Welcome to my website. I’m hoping to provide you with some useful packing tips. My name is Ellen Monday. My family and I moved from a very large home to a large home. My point being, although we still live in a large house, we did downsize. It was almost like packing for two moves because we had belongings going to the new house and some going to storage. We had to make decisions about what we wanted to keep, store and get rid of. I have some tips on how we made those decisions, and the best ways we found to pack. Items that were going into storage were packed differently than those we were moving to the new house. Boxes had to be carefully and clearly marked so we didn’t end up storing our everyday dishes or something tragic like that! Hope you enjoy my blog.
Aaron Carroll
Installing concrete in your yard and property is a great improvement to add value to your house, but you want to make sure you avoid mistakes during the process. Here are some tips to help you avoid some of the more common mistakes when you are installing a new concrete slab.
Prepare the Site
The foundation preparation of your concrete pad is one of the most important elements of concrete installation, but unfortunately, it is one of the most overlooked. Many at-home concrete project DIY-ers will simply excavate the right amount of soil from the site of their concrete pad but not look at or prepare the soil.
The soil in this area needs to have good drainage so that it does not hold in a layer of moisture under the concrete, as this can cause expansive damage and cracking. And you also don't want the soil to be easily eroded away with moisture as well, as this can cause air pockets in the soil foundation below your concrete and lead to settling.
Check the soil's quality to make sure it is not full of clay or loamy soil and it contains a good amount of sand. You can have your soil tested for its content at a local extension office in your area or contact a local concrete professional for a recommendation. If you need to add sand to the soil or add in a full layer of compacted gravel as a base-foundation, it is important you do so to protect your concrete investment.
Mix Your Batches
When it is time to mix up your concrete, it is important that you calculate your concrete area so you mix up the right amount. Whether you are mixing your own batches from dry bagged concrete mix or ordering it from a ready mix supplier, you don't want to have too little or too much.
If you miscalculate and mix up too little or do the project in small batches, you run the risk of your batches being the wrong consistency in relation to one another. This can cause areas of your concrete pad to be weak and begin to prematurely crack and spall. But if you mix up too much of the mixture, you have excess concrete mix that you need to dispose of. Your local concrete supplier can help you determine a good estimate of your needs if you are ordering a ready mix concrete.
Check the Consistency
As you mix up your own concrete with bagged dry mix, if possible, use a mobile concrete mixer so you can do several bags of concrete at the same time then mix them to exact proportions as instructed on the package. The concrete should be the consistency of thick oatmeal. To check this, pick up a handful wearing a glove and squeeze it. The concrete should hold its shape when you squeeze it.
If you want to learn more about how to use ready-mix cement, contact a supplier, such as P & L Concrete Products Inc & Garden Center.