where to buy a 3ft x 3ft concrete slab

You might want to checkout those local stone/concrete/landscaping places ... similar to Hardco Landscaping ... it's moreso because you need sort of like custom sized

Home Depot/Lowes/Rona would not carry that size

It's more work than finding one slab, but you can buy a bunch of pavers (nine 1 ft ones or four 16 inch ones, etc.) to create one slab. See here: LINK

jm1 wrote: ↑ It's more work than finding one slab, but you can buy a bunch of pavers (nine 1 ft ones or four 16 inch ones, etc.) to create one slab. See here: LINK

Thanks but it's for a pool heater. TSSA specifically calls for poured concrete slab. Pavers are no longer suitable. I am hoping I can get away with a single large slab... Definitely wouldn't be able to get by with multiple pavers.

Not gonna be easy to move at 36x36.

TLSRULZ wrote: ↑ Not gonna be easy to move at 36x36.

Yeah I known. The 24x24 i Got from HD is pretty heavy but doable solo.. may need some help for 36x36. If it's thicker it'll weigh close to double.

Call the precast concrete places. For my floating dock I got 2 large blocks from Anchor after seeing their name painted on the sides of precast concrete pieces for the 407 extension out east driving to and from the cottage. Called them up and $80 later I had two 2 x 2 x 1 foot concrete blocks with rebar loops in the top.

https://www.anchorconcrete.com/

Of course when I asked how much they weighed, they told me 250 pounds, which turned out to be 250 kilos. So imagine my surprise when I tried to move two 600 pound concrete blocks that they gingerly lowered into my crappy trailer I was towing with my MINI.

I didn't bother checking at the time, but concrete is about 150 pounds / cubic ft. So a 3 x 3 foot slab will weigh about 108 pounds per inch of thickness. You'll need help and equipment to move anything you'll find precast.

Given the effort needed to prepare the ground for the slab in the first place, putting up some 2x6 forms and mixing some concrete might not be much additional work. If you know how to do it, you might just find some local labor to do the grunt work under your supervision if it's a physical limitation issue and not time.

This place advertises reinforced slabs as an example. Maybe they would deliver and place the slab.

https://www.caseyltd.ca/products/precas ... -and-slabs

toronto[u wrote:tim post_id=35874597 time=1648045037 user_id=582053]
Of course when I asked how much they weighed, they told me 250 pounds, which turned out to be 250 kilos. So imagine my surprise when I tried to move two 600 pound concrete blocks that they gingerly lowered into my crappy trailer I was towing with my MINI.

Thank you! And you are lucky that you didn't have any steep uphills, otherwise the blocks would be towing your Mini

This thread is too funny lol. Classic RFD

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑ Thank you! And you are lucky that you didn't have any steep uphills, otherwise the blocks would be towing your Mini

Towed them from Kingston for 90 minutes to my cottage. I got one of them out of the trailer and onto a furniture dolly with a 500 pound limit. The wheels popped off the dolly like they were held on with toothpicks.

Called the local do-everything guy who owns a rental cottage place and he showed up with a Bobcat and pontoon boat. We have a natural boat launch a few hundred feet up the road, so they lifted the blocks (one at a time) placed on a pile of moving blankets on the nose of the boat and were able to drop them into the lake where I wanted them.

Of course a few years later I didn't loosen the chains enough, and with the water level rise / ice, my dock lifted both anchors and drifted about 10 feet to the east before lowering back down. So the anchors are in the wrong place now with no realistic way to move them. Thankfully the shore connection I built is strong enough and 7 years later the dock is perfectly stable without the anchors doing much work.

Needless to say I built a ridiculously strong dock with massive floats that was able to lift 1200 pounds of concrete off the bottom of the lake without any damage to the dock framing.

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑ Any thoughts on where to get one ? I see patio stones go up to 30" or even 24"x36" but I don't see anything in 36" by 36" dimensions.

I normally wouldn't shy from pouring my own, but atm I can't ... so need to buy a pre-fab. Thanks in advance.

You can't pour your own but you can carry a 36x36 slab?

Maybe just find someone Kijiji or ask for referral on here. Or will this work?

https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/p/WW ... lsrc=aw.ds

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ You can't pour your own but you can carry a 36x36 slab?

Maybe just find someone Kijiji or ask for referral on here. Or will this work?

https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/p/WW ... lsrc=aw.ds

I can ask buddies to help with carrying it (15 minutes), but I can't ask them to help with pouring (5 hours of hard labour).

The size checks out, but I can't find what material it is made of - doesn't weigh as much as concrete should for that size. Is it rubber?

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑ I can ask buddies to help with carrying it (15 minutes), but I can't ask them to help with pouring (5 hours of hard labour).

The size checks out, but I can't find what material it is made of - doesn't weigh as much as concrete should for that size. Is it rubber?

