- 1). Dig into the dirt floor of your basement to break up any high spots. Dig out any large rocks and discard them. Loosen the top 3 inches of dirt on the entire floor. Rake the dirt floor as flat as possible. Check the floor with your level in several places to insure the flattest surface.
- 2). Move the pad compactor into your basement with the help of an assistant. Start the machine and guide it over the entire dirt floor to compact and smooth the surface, making it solid. Shut off the machine and carry it back out of the basement; again, get an assistant to help you.
- 3). Cover the floor with a 3-inch layer of gravel. Rake the gravel surface flat and compact it with the machine. (Don't forget to get an assistant to help you carry the compactor in and out of the basement; never try to lift it by yourself.)
- 4). Drive a series of pieces of rebar straight down into the gravel floor with your sledgehammer. Place a piece of rebar every 4 feet in each direction to make a grid. Leave only 3 inches of each piece of rebar visible above the surface of the gravel.
- 5). Unroll the concrete wire and bend it so that it lies flat as it comes off of the roll. Cover the floor with the metal caging. Connect the pieces by twisting tie wire around the edges of both pieces at every seam. Tie a piece of wire every 8 inches along each seam. Cut the concrete wire and tie wire with tin snips.
- 6). Mix concrete and water in your wheelbarrow, using the amount of each ingredient recommended by the manufacturer on the bags of concrete. Stir the mixture thoroughly with your hoe. Place an assistant at the wheelbarrow to continuously mix concrete and shovel it into your buckets as needed.
- 7). Place one or two more assistants on the bucket line. The bucket line assistant(s) must move continually between the mixing operation and the finishing point. have the bucket line assistant(s) switch places with the mixing assistant periodically to prevent fatigue and muscle cramps.
- 8). Take your position at the finishing point. Station an extra assistant beside you to speed up the work if one is available. This is the spot where the buckets of concrete are to be emptied. Spread each bucket of concrete out as far as it will reach. Spread one bucket on top of another until the level of the concrete is 1 inch higher than the rebar stakes.
- 9). Smooth the top of the pad by dragging your concrete float across the surface. Lean the float slightly so that the higher side of the blade of the float is leading it across the swing of your arm. The angle of your blade will grab the wet concrete and compress it as the blade passes over. Continue spreading buckets of concrete as your bucket line brings them. Keep the top of the concrete pad smooth from the starting point to the exit point.
- 10
Let the concrete cure for 1 hour. Rip open the cardboard boxes and spread them out. Lay one of the boxes on top of the wet concrete. Walk slowly across it and lay the second box down. Step onto it and pick up the first. Keep walking gently across the boxes to reach your original starting point. - 11
Float the concrete from the starting point back to the exit. Keep a box under you at all times. Use the boxes to walk across the concrete to float the surface of the entire pad every hour for 6 hours. Let the concrete pad cure for 7 days.
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