concrete pad/ water well

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denoginnizer

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I am getting ready to make a small concrete pad around a new water well. I have never made a concrete pad . I was planning on building a wooden frame and mixing sack concrete in a wheelbarrow to make the pad. Do I need to use re-bar?

Any advice would be helpful as I am a rookie with concrete.

Thanks Ed
 
Are you talking about an actual well (dug or drilled) or a watering point for cattle?

dun
 
You have some options.

Not knowing the size of the pad, or the ground condition matters.

If you plan to pour a pad and then build a pump house on it - that is what it sounds like - make sure you have the grass and top soil removed from the area you plan to lay down the pad.

Then lay down about 4 - 6 inches of sand or gravel and level it. This sand or gravel pad should extend out from the planned concrete about 8 - 12 inches all the way around.

After this is done you can form the area using 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 depending on the thickness of the pad.

You can use re-bar or you can do what I have been starting to do here - use concrete with fibreglass in it.

If you do not have any real heaving problems with frost or soft ground conditions you might be able to get away with nothing - but I tend to over build a bit. I know roughly where you live and the weather does not really get cold, as compared to here :D - but you might consider the fibreglass as it does not require a lot of work as re-bar does. Fibreglass does the job of the rebar.

Hint - when you pour the pad, put a few bolts in the concrete along the planned outline of the building before it dries - that way you can anchor your building to them by using a few washers and some self locking nuts.

Have fun,

Bez?
 
Sacrete is expensive. You are buying dried sand and gravel in a sack with a very small portion of portland cement in it. It costs well over $130 a yard for concrete. The gravel is pea gravel size which reduces strength.

If you can find what is called "remix" from a local gravel quarry, it will cost you about $7 a ton. 5 tons will net you about 4 yards. I mix 5 parts remix to 1 part portland cement and it is a very "hot" mix (strong). That is the Hoover Dam recipe I pulled out of a Civil Engineering Handbook. The cost for doing it this way reduces concrete cost to about $30 a yard. If you mix it this strong, you may want to keep the surface damp for about a week in this extreme heat we are experiencing. All you buy is from the hardware/home improvement store is Portland Cement and you mix that with the remix.

For anyone "local", I buy remix from Ingram's over in Rainbow, TX, just east of Glen Rose.

Rebar is great. BEZ's advice is great. But if you can find concrete mesh, it is actually stronger than rebar since it is all welded together. But for a well pad, fiber fill like BEZ advised is much simpler and you can mix it right with the concrete batch and pour it will sufficent strength.

For speed, I fill 10 5 gallon buckets of remix and put them in the front bucket of the tractor or backhoe. I have 5 buckets with 2 gallons of remix in each one. I put a large coffee can of water at the base of the mixer with the hose trickling on the ground. I dump the 2 gallons of portland in the mixer, 3/4 coffee can of water, then two 5 gallon buckets of remix and toss the buckets out of the way. It mixes quick. If the remix is dry, I go to a full can of water. I dump the concrete mixer over into the form and immediately reload. The hose is trickling in the coffee can. I drag the concrete and then it is time to dump and reload again. You have to work your tail off and you can only form so much at a time.

A continuous pour with a concrete truck is stronger, but if you are thinking of using sacrete, I'd resort to remix and buying Portland Cement if I were you.
 
I've got some old wire bull panels . Will this work instead of re-bar?
I am thinking about using treated plywood sheeting for the sides of my well house.
 
denoginnizer":43ui007x said:
I've got some old wire bull panels . Will this work instead of re-bar?
I am thinking about using treated plywood sheeting for the sides .

Those panels will probably work just fine. I've never done that. If you do that, and buy fibers when you buy your Portland or even sacrete, it will be all the better. The fibers are cheap and worth the cost.

If you are talking treated plywood for the wellhouse siding, I'd buy "Hardy-Board" (SP??) instead. Hardy-Board is cheaper and will last much longer. It is a fiber filled concrete board that cuts with a skillsaw but you have to use a good blade. It looks as tho it is wood texture on the exterior and it pants very well. You'll should also use screws - good ones. Another benefit is that the Hardy-Board doesn't burn which is a very big advantage in these parts.
 
