LESLIE: Ed in North Carolina is about to tackle a concrete project. How can we help you with that?
ED: Yes. I’m getting ready to pour a three-bay garage in my backyard.
TOM: Nice.
ED: I’m going to be putting an above-ground lift in.
TOM: OK.
ED: And what I’m planning on doing is I’m planning on pouring the concrete about 5 inches thick in where the garage is or in the whole garage, except for where the lift post would be.
TOM: Right.
ED: And I thought I’d pour it 6 or 7 inches deep; just scoop out a little bit and pour a little extra concrete where the post would be.
TOM: OK.
ED: I, of course, going to put plastic and wire down. I’ve got a foundation that’s like 3 foot thick of screenings that’s been packed with a packer, so it’s hard as a rock.
TOM: OK. So that’s my question. You’ve got to have a really solid base underneath this and you’re saying that you do.
ED: I’ve got – in one corner, I’ve got about 4½ feet of screenings and I used one of these vibrating packers; about every 4 or 5 inches, I’d pack it for a while, you know.
TOM: OK. But the soil underneath the slab has been tamped down with a vibrating tamper?
ED: Yeah.
TOM: OK. Well, I think you’re good to go. I might go a little bit deeper underneath where the lift post is. I would probably go 12×12 underneath that area, so I’d do like a 12x12x12 sort of pier there. So, no reason not to have a lot of extra concrete right there.
ED: I’ve got one more question.
TOM: OK.
ED: And (inaudible at 0:10:14) as far as making expansion joints in the floor, it’s going to be three bays and I was planning on getting one of these little toes that you just run across the concrete and cut – it cuts at about an inch deep to – and just run three joints; in other words, have …
TOM: Right. Mm-hmm, yes. Yeah, it’s not going to be enough. You’re going to have to put spacers in between those slabs because if you do that, I mean it may crack on those – you’re talking about a scoring tool. It might crack there; it might not. But I would probably put at least two expansion joints in there, divide that into thirds and have a full expansion joint installed so that those pieces of concrete can move independently. Otherwise, you’re more likely to get cracks.
ED: Yeah.
TOM: Alright, Ed. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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