Sidewalks play a very important role when it comes to the safety and convenient transit of pedestrians. In this document you will learn how to pour and finish concrete into an area that has already been prepared. The dimensions of the slab we will be working with are, 5ft by 5ft by 4in deep. The sidewalk you will be completing will be in a standard neighborhood. It is best to start this task in moderate weather. The bill of materials will consists of bags of Quikrete, wheel barrel, water source, shovel, 6 foot long 2x4, 5 gallon buckets, magnesium float, concrete edger, steel trowel, concrete broom and traffic cones. Finally, with some help of your inner craftsmanship you are now ready to start construction on your sidewalk slab. The first
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Fill the bucket up with water. The bucket will be used to rinse your tools or add water to your tools if the concrete is getting too dry. A magnesium float, mag float for short, is a tool used to smooth the surface of the concrete and pushes the aggregate down. When you initially pour concrete, you will have a rough surface, pieces of aggregate sticking out, and air voids. The mag float gets rid of all of that. You want to mag float the concrete enough to get a nice clean smooth surface. You do not however want to work the concrete too much as it can draw up all the paste to the top of the slab. Paste being drawn to the top will cause your cured concrete slab to crack and break off. Once you have finished mag floating your slab, it is time to edge. A concrete edger does exactly what it sounds like. It establishes the edges of your slab, rounding off the sides. A concrete edger has the exact same purpose as a mag float but for only edges. You put the edger in wherever your edge might be and run the tool back and forth. You do this to all edges until it looks smooth and clean. For the edge to be smooth and clean, you cannot have air pockets and chunks of aggregate sticking out. After you have done your initial mag floating and edging it is time do detail work with the steel …show more content…
Do not get it confused with a standard house broom. A sidewalk is for the transit for pedestrians, it is imperative that the sidewalk is made safe for them to walk on. If you let the concrete cure as it is, it will have a smooth surface. Having a smooth surface for a sidewalk is a safety hazard for pedestrians, they could slip and fall. When you broom concrete, you create lines and streaks and when it cures it becomes a nonskid surface. Before you broom, you want the concrete to dry up a bit. To test the concrete to make sure it is ready for it to be broomed, gently place you figure tips on the surface of the slab. If it is still wet and you have a lot of paste on your fingers then it is too early. You want the concrete to by dry enough where the surface is pretty much nonstick. Once it is ready to be broomed, take the broom set it on side of the slab and pull it slowly across to the opposite side without stopping. You do not want to stop while brooming because it can ruin your broom mark. You also need to broom in the same direction of the other already completed slabs. Just check the surrounding sidewalks and observe which way the lines are going. You want to mimic that broom mark to the rest of the other slabs. After you are done brooming, the project is done. You need to place cones around your job site. You definitely do not want people stepping on your project. Since you are using Quikrete, it will set up in 20-40
Fill the bucket up with water. The bucket will be used to rinse your tools or add water to your tools if the concrete is getting too dry. A magnesium float, mag float for short, is a tool used to smooth the surface of the concrete and pushes the aggregate down. When you initially pour concrete, you will have a rough surface, pieces of aggregate sticking out, and air voids. The mag float gets rid of all of that. You want to mag float the concrete enough to get a nice clean smooth surface. You do not however want to work the concrete too much as it can draw up all the paste to the top of the slab. Paste being drawn to the top will cause your cured concrete slab to crack and break off. Once you have finished mag floating your slab, it is time to edge. A concrete edger does exactly what it sounds like. It establishes the edges of your slab, rounding off the sides. A concrete edger has the exact same purpose as a mag float but for only edges. You put the edger in wherever your edge might be and run the tool back and forth. You do this to all edges until it looks smooth and clean. For the edge to be smooth and clean, you cannot have air pockets and chunks of aggregate sticking out. After you have done your initial mag floating and edging it is time do detail work with the steel …show more content…
Do not get it confused with a standard house broom. A sidewalk is for the transit for pedestrians, it is imperative that the sidewalk is made safe for them to walk on. If you let the concrete cure as it is, it will have a smooth surface. Having a smooth surface for a sidewalk is a safety hazard for pedestrians, they could slip and fall. When you broom concrete, you create lines and streaks and when it cures it becomes a nonskid surface. Before you broom, you want the concrete to dry up a bit. To test the concrete to make sure it is ready for it to be broomed, gently place you figure tips on the surface of the slab. If it is still wet and you have a lot of paste on your fingers then it is too early. You want the concrete to by dry enough where the surface is pretty much nonstick. Once it is ready to be broomed, take the broom set it on side of the slab and pull it slowly across to the opposite side without stopping. You do not want to stop while brooming because it can ruin your broom mark. You also need to broom in the same direction of the other already completed slabs. Just check the surrounding sidewalks and observe which way the lines are going. You want to mimic that broom mark to the rest of the other slabs. After you are done brooming, the project is done. You need to place cones around your job site. You definitely do not want people stepping on your project. Since you are using Quikrete, it will set up in 20-40