Handy Guide to Concreting Step 8

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If your job is level and the way is clear for the truck to drive in and reach over your job with its chute, our truck can discharge concrete directly into your formwork. Direct the driver to pour mounds of concrete, starting at the lowest point, and work progressively up the slope.

If your site can’t be reached by the truck, direct the driver to discharge into the barrow. Have your helpers ready with their barrows when the truck arrives. Load the barrows, wheel them to your job and tip the concrete into the formwork. Plan for a simple spreading job by placing the mounds so that they can be evened out - it’s easier to move concrete on wheels in the first place than to move it by shovel later. For a sloping site, tip your barrows progressively up the slope - don't start at the top.

A bit of teamwork will help you get the concrete placed fairly quickly if you’re barrowing it to the forms.

One or two men can wheel and tip the concrete while another can spread it.

If your job needs less than 3m³ of concrete the truck driver allows twenty minutes to unload it, which means you’ll have twenty minutes to place the concrete.

Seven minutes is allowed for each additional cubic metre ordered. You’ll find that this time is sufficient as long as you are ready to start when the truck arrives.
 


 
As the form is filled with concrete (fill to a little higher than the formwork to allow for settling), remove the inside pegs. Use shovels to spread the concrete fairly evenly over the ground. Work a shovel up and down in the concrete that’s just inside the formwork to give the job a better finish at the edges. Compact the concrete by working a shovel through it to remove air bubbles, and to ensure that the concrete has filled right up to the corners and sides of your formwork. Simply thrust the shovel directly down into the concrete at spaces of 80 to 100mm in rows along your job. This is most important.

Remember, Boral Concrete will deliver small quantities at a time that suits your project timing best.