Cement floor....smooth or rough?

[Boyd]

Quote:
Growing up all of our cement floors were rough. We'd use a pitchfork or coal shovel to do the job, spray it out with the house to loosen it, pour bleach down and let it sit for a while and then spray the whole mess out one more time before putting down clean bedding. then again, the barn was home to horses, ponys and other critters as well

 

[jimmoose]

I gonna stick my nose in this only because I own a commercial concrete
company. Here is the skinny on concrete. That rough finish is called a
broom finish. It can be a fine broom or a medium or rough finish depending
on how long you wait to broom it. Its rough because you won't slip on it.
The best finish for a chicken coop floor is hand trowel finish. No broom
with a steel trowel finish thats not slick but its not rough either. Its
allows you to hose it off with a garden hose and also somewhat water
proofs the concrete by fusing the top layer together. Its more sanitary
and the finish of choice with the droppings of animals and urine. It can be pressure washed with high pressure water or boiling water for that matter with no damage to the finish. Shovels and pitchforks will slide right on the
top without gouging the finish. Its hard with resiliency. If you can slope it or have a rise in the middle it will help with the run off.
If you can afford to hire someone to do it for you it will be much easier.
Ride a construction area or a neighborhood thats under construction
and look for a group pouring a driveway or patio or house slab. Chances
are they may have some concrete left or will order you some at their
price and every finisher I've ever known like to make a few extra bucks
on the side. Its worth it to check it out.
Avoid the concrete in the bag, you can't mix it bag after bag in a consistent manner to get it to hold up. Water is the enemy of concrete.
Too much water weakens it.
A good finish is no accident. If you don't have the tools and a basic
understanding of the product, its not gonna last and not going to be
functional.
We have a saying: Every homeowner is a concrete finisher till the
truck shows up. Its funny but true. Make sure you leave a gap around
the bottom of the coop so you can wash out the droppings.
Thats my 2 cents.
By the way, my company bought, placed and finished 11,265 yards of concrete last year and I've been in that business 30 years.
jim

 

[Boyd]

I'm thinking what we had was a "homeowner job" because none of us were commercial concrete people

 

[jimmoose]

Quote:
I put the disclaimer in as a way to get out of doing it yourself. A concrete
truck on the street is somewhat intimidating to most people that haven't
messed with it before. Its an easy homeowner job with a little research.
If you take your time and its not too hot out and are patient, you can
get an excellent job yourself. If I offended anyone, I'm sorry, it wasn't
meant to come out that way.
Look, its a chicken coop floor that no one but you and the chickens
are gonna see, and, the chickens really don't care. I'm just one of them
really uptight guys that likes things to go smooth and right and hate
panic. Sorry Boyd.
jim

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Smooth!

Cover it with shavings for the birds and buy non-slip tennis-shoes($20 at Walmart) for cleaning if it's too slippery to you while cleaning.

I would NOT go rough!! I worked on both rough and smooth kennels! The smooth was never too hard to walk on and we could spray, scrub, spray and squeegie it and it would be beautiful! The rough.... well, the rough is a pain in the tailfeathers and takes forever to get clean.

Just my experience. When I build my barns(someday *sigh*) they will be smooth concrete!

EDITED TO ADD: The hand trowel finish is what we had(I think) at the kennels, it was a God send!

-Kim

 

[redhawkou812]

Got to go with mr jim. I've been in construction all my life, too, & have always respected the tradesman that new his trade. A rough finish is going to be tougher to clean. You could even use a floor scraper or shovel to get the worst up & keep the water spray down to a minimum. We just got our coop up & running & used linoleum, jsut because we had leftovers & a wood floor. We're planted on a hillside, so we went with wood. Me, I'm a woodworker & a construction superintendent, so I would listen to Jim. BYC folk will steer you straight!

 

[speckledhen]

I've had too many issues with bumblefoot, I'd hate to have a concrete floor that is really rough. They get abrasions then get a staph infection and you really don't want to deal with bumblefoot, trust me.

 

[redhawkou812]

JIm, sounds like you've had one of those hot days on a big pour before. Right again, though. On a small pour with some research & that, the homeowner can do it. But I would suggest having a helper or two just to get the concret down.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
I put the disclaimer in as a way to get out of doing it yourself. A concrete
truck on the street is somewhat intimidating to most people that haven't
messed with it before. Its an easy homeowner job with a little research.
If you take your time and its not too hot out and are patient, you can
get an excellent job yourself. If I offended anyone, I'm sorry, it wasn't
meant to come out that way.
Look, its a chicken coop floor that no one but you and the chickens
are gonna see, and, the chickens really don't care. I'm just one of them
really uptight guys that likes things to go smooth and right and hate
panic. Sorry Boyd.
jim

No offense taken

I was 6 when we poured so my job with a wooden float was pretty bad. When my 'pa saw what I did he got the broom out

sometimes text is hard to convey meaning bro

 

[Boyd]

total agreement here!

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