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dpb

wrote:
I am in the midwest where we just had well over a foot of rain in ten
days. I am on a farm where I have horses. In front of the barn I had
2 horses in a 30X60 foot paddock. That has always been a muddy spot,
except in the real hot weather when there is little rain. But it's
never been this bad......
....
My plan is to drape a tarp over the area in front of the door so that
it wont get rained on again, and run a few large livestock fans to
blow under that tarp to help it dry. Then as soon as it firms up,
pour concrete over it. But can I pour concrete over semi firm mud? I
know the concrete will harden, and if I put some rebar in it, it
should remain a solid pad. It will be about 10 x 16 feet.
Will this work? I wont drive any heavy tractors on it for awhile, but
right now I can not even walk across it without losing my boots.
I dont see any other way to do this. ...

I'm w/ DanG on this...first problem sounds like poor drainage since you
say it's always been a muddy spot, the recent deluge just made it worse.

Need to fix the drainage first and let it dry out. It will eventually
dry, even in the upper midwest you've got some time before fall.

For temporary access, I'd be looking at floating some ply or other sheet
goods over the area...they would likely be sufficient bearing surface to
at least allow foot traffic as things gradually begin to dry out.

The pad on top w/o fixing the problem will probably be "ok" for a while,
but it's likely going to sink (and inevitably in the direction where it
will channel water in, not out of your barn) and if you do drive
equipment over it w/ no better sub-base than that, it _will_ crack up
sooner rather than later...

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