The most significant appeal of sidewalks lies in their extended service life that can average from 20 to 40 years. The critical factor that offers long life to sidewalks is the quality of construction. A concrete sidewalk will fail after a few years if you use low-quality materials. You need to hire excellent and reputable concreters in Killara to ensure that your sidewalk is built maintaining proper construction practices and sound design.
Concrete sidewalks vary in shapes and colours, and you can form it in any shape you wish to. Before you start with the project, it is essential to know the step by step process of laying a concrete sidewalk.
Determine the area of placement and begin excavation:
Chalk out the course of the path using strings and stakes. Mark the area with paint. Remove all debris, roots, and grass and excavate the way to a depth of at least 8 inches. Try to stuff the soil until it forms a flat base. Now it is time to pour gravel to a depth of 4 inches and stuff it down to make a level surface.
Prepare the framework:
Try to create forms for the sides of the walkway using 1inch x 4inch x 4inch boards. Place wooden stakes along the pathway at 4' intervals. Keep them just outside the path. At the sides of the stakes attach 1” x 4” x 4’ boards with screws to prepare the form for the concrete. Make sure that all board forms are level and plumb.
Remember that the tops of the stakes are placed low than the form sides, so they do not hinder the smoothing process. Once the forms are built, make sure to spray water on them before filling them with concrete.
Pour level and smooth out:
Before pouring, you need to run the pre-mixed concrete. Make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s instructions. The concreters in Killara that you hire should also follow the same. Start to pour concrete into the form. Begin from the lowest point and gradually proceed towards the highest. Roughly level the concrete using a garden rake the moment you finish pouring.
You should try to level and smooth the concrete before it gets too hard. To do the same, you can slide a 2"x4" board back and forth through the tops of the forms. We call this method screeding. To further smooth the surface of the concrete, you can use a float at a slight angle.
The finishing touches:
As per the suggestion of most concreters in Killara you should let the concrete set for at least an hour or two. The next and final step is to run an edging towel through the inside of the forms to separate the concrete and form a finished edge. To eliminate cracking, you can lay a straight board across the ways and use a grooved trowel to make expansion joints.
Now that you are well aware of the concrete pouring process, you can inspect the work of any concreters in Killara who you hire. That will ensure that your concrete sidewalk is built correctly.
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