Pour Day: What to Have Ready Before the Concrete Truck Arrives

Short answer: clear a path wide enough for a heavy truck, move every car you will need for the next week, keep kids and pets inside for the day, and have a tap and a hose we can reach. Once concrete is on the truck the job runs on a clock, so anything that can be sorted the day before should be.

Pour day runs on a clock

Concrete starts going off the moment it is batched. From the time the truck leaves the plant there is a set window to place it, screed it and finish it, and that window does not stretch to suit a locked gate or a car parked across the access. Most of what slows a pour down has nothing to do with concrete. It is a branch, a gate, a hose that will not reach, or a dog that wants to help. All of it is easy to fix the day before and none of it is easy to fix with a truck waiting in the street.

Access is the first thing to sort

A loaded concrete truck is heavier than anything that has ever been on your block. It needs firm ground, room to turn and clearance overhead. On Tablelands properties the pinch points are a gateway built for a ute, a table drain at the front, branches along the drive, and soft ground on a verge after a wet week. We walk the access when we quote, and if the truck cannot get close enough we book a pump, which gets organised ahead of the day rather than on the morning.

• Gates and fences. Unlock or unhook anything the truck or the pump line has to get past. If a panel needs to come out, tell us at the quote so the time is allowed for.
• Overhead clearance. Branches, the lead running out to a shed, a low carport beam. A truck chute sits higher than most people picture it.
• Soft ground and buried services. Point out the septic tank, the trenches and the irrigation lines, and anywhere a wheel should not go. Red soil that has had rain on it will not hold a loaded truck.
• Somewhere to stand. A flat spot to park and discharge, close enough that the concrete is not being barrowed halfway across the yard.

Move the cars, and plan for a week without the slab

A new driveway is out of action for about a week for cars and about a month for trailers, caravans and machinery. That is the part people underestimate. Before pour day, park whatever you need on the street or on the far side of the house, and think about the bin and the trailer while you are at it. If the slab is the only way in or out, say so at the quote and we will stage the pour in sections so you still have a way through. Our guide on how long before you can drive on new concrete has the full timeline.

Kids, pets and the part that cannot be undone

Fresh concrete takes a footprint, a paw print and a bike tyre permanently. Keep the dog inside or tied up well clear, and keep the kids away until we have finished and fenced it off. If you do want handprints or a date in a corner, tell us on the morning and we will do it properly, in a spot that is not in a traffic line or on a control joint.

The small stuff that saves an hour

• Water we can reach. An outside tap and a hose that gets to the pour, plus an outdoor power point if there is one.
• Somewhere for the washout. The chute gets rinsed at the end. Show us a spot well away from the garden beds, the stormwater drain and any creek, or we will take it away with us.
• Sprinklers and irrigation off. A timer that fires overnight can soften a prepared base, and one that fires the next evening can mark a fresh surface.
• Ten minutes of your time at the start. Not the whole day. Just long enough to confirm the levels, the finish and exactly where the edges land, because those are the things that cannot be changed afterwards.
• A decision on the finish. Broom, steel trowel, exposed aggregate or a colour. Far easier to settle the day before than while the truck is rolling up the drive.

What the weather does to the plan

From October the build-up starts and the afternoon storms are not far behind, so pours move earlier in the day and sometimes earlier in the week. If the radar looks bad we will ring you rather than pour into rain and leave you with a washed, dusty surface. Early starts and night pours are normal for us when the weather calls for it, which is why we ask for a mobile number you will answer on the morning.

That is the whole list

Clear access, cars moved, pets inside, taps on, finish decided, phone on you. Do that and the crew can get straight into the part you are paying for. We pour driveways, house slabs, shed slabs, patios and decorative finishes across the Atherton Tablelands, from Malanda and Atherton to Yungaburra, Tolga, Herberton, Millaa Millaa and Ravenshoe.

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