[Frank Leopald]

Deleathalisation - word of the week!

FL

[chevvron]

Deleathalisation - word of the week!

FL

Not my invention; I got it from CAP168.

[terrybarr]

A suggestion I heard many years ago but I have never seen implemented. Three trows of paving slabs spaced to suit the track of the aircraft wheels. Lay the so as to slope down to the hangar door. Then have a winch so that you can pull the aircraft uphill into the hangar single handed with no trouble.

[mmcp42]

A suggestion I heard many years ago but I have never seen implemented. Three rows of paving slabs spaced to suit the track of the aircraft wheels. Lay the so as to slope down to the hangar door. Then have a winch so that you can pull the aircraft uphill into the hangar single handed with no trouble.

I tried that
takes for ever to extend the winch cable
I find it hard to steer (need to be at the front of the aircraft) and operate the winch (need to be by the winch)
Could look at a remote of some sort

[PeteSpencer]

We have a (no longer used) hand winch to drag the a/c into the hangar. It was so low geared that it needed zillions of turns to get the a/c in.

We now use a golf buggy with custom made bi-sprung tow bar which does the trick very nicely.

Winch retained in case buggy battery goes flat(never has so far).

Peter

[mmcp42]

We have a (no longer used) hand winch to drag the a/c into the hangar. It was so low geared that it needed zillions of turns to get the a/c in.

We now use a golf buggy with custom made bi-sprung tow bar which does the trick very nicely.

Winch retained in case buggy battery goes flat(never has so far).

Peter

another pipe dream is to modify the sit-on mower that I keep at the airfield
tried it once before but the wheels just spin as the aircraft is too heavy for it
so I'm looking at a lever to lift the nose-wheel thus putting more weight onto the mower and improving traction

[Charles Hunt]

Is this a DIY project, or are you paying a contractor?

A good, well compacted foundation is probably more important than the concrete on top.

What is the current floor/base?

For hand laid concrete bays 4m x 4m is probably as big as you can sensibly go, often laid in chequerboard or 'hit and miss' bays. You will have to set screed rails or timbers to the correct finished height, then place the concrete a bay at a time. Remove the screed rails from the first set of bays, re-position as necessary and then do the infill bays.

75 to 100mm of concrete should be plenty over at a guess 150mm of broken concrete or brick rubble with a skim of type 1 to give a smooth surface, or all type 1 sub base well compacted with a roller or wacka plate. Put a layer of polythene as a slip layer between there base and the concrete.

The concrete will also need to be well compacted either by ensuring a surcharge in each bay and using a vibrating beam to compact it and strike it to the finished level, or using a poker vibrator.

Working up the scale you can have a rough tamped finish, skip float and hand trowel, or power finish. For the power float you would probably need a specialist company to lay and float the whole area in one go, this would not be compatible with a DIY 4m bay approach.

[mmcp42]

Is this a DIY project, or are you paying a contractor?

A good, well compacted foundation is probably more important than the concrete on top.

What is the current floor/base?

For hand laid concrete bays 4m x 4m is probably as big as you can sensibly go, often laid in chequerboard or 'hit and miss' bays. You will have to set screed rails or timbers to the correct finished height, then place the concrete a bay at a time. Remove the screed rails from the first set of bays, re-position as necessary and then do the infill bays.

75 to 100mm of concrete should be plenty over at a guess 150mm of broken concrete or brick rubble with a skim of type 1 to give a smooth surface, or all type 1 sub base well compacted with a roller or wacka plate. Put a layer of polythene as a slip layer between there base and the concrete.

The concrete will also need to be well compacted either by ensuring a surcharge in each bay and using a vibrating beam to compact it and strike it to the finished level, or using a poker vibrator.

