Power Floated Concrete Raft - Yes or No?

[Triassic]

I’ve finally tracked down the concreting guy. During the discussions I mentioned the need for the concrete raft to have a power floated finish, his response was I’d probably watched too many episodes of Grand Designs!

 

All I really need is a flat, smooth concrete slab suitable for final floor finishes. Do I really need it to be power floated? If not, it’ll save me money!

[nod]

Your better off power floating if you are looking at tiling directly onto the slab

Tge only drawback is that it may mean that your contractor has to come back later that evening

 

I think what he is referring to is the trend to polish the slab to a finish 

It rarely goes well

we are watching an episode of building the dream The Architect (Client) has done just that followed by eight hour of heavy rain 

Not the finish he hoped for

 

You can hire a power float if you don’t mind doing it yourself after the concrete contractor has gone home They are not difficult to use

[Triassic]

Just a thought, the concreting guy has asked the volume of the foundations, as it’s insulated home made MBC type raft, it’s should be  easy to calculate the volume, but how much extra should I order? I assume too much is better than not enough?

Edited April 18, 2018 by Triassic

[nod]

6 minutes ago, Triassic said:

Just a thought, the concreting guy has asked the volume of the foundations, as it’s insulated home made MBC type raft, it’s should be  easy to calculate the volume, but how much extra should I order? I assume too much is better than not enough?

Yes they will meter the amount 

You will only pay for what is used

[Russell griffiths]

I suppose it’s the difference between your opinion of a finished slab and his. 

How is he planning on finishing it?

 

does he care if you have to use 30 bags of self levelling compound on it before you fit your floor coverings as it will be a year later and he will just be a distant memory. 

 

I would want some some type of reassurance that his finish is good enough. 

If he has lots on it would be easy enough to show you some work he has recently done. 

[PeterW]

38 minutes ago, nod said:

Yes they will meter the amount 

You will only pay for what is used

 

Only if it’s a volumetric mixer 

 

If it’s bulked from the plant then what’s on is your problem - and losing a spare cube of concrete is a  challenge so make sure you know what you want to do with excess. Most skip companies now take a very dim view of using a skip as a dump ..! 

[nod]

1 minute ago, PeterW said:

 

Only if it’s a volumetric mixer 

 

If it’s bulked from the plant then what’s on is your problem - and losing a spare cube of concrete is a  challenge so make sure you know what you want to do with excess. Most skip companies now take a very dim view of using a skip as a dump ..! 

Yeah but it’s very easy to calculate the exact amount for a slab 

 

i worked out out prior to poring that I would need 95 cube for footings

I was three cube out and just added it to the last load

[Pete]

We had about a cube to get rid of and we just spread it very thinly on the drive. It is easier to break up afterwards if you need to move it than have to break up a large mound of the stuff