Concrete base for garden office project

[Cliffoshay]

I've prepared / cleared the site for a 4m x 3.5m garden office. Just got a few questions, any help & advice would be very well received!

I was planning to lay a concrete base for durability. Will I be best off laying hardcore / shingle first? I see wickes sell 'Granular Sub Base MOT 1 Jumbo bag' for £38, I guess that would give me about 2 1\2", would that be deep enough? In regards to the concrete base, would 1:5 cement to ballast be a good mix? Would a similar depth be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cliffoshay]

No takers? Is the absence of a reply a good sign?

 

[Deluks]

Should ideally be 4" of each. MOT being well compacted with a whacker plate, hand tamper or the head if a sledgehammer. A couple of sheets of A142 mesh in the middle of the concrete wouldn't hurt either. For an extra 30 quid or so its well worth it.

 

[peterperfection]

Should ideally be 4" of each. MOT being well compacted with a whacker plate, hand tamper or the head if a sledgehammer. A couple of sheets of A142 mesh in the middle of the concrete wouldn't hurt either. For an extra 30 quid or so its well worth it.

What about the visqueen >?.

I totally agree with the rest . Especially the A142.. you have it right.
try and educate the pennypincher builder(s) on here please.

 

[r896neo]

As deluks says!

Price up all the materials you need for the concrete and then price up readymix, you might be surprised. Often the cost of materials alone for say a cubic metre are only a few quid less than getting it delivered.

Add to that the fact that mixing anything over half a cube is bloody hard work and you probably just about get it done in a very long day.