building a concrete footbath

[cam_low]

I have a customer who would like a concrete footpath built. It is merely 4m long and a metre wide. She is thinking about the topps tiles mosaic in the victorian style.

Now, the two builders who have quoted to build this concrete path, which in my eyes is excavation, compaction, (dpm?) setting levels, shuttering and pouring (rebar?), tamping, finishing and curing.

The prices they have quoted are plus £3k. She feels this is a bit extreme as do I. So as you guessed it, I'd like to get stuck in and learn something new. She is under no illusion nor premise that I have done this before however I'm sure I can get this sorted for her as its not rocket science. (I wont charge her, the experience will be enough for me as long as she covers materials.)

Can anyone here tell me whether I am one the right track and anything I should look out for ?

cheers

Cam

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

is this on the out side leading to the front door

 

[CJ]

Quick look, found this.

http://youtu.be/lFK3PAMzbfY

 

[mike1979]

3k:yikes: I used to do pattern imprinted concrete and was good at it too !! I used to charge 80 quid a square metre or a bit more on small jobs so I estimate it to be around 500-800 tops that path will need around half a cubic metre so a small load on a mini mix wagon plus a small load charge probably will cost 130 quid for the concrete and I would use a p320 straight opc with fibers at around 50 slump mix

 

[Ajax123]

£3k for a four m by 1 m path.... Jeez..... I hope they were wearing their masks at the time.

At most...

1 skip at £100
1tonne harcore £40
1roll of DPM £16 lots will be left over
timber £50
concrete through volumetric mixer £150

labour for two days say £400

Im still less than £1000.... For the sub base

add you tiling costs.... 4m2

£3k seems a bit blatant to me

 

[mike1979]

I used to have a small tipper and I'd take the rubble to local farmers so I'd get shot of it for free plus I'd get a tonne of sub base for 25 quid

 

[Alan M]

3 thousand is ridiculous money. you could do a whole house footpath for that.

a few tips.
use good timber for the shuttering because any blemishes will show in the concrete
temp in the filling in small layers

wet the filling before you pour to stop the filling pulling the moisture out of the concrete

get a bull nose trowel for the edges. run the outside edges and inside edges against the house. then float up to the house. this will push down the stone a bit and give a nicer seal against the house

no need for rebar in a domestic footpath unless they are driving on it with oil lorries etc

no need for dpm , it will get under it anyway

take your time floating , wait for it to soak well before floating , if you float too early you will create dishes in the conctete that will hold water

when you are screeding the concrete do it twice and tap it as well. the more you do it the less likely of dishes

put some wetter mix around the outside . if you put dryer mix it will leave little holes on the face

 

[Ajax123]

3 thousand is ridiculous money. you could do a whole house footpath for that.

a few tips.
use good timber for the shuttering because any blemishes will show in the concrete
temp in the filling in small layers

wet the filling before you pour to stop the filling pulling the moisture out of the concrete

get a bull nose trowel for the edges. run the outside edges and inside edges against the house. then float up to the house. this will push down the stone a bit and give a nicer seal against the house

no need for rebar in a domestic footpath unless they are driving on it with oil lorries etc

no need for dpm , it will get under it anyway

take your time floating , wait for it to soak well before floating , if you float too early you will create dishes in the conctete that will hold water

when you are screeding the concrete do it twice and tap it as well. the more you do it the less likely of dishes

put some wetter mix around the outside . if you put dryer mix it will leave little holes on the face

All good advice. The concrete suppliers generally will always recomend a polythene sheet under the concrete to stop the hardcore pulling moisture out too quickly. We pused to say "or wet the hardcore" but problem was people often didn't so hence the DPM. You would be wise to put some pp fibres in the concrete or air entrain to stop frost attack. For the sake of a couple of quid it's worth it. Minimum cement content of 270kg per m3 is the NHbC standard for footpaths and it should be a minimum of 50mm ideally 75mm deep.

 

[Stef]

Good thread this as I'm going to do my own front path to the house.
If I can get the time!!!

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Well I reckon it's on the money!
Even at 2 days for 2 men and materials, transportation, parking + charges, and skip its 1200 and that's just to get it ready for tiling.
Then to supply and fix 4 weeks+ later you are into another 1200.
So minimum so far is 2400!
Yes it can be done cheaper but this is a business not DIY.