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Laying a hardcore area


Retroanaconda

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Folks,

This spring/summer I hope to build an undercover hardstanding area adjacent to one of my sheds. Mainly for storage of bits of car etc. at the moment. Plan is to lay a base and then build a timber roof/sides to keep the wind and rain off, with an open front.

I need to bring in a mini digger to dig a trench for a permanent power supply to the workshop, so my hope was to excavate the area for my hardstanding down 6" or so to take the topsoil off. Then create a retaining edge with timber, lay a weed membrane in, and fill it with MOT type 1. Compacted with a whacker plate and hopefully job done.

Would I require to put a second surfacing on top of the type 1? Just for storing parts as above or maybe parking a vehicle/trailer in the future, will it be fine for this purpose? I'm not too bothered about aesthetics really.

Thanks

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Personally, if you're going to be building side, I would lay some shallow concrete footings, and put in 4" or 6" block where the walls are going to go, with their tops about 2" above where you want the hardstanding to be, then infill with MOT type 1. You'll have a durable edge to retain it all, and something solid to bolt the walls to, that will keep them out of any standing water. I wouldn't top the Type 1 with anything, just leave as is.

But that's me, and I'm well known for over engineering everything!

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Sounds good, maybe ask for type 1 with a little more dust content to aid binding and sealing of the surface, you could always sprinkle cement dust on as your wackering but this will crack under pressure points, usually good for a vehicle but not for say an engine crane.

Also make sure it's limestone not sandstone.

Will.

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Personally I'd go for 40mm to dust demo/concrete crushings, but then I'm cheap, we used to pay sub £6/tonne, and would regularly get it for free delivered.

The 40mm to dust part is important as it binds well.

I'd steer clear of road planings, unless it's a vehicle driveway/track

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Thanks all. There is a bit of a side slope so I might need a small retaining wall on the upper side which would allow me to fix the uprights to that as suggested. On the other side of the shed I plan to do similar in time, and I would need a retaining wall there too as the ground drops away a bit.

Will see what I can come up with. Good to hear the type 1 will do as a surfacing. I'll be sure to post pics when it begins.

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The last time I did this it went OTT by a mile!!!

300 deep, 200 deep rough crush, that can be 4 inch to dust but then whacked down so end up at 150ish deep, terram/geotextile over then type one to level, it has never punched up, can't understand why?

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I would never shy away from a bit of over-engineering! Where my place is I am a bit 'exposed' to say the least and having felt the wrath of the weather before I have tended to build things as strong as is reasonably possible.

The subsoil appears to be clay in other areas of the garden, so likely to be that here also. Load bearing capacity seems to be pretty good generally but a Terram membrane will hopefully help stop the type 1 sinking into it all the same.

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If you can scavenge some then 40/40 geogrid laid over terram at the base of the excavation is a great way to start. Remember that geogrid and terram both need a minimum 300mm overlap between strips to work effectively.

I would put a slight fall on the top of the stone to promote drainage, even the best machine operators will struggle to level stone to a perfectly even grade so ponding to some extent in inevitable if you try and level it perfectly flat. I would put a 1:40 cross fall across the top of the stone into a simple French drain on the low side. Even with a modest fall water should run off the stone, if you have a natural slope to work with then forming the cross fall should be easy enough and not make any extra work.

Getting the water away is the key to a long lasting yard. We usually work on saturated aggregated only having 50% of it's potentially bearing capacity, so it makes a big difference.

Or you could just do it farmer style and level in some rough hardcore with a loading shovel bucket and be done with it. :blink:

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James,

The only other thing I would also add is make sure you lay and compact the type 1 in suitable layers. To get the best strength out of the base material relies on moisture content and compaction. For diy purposes, moisture content is fairly difficult to measure. Whereas compaction is the easiest for diy person to get right.

So depending on your type of compactor, which will then give you depth of type 1 layer and number of passes to get the strength. If the type 1 is particularly dry when you come to compact, then you can spray some water over it to help add compaction, just don't add too much.

Hope that makes sense.

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I did something similar but for live stock. I rue the day I didn’t lay concrete or at least tarmac. Every day I look at it and wish...

A hard surface is so much cleaner for whatever you store, doesn’t get chewed up with trollies or jacks, handy for heavy bashing or jet washing bits on. A lot easier to do it now than later.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Finally made some progress with this. Got the digger in last weekend to do the trench for the workshop and dig out the hardstanding area at the same time. Picked up some timber this morning and started playing.

post-10578-0-66202200-1471112679_thumb.jpeg post-10578-0-43026600-1471112696_thumb.jpeg

There's a bit more levelling to be done at the back of the site, and the cross-beam is just temporarily supported at the shed end at the moment - I needed it in place to set the post height. The posts are 4" x 4" so might be a bit heavy duty but that is probably a good thing! There is a drain on the uphill side which will mean there is no water sitting against either the timber or the aggregate once in place, it will run off under the hedge and into the field.

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  • 1 month later...

I've managed to get a little more done each weekend, got the sub base laid in and the roof framing pretty much there. Just need some noggins down the middle and the sheets can go on.

image.jpeg

I've decided to have a bash at concreting it after all. Once I've levelled and compacted the type 1 that is there already there will be room for 100mm or so of concrete, more than enough for a storage area. 

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Get some mesh in or you'll regret it later.. Even chicken wire stuff helps a lot. It is relatively cheap, makes the concrete so much stronger and if you make some pictures while building you can show you're a serious man when it comes to construction.

Over the years, we used a lot of concrete for various projects, both in Holland and France,  and this is what we're building at the moment here :

2016-09-19 = Laatste bekisting # 1.jpg

Yes : a 13 x 6 x 3.5 mtrs. ABRI

2016-09-19 = Laatste bekisting # 2.jpg

We have poured a 7-10 cm. thick floor. Overkill for horses but in the futere, when selling the place, machinery etc. will be no problem.

2016-09-19 = Laatste bekisting # 3.jpg

Steel armouring is very important. to get a strong floor. This is what we do.

 

And no, this is not the new workshop - this is just for the horses....

The next project is another ABRI like this, just 2 x times al long : 26 mtrs long, 6 mtrs. wide and 2.8 mtrs. high. for firewood, Land Rovers, trailers and hay storage..

Eventually, the workshop will be 14 x 9 x 4 mtrs - including a 4 poster ramp we'll partly sink in the floor for easier access to the engine bay etc.....

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Put rebar mesh in, don't fanny about with chicken mesh (its Britpart). You’re limited for space so put another shuttering board at the open end and tamp it length ways.  Make sure you put a fall on it from shed to open ground on the left.  Its not worth a power trowel/mechanical float so tamp it (2 man job) as best you can. Wait for it to start to go off then brush finish with a soft broom unless you can handle a bull float.  Whatever your finish it will be 100% better than aggregate/type 1

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  • 1 month later...

Well here we go then, I've got half the roof on and the concrete is in.

IMG_0308.JPG

Not the greatest finish in the world, but as suggested above it's a lot better than the sub-base on its own and certainly adequate for firewood/storage. It was my first time doing concrete as well so there was a bit of a learning curve as I went.

Should get the rest of the roof sheets on this weekend and then next week I will get the Yorkshire boarding put on around the two sides that are to be closed off.

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