OT- Repairing concrete ramp

This is the ramp that serves as one of the entrances to my shop. Over the course of the last 12 years, a hole has developed, and it has become progressively worse. I would like to repair it as cost effectively as possible and I have a few ideas. Just wondering if anyone has past experience repairing concrete. The hole measures 4 ft. x 8 ft. roughly.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/t...otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

(Photobucket is not working this morning)

One idea that I had was to buy a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/4 thick steel, drill some holes in the corners, and fasten with lead anchors.

no expert here but having it sawed out and replaced
wit new cement/concrete is one option.
Gw

Greg White said:

no expert here but having it sawed out and replaced
wit new cement/concrete is one option.
Gw

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I had considered that, but I believe that it's fairly costly to get it done that way. I suppose I could get a few quotes...

David,

I know you don't want to hear this but the area under that spot has failed. Saw cut the bad concrete, remove back-fill and compact, epoxy in dowels and re-fill with 5000 psi ready mix.
If you are planning on staying at this location for a long time this is what I would do.

Unless you just want it to look perfect, rent a jackhammer and chip out the bad area. It will actually give the repair patch a better bite than a slick saw cut. Might be surprised at how straight you can work it with the jackhammer, too. $75 to rent a jackhammer and a dozen or so bags of quickrete would have you fixed in an afternoon.

TFPace said:

David,

I know you don't want to hear this but the area under that spot has failed. Saw cut the bad concrete, remove back-fill and compact, epoxy in dowels and re-fill with 5000 psi ready mix.
If you are planning on staying at this location for a long time this is what I would do.

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I suppose I should probably repair it properly. So far no one likes my steel plate idea, would it cause further damage making the future repair even more costly?

Mike C. said:

Unless you just want it to look perfect, rent a jackhammer and chip out the bad area. It will actually give the repair patch a better bite than a slick saw cut. Might be surprised at how straight you can work it with the jackhammer, too. $75 to rent a jackhammer and a dozen or so bags of quickrete would have you fixed in an afternoon.

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So I could rent a mixer and do it myself, that's one less expensive option. Do I have to do anything to prep between the new and old pads?

David Carlisi said:

I suppose I should probably repair it properly. So far no one likes my steel plate idea, would it cause further damage making the future repair even more costly?

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With steel plate you will still need a backfill of concrete possibly dry lean or a bit stronger, if not the plate will buckle - as sure as god made little green apples

Just out of interest, what's an 8x4 + of 1/4 plate going to cost? ..........better make it chequer as well, plain is as slippery as **** in the wet.

Fill it with sand and cover it with a piece of deckplate.

If you dont dowel it the concrete patch will never stand up to forklift traffic.

1/4 tread plate would work for foot traffic, but foot traffic didn't break out that hole. For a quick forklift capable patch, I would use a couple of bags of quickcrete to level the broken area, and then use 3/4 plate minimum. It will be slippery when wet.

Limy Sami said:

With steel plate you will still need a backfill of concrete possibly dry lean or a bit stronger, if not the plate will buckle - as sure as god made little green apples

Just out of interest, what's an 8x4 + of 1/4 plate going to cost? ..........better make it chequer as well, plain is as slippery as **** in the wet.

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Way cheaper than fucking with concrete or concrete hands.

Heavey Metal said:

Fill it with sand and cover it with a piece of deckplate.

If you dont dowel it the concrete patch will never stand up to forklift traffic.

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When I google deckplate, I get something related to boats. When I checked Mc Master Carr, I see the perforated steel with the round holes, is that what you meant by deckplate?

Limy Sami said:

With steel plate you will still need a backfill of concrete possibly dry lean or a bit stronger, if not the plate will buckle - as sure as god made little green apples

Just out of interest, what's an 8x4 + of 1/4 plate going to cost? ..........better make it chequer as well, plain is as slippery as **** in the wet.

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I had not considered the slippery factor, especially it being on an incline.
A friend of mine owns a sheet metal shop, so the plate would be whatever his cost is. I don't believe that it is terribly expensive...

Look for diamond plate steel - it has the raised pattern rolled in for traction.

Gazz said:

Look for diamond plate steel - it has the raised pattern rolled in for traction.

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Yeah, chequer plate

David Carlisi said:

I had not considered the slippery factor, especially it being on an incline.
A friend of mine owns a sheet metal shop, so the plate would be whatever his cost is. I don't believe that it is terribly expensive...

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Cheeep is NOT THE PROPER REPAIR.....

You only want cheeep if your moving to MARS and cant be sued...and when someone falls, you will be sued and they will win,
then ask yourself how much you like Cheeeeeep

If you dont know much about concrete, find someone that does, it's not rocket science....

Gary E said:

Cheeep is NOT THE PROPER REPAIR.....

You only want cheeep if your moving to MARS and cant be sued...and when someone falls, you will be sued and they will win,
then ask yourself how much you like Cheeeeeep

If you dont know much about concrete, find someone that does, it's not rocket science....

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I guess that you are right about that. Plus, the way that I am understanding this is even if I do use steel, I still have to pour concrete under it to make it right, so I might as well just get it repaired with concrete.

check with your local trade school
possible they have a masonry program that would be interested in doing the work

agree about using steel plate someones going to slip and fall $$$$$$$$$$$$

I've seen 1/4" plate used to try to repair soft spots in wood factory floors... and just Big Joe electric pallet jacks were enough to form the plate into a dish, with edges sticking up all around, class A number one tripping hazard. Not a good idea.

The steel plates the city street dept uses to cover minor excavations are either 1" or 1-1/4" thick... not cheap, and still a tripping hazard unless the edges are feathered out with asphalt "cold patch" (black top).

Proper repair, have a paving contractor saw a rectangle, dig it out, compact stone where the soft underlying material was removed, and then pour a patch.

Cheap way... It looks like it has sunk a couple inches, which is enough for black top to hold together, so find a guy doing a driveway, and pay him cash to dump, spread, and roll enough material to level it out. Should last a couple years while you budget $$$ to have it one right.

Dennis

TFPace has the correct repair procedure.

A bit of explanation. To try to help you understand what has failed and terminology that may not be common for folks that have not done concrete work.

What TFPace means by the area underneath has failed, is that the earth or rock base under your ramp has sunk/subsided, leaving essentially a hollow spot under your ramp, this allowed it to flex under load. The flexing is what caused your ramp to fail, since the flexing exceeded the tensile capacity of the rebar in the concrete.

What TFPace,and several others, mean by dowelling. After removing or cutting out the damaged concrete the standard practice is to drill a hole in next to the existing reinforcing steel in the good concrete. The depth of the holes is a function of the diameter of the reinforcing steel, typically the larger the diameter of the steel the deeper the hole is. The design function for it being deeper for a larger diameter is that the 'ribs' on rebar act as something for the concrete to grip to help transfer tension load over the concrete pad, and larger diameters are designed for a larger tension load. The doweling creates an overlap between the new reinforcing steel and the existing steel, to help it act as one structure.

I also agree with Gary E, cheap is the way to go if you are planning on moving. If you are moving heavy enough loads on the ramp to cause this failure, you are probably better off repairing it correctly. Before you tackle it yourself I would suggest getting several estimates, so you can decide if your time is worth doing it yourself.

Just my 2 cents... Geoff