discomania said:
Nice one.

Don't skimp here! Get this bit right or it could kill you.

A few things to consider, use rebar and set your rebar in such a way that your ramps fixings will miss the bar or else you are going to be drilling for a while (like my installer who was on 1 hole for about 15minutes!) local builders merchants sell mesh, go for a sheet of A393 or if this poses you problems call your local Brundles and get some delivered, £10 delivery about £12 for the sheet.

Are you pouring 2 new bigger pads into an existing floor or band new slab/pads?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. It will be an entire new slab as the current floor is cow mat on mud... Even a concrete floor will be a major step up as I will not have to carry the jack around! I will have to mix the concrete by hand as there is no way of getting ready mix here, so want to over-engineer the floor a bit. (I am no stranger to mixing concrete for slabs this size by hand.) The columns are linked overhead - a long way overhead. Standing it up is going to be interesting.

Perhaps bracing the top off the roof of the shed would be a good way of going belt and braces?

What fixings would you use to the floor. There are a lot of options - various types of expanding bolts and chemfix studs.

All the best

David
 
Last edited:
David Round said:
Thanks for the tips. It will be an entire new slab as the current floor is cow mat on mud... Even a concrete floor will be a major step up as I will not have to carry the jack around! I will have to mix the concrete by hand as there is no way of getting ready mix here, so want to over-engineer the floor a bit. I am also wondering about adding H legs to the columns as the loads on the floor fixings are frightening. Is this daft? The columns are linked overhead - a long way overhead. Standing it up is going to be interesting.

All the best

David
Click to expand...
How big a slab are you going to pour? Are you sure there is no way to get concrete in, surely if you can get a car in you can get crete in? My slab was 6.2m x 5m and 250mm thick c/w reinforcing mesh, came in about 7.75cube - the lot was barrowed over by 3 guys in about an hour - the truck couldn't back in because of turning angles etc. but it was fine, it was also an independent spot-mix company I used, they worked out a little more expensive than Tarmac but was more suitable as there was no washout needed and no 30min offload limits and also the spotmix guys provided the crew and the poker to vibrate it in and the bullfloat etc. so it was so much cheaper in the long run as it was going to be £50.00 to hire etc.

Even consider hiring a pump or dump truck with the truck. Try the big boys like Tarmac and have a talk with them, you may be surprised at prices.
 
discomania said:
How big a slab are you going to pour? Are you sure there is no way to get concrete in, surely if you can get a car in you can get crete in? My slab was 6.2m x 5m and 250mm thick c/w reinforcing mesh, came in about 7.75cube - the lot was barrowed over by 3 guys in about an hour - the truck couldn't back in because of turning angles etc. but it was fine, it was also a independent spot-mix company I used, they worked out a little more expensive than Tarmac but was more suitable as there was no washout needed and no 30min offload limits and also the spotmix guys provided the crew and the poker to vibrate it in and the bullfloat etc. so it was so much cheaper in the long run as it was going to be £50.00 to hire etc.

Even consider hiring a pump or dump truck with the truck. Try the big boys like Tarmac and have a talk with them, you may be surprised at prices.
Click to expand...

We are 3/4 mile from any road that will take a mixer lorry or similar. Nothing bigger than a transit will get here. The only way to get to get concrete is 2t loads of all in ag in a trailer behind the land rover - offroading with a 3.5t trailer is a whole new experience. 8m^3 is 16t, so quite a few trips to the stone merchant! The instructions I found suggested 150mm thick, which is a lot less concrete. I can easily taper the hole to give 250mm under the posts running down to 150mm outside the load zone, which is what I planned to do. Now sure now.

All the best

David
 
David Round said:
We are 3/4 mile from any road that will take a mixer lorry or similar. Nothing bigger than a transit will get here. The only way to get to get concrete is 2t loads of all in ag in a trailer behind the land rover - offroading with a 3.5t trailer is a whole new experience. 8m^3 is 16t, so quite a few trips to the stone merchant! The instructions I found suggested 150mm thick, which is a lot less concrete. I can easily taper the hole to give 250mm under the posts running down to 150mm outside the load zone, which is what I planned to do. Now sure now.

All the best

David
Click to expand...

Diesel mixer and plenty of materials then. Will you struggle to get a lorry in with aggregate too?

I have a commercial unit and when we took on the lease I remember the spec document of the unit stated that the floor was designed to accept garage equipment and in particular ramps (basically just this floor was built to a proper commercial level). That was 150mm strong concrete with rebar.

