Another Garden Base "Log Cabin" - Pictures

Hi All,

Can someone give me their thoughts on what the materials and process I need to lay a log cabin base. Please see pics of the current location I'm going to use and layout.

I'm planning to hire a cement mixer and mix up the base with a friend.

The cabin is 5 x 4 m and I plan make a concrete base pegged out with 6" boards to this size, depth. I want to throw some old bricks into the base, not the garden edging. I understand I shouldn't use to many bricks and I need to wack these down? Should I add some steel re-bar, where can I get this from?

I have a polythene/damp proof layer ready but unsure of where/when this should be added.

A friend mentioned I could split the base in half, making it 2 hits of mixing and laying the concrete? Make life a little easier? is that a good idea.

What materials wise roughly and the cement ratio is needed for the job. Someone also mentioned ready mix but said that'll cost £1000

All advice/thoughts appreciated and thanks.

Carlos.

You would be much better laying in as one solid slab. You dont need a dpm neccessarily but it will improve the strength of the concrete by ensuring it doesnt dry too quickly.

By all means use the bricks but really you should break them up into smaller 1/3 of a brick and smaller sizes and compact them with a vibrating plate.



I would forget the mixer idea if you want to have the base 6 inches thick as 3 cubic metres is too much to try and mix yourself. One half will be rapidly setting as the other side isnt even mixed yet resulting in a poor quality slab with lots of cold joints. Not to mention the cost.

3 cubic metres will require

4 bulk bags of gravel - maybe £100
2 bulk bags of sand - maybe £50
38 bags of cement - £150
Delivery - £20
Mixer hire - £30

Total £350 not to mention labour (mixing 3 cube will take a full day for 2 people not to mention the time to shift 5 tons of materials round the back.

Readymix varies around the uk significantly but i would be surprised if 3 cube of ready mix was more than £300

All you need to do is barrow it in with your mate and level and float it.

Personally i would smash up the bricks and compact then and aim for your concrete to be 110mm thick and put some steel mesh into it. 110 with mesh will be slight overkill but a good low risk long term job for a few quid extra. This will shave down the cost of the concrete needed and time to mix or barrow it. 150mm of concrete is the sort of specification for a garage floor or driveway taking vehicle traffic.

Thanks r896neo.

I've had 2 quotes back for the ready mix - 1 @£574 and the other at £320 so quite varied. Gonna try and get another couple. The latter quote offer a barrowing service/laying service that would take the costs to £490. I'm very tempted to go for this and save myself some of the aggro of lumping it myself . They only work weekdays and I don't wanna take a day off.

Looks like I need to get busy with the sledgehammer to break these bricks up this weekend. The guy on the phone for the latter quote said not to worry about wacking them and even said don't worry about the mesh with their cement. I'd still like to include the mesh but may skip wacking them depending ho how I go with smashing them up. Their used to be 2 potting sheds in this area so the ground is quite firm, mix of crazy paving and firm soil etc.

Thanks again for your help.