If you are going to just put up something to house the well, pump, tank. (There won't be much weight on it.) I doubt you would need any rebar, fiberglass, remesh, etc in it.

The recommended ratio to mix is...
1 part portland cement
2 parts sand
3 parts gravel

What I do is find a gravel bar on a creek ( I have one on my place) and get a few 5 gal. buckets of sandy gravel.

A 94 lb. of portland cement costs about $10 it will make about 1/4 of a cubic yard of concrete.
 
I guess I am the lazy one in this group - I just have it all mixed at the plant - hauled in for about 130 bucks a yard and dumped in the forms - one hour later I am finished. Oh to be a young guy again!

Bez?
 
Bez?":327l8w6z said:
I guess I am the lazy one in this group - I just have it all mixed at the plant - hauled in for about 130 bucks a yard and dumped in the forms - one hour later I am finished. Oh to be a young guy again!

Bez?

What Bez said!

dun
 
I haven't seen this addressed and if it was sorry to bring it up.
do not pour to the pipe use something to a allow a gap to allow for heaving or settling. Use what ever you want a tin can, plastic flower pot, peice of broken clay pipe, something.
This applies to the casing pipe and supply pipe.

reenforcing material. I can tell not many that have posted have tore out old concrete. I have found: old angle, bed springs, pieces of implements, field fence, and an old rifle barrel.
People used to use what ever was handy. I have used rebar, remesh, pieces of cattle panel, and my personal favorite old barb wire.
 
dj":33mljcmj said:
I haven't seen this addressed and if it was sorry to bring it up.
do not pour to the pipe use something to a allow a gap to allow for heaving or settling. Use what ever you want a tin can, plastic flower pot, peice of broken clay pipe, something.
This applies to the casing pipe and supply pipe.

reenforcing material. I can tell not many that have posted have tore out old concrete. I have found: old angle, bed springs, pieces of implements, field fence, and an old rifle barrel.
People used to use what ever was handy. I have used rebar, remesh, pieces of cattle panel, and my personal favorite old barb wire.

Come to think of it, it may be a good idea to leave several holes in the conrete the size of a coffee can near your outflow pipe. It's pretty irritating down stream to have to try to drill holes in the concrete so you can provide another pipe to go to something else.

dun
 
backhoeboogie":1crsg9bu said:
denoginnizer":1crsg9bu said:
I've got some old wire bull panels . Will this work instead of re-bar?
I am thinking about using treated plywood sheeting for the sides .

Those panels will probably work just fine. I've never done that. If you do that, and buy fibers when you buy your Portland or even sacrete, it will be all the better. The fibers are cheap and worth the cost.

If you are talking treated plywood for the wellhouse siding, I'd buy "Hardy-Board" (SP??) instead. Hardy-Board is cheaper and will last much longer. It is a fiber filled concrete board that cuts with a skillsaw but you have to use a good blade. It looks as tho it is wood texture on the exterior and it pants very well. You'll should also use screws - good ones. Another benefit is that the Hardy-Board doesn't burn which is a very big advantage in these parts.

Several Items Here:

The 4" square welded wire panels of #6 guage wire works well. Stronger than the "re-mesh" used on slab floors. Also, any junk steel you have laying around...nice place to dispose of it to help reinforce the concrete. Ditto on suggestion to set coffee cans (ends taken out first) as "forms" thru which to run your well pipe out of.

Now... The "Hardi-board" concrete type sheets WILL get soft and you can easily knock a hole in them with foot (or break off a piece with your hand) when they get wet/soaked. I'd go with treated plywood sheets and/or use any primed siding sheets. Then, paint with good exterior paint before it rains. Can also use 3/8" exterior plywood and then "side" the structure with the corrugated tin (e.g., "Galvalume" panels) and trim out for an excellent weatherproof, fire-resistant structure.
 