I'd spec up a good C30 with mesh top and bottom with 50mm cover - C30 is technically the lowest grade we'd spec for commercial unit floors. It just gives is that bit more strength. I actually had our floor done in C40! However it was cold, and I knew the added thickness and strength would result in a cured strength somewhere less than the C40 which was totally overkill. I did put over frost protection for the night but I am sure it still got a bit cold.
 
discomania said:
Diesel mixer and plenty of materials then. Will you struggle to get a lorry in with aggregate too?

I have a commercial unit and when we took on the lease I remember the spec document of the unit stated that the floor was designed to accept garage equipment and in particular ramps (basically just this floor was built to a proper commercial level). That was 150mm strong concrete with rebar.

I'd spec up a good C30 with mesh top and bottom with 50mm cover - C30 is technically the lowest grade we'd spec for commercial unit floors. It just gives is that bit more strength. I actually had our floor done in C40! However it was cold, and I knew the added thickness and strength would result in a cured strength somewhere less than the C40 which was totally overkill. I did put over frost protection for the night but I am sure it still got a bit cold.
Click to expand...

Getting the aggregate to the farm is where the Land rover earns its keep. We have a 3.5t (2.25t payload) tipping trailer and I will have to make a lot of trips. Luckily the stone yard is only a few miles away. It is good to hear that 150mm is OK, that is a lot less volume to deal with. I can always go a bit deeper under the posts.

All the best

David
 
David Round said:
Getting the aggregate to the farm is where the Land rover earns its keep. We have a 3.5t (2.25t payload) tipping trailer and I will have to make a lot of trips. Luckily the stone yard is only a few miles away. It is good to hear that 150mm is OK, that is a lot less volume to deal with. I can always go a bit deeper under the posts.

All the best

David
Click to expand...

What I would do it put in shear keys and allow for them where the post brackets will go - I would probably make it the full width between the flanges and go maybe even double the thickness at this section. I'd also create a rebar cage to sit in horizontally across the two areas.

Then, if it was me I would also make up a jig of sorts and 2 No. plywood templates per post flange and set M20 threaded J's or weld up a M20 rod set and set it into the concrete - this could even be linked in with the rebar. Make sure you jig it top and bottom so that the bolts are dead straight, cover the threads with tape to stop them getting fouled up with concrete - I'd probably set the threaded rod set in first into a shallow bed of concrete to lock it up tight, then check, double and triply to ensure alignment is spot on - may seem like more prep but will save you messing with drilling and trying to miss re-bar and all sorts and you will then know it is sport on and SOLID.

Most critical structural elements fixed to concrete are done like this now.

Sounds like a good project.
 
discomania said:
You are a bit late to the party, he has bought a ramp!
Click to expand...

I kind of stole the thread. I am not the OP, but I did buy the two post ramp after having been convinced here that a I should buy a four post - I am now chatting about installing it.

Pits do have special risks, such as accumulation of flammable gasses. I am not sure from the report if that was relevant here, or if it was just a case of taking short cuts, not keeping exits clear etc. It would be interesting to read the report of an accident investigator. I read quite a lot of them, I guess because I am weird. It doesn't stop me from doing stupid things like not keeping the garage tidy especially around hot works etc. :( I had a bit of a near miss when I set fire to myself when welding up the land rover while it was supported on axle stands... Fleeces may be warm and stretchy enough to to get into silly positions when welding in a confined space, but they *burn*. Use appropriate clothing. I was lucky.
 
discomania said:
What I would do it put in shear keys and allow for them where the post brackets will go - I would probably make it the full width between the flanges and go maybe even double the thickness at this section. I'd also create a rebar cage to sit in horizontally across the two areas.

Then, if it was me I would also make up a jig of sorts and 2 No. plywood templates per post flange and set M20 threaded J's or weld up a M20 rod set and set it into the concrete - this could even be linked in with the rebar. Make sure you jig it top and bottom so that the bolts are dead straight, cover the threads with tape to stop them getting fouled up with concrete - I'd probably set the threaded rod set in first into a shallow bed of concrete to lock it up tight, then check, double and triply to ensure alignment is spot on - may seem like more prep but will save you messing with drilling and trying to miss re-bar and all sorts and you will then know it is sport on and SOLID.

Most critical structural elements fixed to concrete are done like this now.

Sounds like a good project.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of welding up a cage of rebar to the studs and then casting that into the slab. I have some very substantial rebar offcuts that would be just the job in addition to the normal rebar mesh. The forces on the column fixings were worrying me. I am not sure I understand the purpose of the shear key you suggest though as I would think that the risk is of the column toppling rather than sliding?

All the best

David
 
Yer can't get anything betterer than HippoRamps (tm)

EGR3kqR.jpg

EGR3kqR
 
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