How to Pour a Reinforced Concrete Floor
Should you wish to have a strong and smooth floor made out of concrete, it is important that you take the necessary measures to properly prepare the site in addition to reinforcing the concrete. By not properly preparing the site your reinforcement won’t be as effective. Luckily, by following the proper steps reinforcing your concrete floor is a simple job.
What You Will Need:
- Mason’s line
- Wooden stakes
- Measuring Tape
- Shovel
- Melded wire, rebar, or mesh
- Two by fours
- Gravel
- Concrete
- Line level
- Double headed nails
- Tamper
- Trowel
- Screeding board
- Hand float
- Bull float
- Groover
- Edger
- Polyurethane sheet
- Mark the site for the concrete floor.
- Excavate the site to the needed depth.
- Using your tamper, tamp down the soil.
- Add a layer of gravel and tamp it down again.
- Choose the method for reinforcing the concrete. A popular choice is to use mesh wire.
- Place your reinforcement. The entire surface of the floor should be covered by the wire mesh. Make sure to leave a three inch gap around the perimeter. If using more than one length of mesh, overlap the two pieces by around six inches.
- Pour the concrete over the wire mesh. The mesh needs to be midway in the slab of concrete. An easy way to achieve this is to have a small amount concrete poured in a zig-zag form and then adjust the mesh to the correct height.
- Pour the rest of the concrete.
- Rake and screed the floor.
- Float the concrete’s surface.
- Allow the concrete to harden partially, then use the edger to create a smooth edge around the perimeter.
- Use your groover to make control joints.
- Using the hand float and steel trowel, smooth any marks left from the jointing and edging.
- Cover the concrete with the polyurethane sheet and allow it to cure.
- Allow it to set for a few days and then remove the sheet.