Project Barn Q1, depth of the floating concrete

[tsterkel]

hi!
I am planning a Pole Barn, part of which will be with a heated concrete floor. I will be asking questions to get the consensus expertise. Please stick to the topic, I will be asking several, and could easily miss your pearl of wisdom if you start crossing threads!
thanks!
Project Barn Q1, depth of the floating concrete

The shop/garage area will be on concrete, with vapor barrier and insulation below it..
How deep for a heavy truck?
does a metal concrete grid I see in the lumber yard work 4 x 12 feet?
Any special type of concrete?

[Pat]

How heavy of a truck? Greatest loaded weight? Size of contact patch on the tires. This will translate into concretre thickness. Do you have a sand bed under the insulation? What insulation? Aluminized bubble wrap? It works OK. For my basement floor I used 2 1/4 inch rigid foam in 4x8 sheets. Some of the house is hydronic heat but not basement. The floor just takes on the temp of basement air passively and the room is heated with forced hot air.

I used the aluminized bubble wrap under the master suite (mix of hydronic ceiling, floor, and walls in the various rooms) and in my wood shop (1/2 of 36x48 floor size extension of the house (also forced air.)

3500 PSI or greater concrete will do.

Don't believe anyone telling you fiber in the cement removes need for rebar. You want rebar NOT fence wire looking stuff.

I just did a driveway extension and a patio. Same contractor that did my basement. The patio (no vehicular traffic heavier than a chaise lounge or a propane BBQ) and we used 3500 PSI concrete and 1/2 inch rebar on 24 inch centers in a N-S by E-W grid with over 25 diameter overlap. Rule of thumb in rebar is to overlap it at least 25 times the diameter.

We wet sawed control joints on a 8 ft by 8 ft grid. You can tool in the joints but the wet saw is faster, easier, and therefore cheaper.

Hope some of this helps. Oh by the way, I was going to send pix but it just started raining pretty hard and ...

I hope I followed your rules.

Pat

[tsterkel]

excellent content-based response. With this, I re-formed my googles and a) figured out what you were saying (by itself, worth the time, and b) found the ACI paper on this topic (electronic gold).

many thanks in sharing your expertise! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

The Portland Cement Association is a veritable gold mine of information. on the use of ... well... Portland cement (and concrete.)

The Radiant Panel Association is a gold mine of information on hydronics and such. The RPA has a web site with a discussion forum and you can get some honest to goodness experts to give you the real deal.

Pat

[Handyman]

I own and drive a semi truck that has to go over my cement pad in front of my garage. what I did was first made sure of a solid base... without that your concrete will just crack and break up. I pure my concrete 6" thick over 1/2" rebar that was # every 2'. Where the main tracks of the truck would be, I also ties on 6" hog panels mesh. Its the steel you put down that helps reinforce/support the concrete.

It has been a yr now and not the first crack anywhere and I have no stress joints other one in the center where I made the 30'x 30' into 2 pures... [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]