to support these rigs. You will have to have a compacted area. You are going to have to have ~3 acres minimum to be able to park and shuffle rigs. Much tighter than that your customers will avoid the lot. Take a rolling measuring wheel and measure out some of the smallest places you can find that handle tractor/trailer rigs.
lg
no neat sig line
James-W
Well-known member
I don't really disagree with your figures, but I think it is better to have more concrete than you need than to have too little concrete and end up with problems later on. It's kind of like RAM for your computer, having more RAM than you need doesn't hurt anything, but if you have too little RAM it can pose a problem for you.
Having thicker concrete than what he really needs isn't going to cause him any problems, other than it will cost more money intially. But he will be glad he has thicker concrete if he gets in any equipment larger than what he had thought he would be working on. No doubt it is a big decision, he needs to weigh the additioanl costs that will be incurred now while keeping in mind possible future needs and expansion.
Bondo
Well-known member
Ayuh,..... Goin' thinner becomes a problem, when ya gotta jack up a loaded truck,....
That puts Alota Tons in a very tiny spot, the base of a hyd. jack,...
dutchgray
Well-known member
An extra couple inches of concrete is cheap compared to having to do the job twice when the slab brakes up.