Working up the scale you can have a rough tamped finish, skip float and hand trowel, or power finish. For the power float you would probably need a specialist company to lay and float the whole area in one go, this would not be compatible with a DIY 4m bay approach.

plan A was to get a man to do it all
quote was £7,500

plan B is to do the grunt work myself
even renting the heavy plant means I should get the whole job for less than half that price
that includes
- excavator (always wanted to drive one of those)
- compactor to flatten the rubble
- power float to get a decent finish

sub-soil is soft earth, so I know I need to have decent footings round the edges
looking at 100mm of rubble and 100mm of concrete, with footings, spookily enough 1ft wide 1 ft deep (is that why they're called footings?!?)

layer of polythene between rubble and concrete?
in my iggorance I assumed the concrete wanted to soak into the rubble?

I know to put a waterproof cover over the top to slow the drying process

[Charles Hunt]

You can thicken the slab around the edges, but probably no need. The load is going straight down from the wheel through the concrete, the hardcore, and into the ground, the slab is not trying to span between strong edges.

As advised elsewhere you must remove all the topsoil and get to the subsoil. Then apply the British Standard heel test. Try to push your boot heel into the soil. Ideally little or no give. If it's squishy (posh technical term!!) excavate some more and use more sub-base thickness.

You do not want the concrete to bind to the sub base. Concrete is strong in compression, but not much use in tension, so the slab needs to be free to slide over the sub-base. Do include the slip layer. Visqueen used to be the trade name, but any thickish polythene will do, just lay loose, but overlap the joints by 200 to 300 mm.

[ChrisT]

No advice on the concrete, but can vouch that playing with an excavator is good fun!

[Trent772]

4 inches is fine.

I have 2 40' x 30' bases at Beckwithshaw near Harrogate that you can have if you want.

First one was condemned by the council, the second one was robbed by the farmer falling out with me.

Concrete is expensive btw........

Get it with fibres in, it is more robust and ask them to wet it on site, lays much better.

Last concrete was Lafarge Agila, which is beautiful stuff. Pumped into the workshop and woodstore. Self levelling, no dust after 5 years - a good bit more expensive but - Oh My, well worth it for indoor workshop stuff. Not worth it for a hangar.

Just saying like...

[pilotbarry]

Ready mixed concrete companies are very cadgy about taking their very, very heavy lorries off road. You might need to consider a concrete pump, yet another lorry. £££

[Charles Hunt]

ask them to wet it on site, lays much better.

Please, no!!!!

Cement needs a water cement ratio of 0.3 to fully hydrate. (A chemical reaction, not drying.). However concrete made with this ratio will be so stiff as to be unworkable. Thus in practice a water cement ratio of around 0.5 is used, but every increase in the water cement ratio leads to a less strong concrete.

Adding extra water at site may make the laying easier, but will ultimately give you a weaker concrete.

[mmcp42]

4 inches is fine.

I have 2 40' x 30' bases at Beckwithshaw near Harrogate that you can have if you want.

First one was condemned by the council, the second one was robbed by the farmer falling out with me.

Concrete is expensive btw........

Get it with fibres in, it is more robust and ask them to wet it on site, lays much better.

Last concrete was Lafarge Agila, which is beautiful stuff. Pumped into the workshop and woodstore. Self levelling, no dust after 5 years - a good bit more expensive but - Oh My, well worth it for indoor workshop stuff. Not worth it for a hangar.

Just saying like...

excellent
what would you charge for postage?
cheers

[Bill McCarthy]

Unless you've used an excavator before, you could end up making a pig's ear of the whole thing - you will need a tractor and trailer to cart away quite a bit of topsoil as well. Forget about the polythene membrane on top of the hardcore - you will have voids between concrete and rubble and get load cracking in those spots. Put down a layer of concrete that a 4x4 can withstand - your aircraft if unlikely to be heavier. A contractor could prepare the site in a fraction of the time it will take you to dig out the site - he may take the topsoil away too, to flog off to gardeners at this time of year.
I had an outfit come into one of my fields to mix-on-site to fill the foundations for a wind turbine, so provided your ground is firm enough it will be a lot less hassle I can assure you.