Some more thoughts on concrete. (Primarily for those who have not done much concrete work and/or are new at the task):

Years ago, I was pouring a foundation for a garage. Figured concrete wrong. Had extra redi-mix truck show up...fortunately, they could use extra on another job that day.

Anyhoo:

One cubic yard (CYD) of concrete (or anything) is 27 cubic feet. A typical slab is 4" thick. A cubic foot is 12" x 12" x 12". Cubic yard is 36" X 36" x 36".

A slab 4" thick would be figured for concrete as:

Feet Length X Feet Width / 3 = Cubic Feet material 4" Thick.

Also Note: Redi-Mix suppliers usually have a "minimum charge" for a load. Sometimes that minimum is 5 CYDs. If you need less than minimum, expect to pay premium add-on price for delivery. And, have all your people, tools, screed boards ready to use. The truck driver may have a maximum on-site time of 30 minutes or so; otherwise, an extra "time charge" for waiting while you manage the dump. If there is extra left over from your order, have another place ready for it to be put. Also, have a spot where the driver can wash out his hopper of concrete slurry (your driveway? or ?).

Finally, an 80# bag of "dri-mix" or "sakkrete" is approx. .67 Cubic Feet. Wet down your pad site before pouring concrete (with any type of project, redi-mix or do it yourself). Prevents too much moisture from being sucked out of concrete mix leading to poor consistency and strength. Usually cheaper to used bagged mix (usually 3000# strength, sometimes 4000#) if project under 1 to 1.5 CYD. Set "J-Bolts" (usually 8" long) sticking up about 2" and about 2.5" or so from edges of slab and about 12" or so from corners [(about every 4' of perimeter length) to bolt down TREATED bottom plate (usually a 2 x 6) onto which to nail your wall sections.] The first couple of days, wet down slab so it doesn't cure too fast (depends on weather conditions obviously).
 
denoginnizer":1dh4zbou said:
I am getting ready to make a small concrete pad around a new water well. I have never made a concrete pad . I was planning on building a wooden frame and mixing sack concrete in a wheelbarrow to make the pad. Do I need to use re-bar?

Any advice would be helpful as I am a rookie with concrete.

Thanks Ed

What size is this small pad going to be?

What I visualize is something like 4x4 or 4x6 feet, something just big enough to house a well pump and tank.

It seems like alot of the advice is for building a foundation and slab that you could drive a semi over.
 
KenB":1ybgdzvo said:
denoginnizer":1ybgdzvo said:
I am getting ready to make a small concrete pad around a new water well. I have never made a concrete pad . I was planning on building a wooden frame and mixing sack concrete in a wheelbarrow to make the pad. Do I need to use re-bar?

Any advice would be helpful as I am a rookie with concrete.

Thanks Ed

What size is this small pad going to be?

What I visualize is something like 4x4 or 4x6 feet, something just big enough to house a well pump and tank.

It seems like alot of the advice is for building a foundation and slab that you could drive a semi over.

No matter how big he builds it, it won't be big enough. At least that is how it seems to go for me.
 
backhoeboogie":1s8wyymr said:
KenB":1s8wyymr said:
denoginnizer":1s8wyymr said:
I am getting ready to make a small concrete pad around a new water well. I have never made a concrete pad . I was planning on building a wooden frame and mixing sack concrete in a wheelbarrow to make the pad. Do I need to use re-bar?

Any advice would be helpful as I am a rookie with concrete.

Thanks Ed

What size is this small pad going to be?

What I visualize is something like 4x4 or 4x6 feet, something just big enough to house a well pump and tank.

It seems like alot of the advice is for building a foundation and slab that you could drive a semi over.

No matter how big he builds it, it won't be big enough. At least that is how it seems to go for me.

What I did was build a 4x4 ft. insulated building (the smaller the size the easier it is to make it freeze proof.) attached to a wood floored 8x16 ft. storage building.

A 4x4 concrete slab that will have very little load on it does not need to be reinforced. That is what the original post asked.
 

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