yard drainage

have2flushtwice

Im going to put down some cement in my yard at home , hopefully before christmas.
I cant affoard to do it all together, so 1 lorryload at a time. i expect it will take 4 loads at 8m cubed per load, at a planned 4 inches depth.
this is approx.
Now this is the bit im wondering about.

I dont want to go too high above the original level, as the yard will be higher than the sheds. There is a dip in the middle of the yard.

So im going to sink 1 gulley in the middle with an underground sewer pipe type drain going out of the yard. I will start the cement at the farthest point away from the gulley, and work into the middle where the gulley is. Then work from the other side of the yard and slope the cement to the same gulley. This seems like a good idea, as I would get a better slope into the middle, than from one side right accross to the other.

any thoughts on this? and how much of a gradient would be sufficent?

MickeyShtyles

Well from what I learned in school and in life in general, I always found it was better to either pour concrete in one go rather then in a few separate goes. But regarding the sides sloped in, I agree it's an excellent idea. Thats what I plan on doing to mine if i get the time to do it.

Good loser

Could you slope two sides to a line to run water off on surface?

Or get a digger to lower yard.

Might be worth putting light mesh on load bearing areas. 35N concrete.

Worth stting up those plastic triangular expansion joints.

have2flushtwice

2 slopes to a line wouldnt be a bad idea, would save me the digging part of the job....

what are the expansion joints?

1chippy

set your expansion screeds at 15 ft. to desired slope and height. 1 in 30 i find ideal. keeping expansions at 15 means it easy for using a magi screed on or even a 4x2 . centre line slope is prob a better option than centre point. make sure youve enough gulleys in.
4" of conc wont be enough for a farm yard. 5" at least with either fibre mixed or mesh A393 probably enough (think thats the code for the light one things are a lot quieter these days so dont use as much any more).

Good loser

have2flushtwice wrote: »

2 slopes to a line wouldnt be a bad idea, would save me the digging part of the job....

what are the expansion joints?

They're a grey colour. Ask in builders merchants. Set in concrete a few days before pour.

milkprofit

Slope all away to one side
Gulley in middle of yard will be prone to blockage
At least 5 " to take lorries or heavy farm equipment
concrete 60e /mt???

have2flushtwice

Ive gone with a 20 tonne load of broken stone, and its covered a fair bit. at 200 per load, its cheaper than the 500-ish a load for the cement.
I've scraped the top 2 or 3 inches off the yard, and dropped the gravel on top of it, and Ive laid it at the furthest side of the yard where the water used to be.
so far so good, I'm waiting to see how it settles, but its doing the job. theres no water lying on it, i think its going down and running below the stones, so its out of sight, but the water is still settling where it used to in the middle of the yard - the next load should put a stop to that.

Before i put down the next load (March id say) should i
put a membrane/ plastic down first?
will the membrane keep the weeds down/reduced
will it affect drainage,
will the clay underneath eventually mix and come up through it?

Id still perfer cement, but this looks fine. cement can always come after when I win the lotto!
the only worry is how it will react when turning trailers, etc on it. will they dig in, or will it find its own settlement? time will tell.

Muckit

You'I always have weeds when drivin machinery on hardcore. S*it comes off tyres and mushed into gravel. Cattle etc, you know yourself...

Those membranes you talk about are only good around shrub beds etc where you have no traffic.

Concrete is your only man if lookin at weeds growing around the yard bothers you. Your on the right track scrapping off old crap and levelling off using new hardcore.

GET YOUR LEVELS RIGHT. It's a boring and tedious job, but a day or tow spent at this will save you €€€€€€€.

MAKE SURE 5" IS 5" and not 7 or 8" in some places. It's easy loose a few cubic metres of concrete fillling a hole.