Concrete slab for horse..

Sorry but what quantifies a “small outfit that doesn’t know what its doing?” Anybody supplying concrete should be able to give a variety of mixes. In this case what would you go for?

Your bay size is likely to crack, put a saw cut across the middle to form two 6×4 bays. Also place a polyethylene membrane beneath the slab to aid curing. Reinforcement in base of the slab, say on 25mm stools. Saw cut to 25-30% of depth. 150mm slab on 150mm well compacted hardcore. Compacting the hardcore is going to be the tough bit. There should be no soft spots.

Get a man in 😛

I work in IT.. never done a hard days physical work in 30 years.

Hmm I was just mixing 2 bags with some gravel for a small bit of concrete nothing exciting but it’s surprising how you forget this stuff is grim, as weightyson says if you need to persuade it with a shovel your gonna be crying.

Assuming you get to the point of laying without destroying anything or yourself with the digger.What is it with every bloke an playing with the bldy digger, am I the only one who doesn’t as the digger man will do it way quicker than me.

I do this sort of stuff for a living. You will destroy yourself, spunk a ton of cash and wish you had never started. I see it all the time. And +1 for blokes and diggers.

Get some prices together and take it from there.

what would you go for

As I said, I would look at the guidance from BRMCA (British Ready Mixed Concrete Association)

http://www.brmca.org.uk/documents/BRMCA_Concretes_for_Agricultural_Use_2015.pdf

They recomend an RC35/45 to BS 8500 so I’d go with that. If there was a risk of freeze-thaw damage then I’d go for an RC40/50XF instead. Only batching plants with suitable accreditation (e.g. QSRMC)can provide these concretes.

As for fibres, definitely avoid steel fobres, they could damage the horses hooves. No point in using synthetic macro fibres if you are using steel ‘mesh’ reinforcement. Synthetic micro fibres will only help if there a risk of plastic shrinkage cracking. The surface will need to be cured well.