Googled the Grainger product:

Available for next day pickup from their Missisauga or Oshawa location. Call em to place order.

https://www.diversitech.com/en-US/item/ ... --ACP36363

The Black Pad® ACP36363 is a 36x36x3 in. black plastic equipment pad made from 98% recycled, UV resistant polypropylene plastic. It is a lightweight yet durable support base and can be used for all industry applications such as outdoor condensers, heat pumps, etc. The pad bottom includes extensive ribbing along with an outer edge that allows for self leveling yet prevents long term settling. This product is made by DiversiTech®.


Ideal for pool and spa equipment
The Black Pad makes an ideal base for pool and spa equipment packs including motors, pumps and filters. The Black Pad is also safe for pool heaters. The Black Pad is ICC certified to 1997 Standard Swimming Pool Code sections 305.2 Mounting and section 405 Equipment Foundations and Enclosures.
For that size I don't think it's 5 hours of hard labour.

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑
Yeah I known. The 24x24 i Got from HD is pretty heavy but doable solo.. may need some help for 36x36. If it's thicker it'll weigh close to double.

If memory serves (and it might be failing me), concrete is about 75lbs/cu. ft. [look it up]

A standard 2x2 patio stone then is 50.
Your 3x3, assuming going to 3" thick is 168lb.
Two people should be able to handle that.

gr8dlr wrote: ↑
You can't pour your own but you can carry a 36x36 slab?s

Yeah, I'm confused here too.

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑ I can ask buddies to help with carrying it (15 minutes), but I can't ask them to help with pouring (5 hours of hard labour).

5 hours "hard labour"?
More like one hour leisurely, once you source supplies.
It's only 3ft square.

Edit...
Apologies.
It appears concrete is 150lb/cu ft.
I was thinking soil, which is 75.
It surprises me a 2x2 patio stone is 100.
They don't seem that heavy.

This only makes pouring in place more appealing.

How about the lazy pour? Build a frame around the rock base, pour dry concrete mix, water with garden hose, mix.

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ Googled the Grainger product:

Available for next day pickup from their Missisauga or Oshawa location. Call em to place order.

https://www.diversitech.com/en-US/item/ ... --ACP36363

The Black Pad® ACP36363 is a 36x36x3 in. black plastic equipment pad made from 98% recycled, UV resistant polypropylene plastic. It is a lightweight yet durable support base and can be used for all industry applications such as outdoor condensers, heat pumps, etc. The pad bottom includes extensive ribbing along with an outer edge that allows for self leveling yet prevents long term settling. This product is made by DiversiTech®.


Ideal for pool and spa equipment
The Black Pad makes an ideal base for pool and spa equipment packs including motors, pumps and filters. The Black Pad is also safe for pool heaters. The Black Pad is ICC certified to 1997 Standard Swimming Pool Code sections 305.2 Mounting and section 405 Equipment Foundations and Enclosures.
For that size I don't think it's 5 hours of hard labour.

TSSA disagrees

https://www.tssa.org/modules/news/blogc ... 018d2a6ba2

CSA B-149.1-10 - 4.15.3 requires that a "a space-heating or pool-heating appliance installed outdoors at grade level shall be placed on a base consisting of poured-in-place concrete or a reinforced concrete slab of the preformed type, extending at least

(a) 6 in (150 mm) beyond all sides of the appliance; and
(b) 2 in (50 mm) above grade level. The ground shall first be prepared and provided with gravel for drainage.


The heater was installed on four separate cement pads, in direct conflict with the code requirement that the base consist of “poured-in-place concrete or a reinforced concrete slab.”

So I know that using a pre-poured slab is not quite it... but I think a rubber/plastic pad would be stretching it too far.

junkmail2002 wrote: ↑ TSSA disagrees

https://www.tssa.org/modules/news/blogc ... 018d2a6ba2

CSA B-149.1-10 - 4.15.3 requires that a "a space-heating or pool-heating appliance installed outdoors at grade level shall be placed on a base consisting of poured-in-place concrete or a reinforced concrete slab of the preformed type, extending at least

(a) 6 in (150 mm) beyond all sides of the appliance; and
(b) 2 in (50 mm) above grade level. The ground shall first be prepared and provided with gravel for drainage.


The heater was installed on four separate cement pads, in direct conflict with the code requirement that the base consist of “poured-in-place concrete or a reinforced concrete slab.”

So I know that using a pre-poured slab is not quite it... but I think a rubber/plastic pad would be stretching it too far.

I'd run this by the company as they clearly say it's OK. They probably know better than you or I.

Think this will interest you....it is a ultralite "concrete" pad.

A true concrete equipment pad at the weight
of plastic (about 2.5 lbs. per square foot).
UltraLite® is strengthened by miles of fiber in
each square foot of fiber-cement coating. This
fiber allows the pad to flex instead of cracking
or breaking. The textured surface prevents the
condensing unit or portable generator from
sliding, and allows water drainage, while the
engineered expanded polystyrene (EPS) core
prevents warping and provides a solid bottom
to resist settling. Unaffected by soil conditions,
ultraviolet (UV) light, temperature extremes,
and other weather conditions.

I might be inclined to
> build a 36x36 wood frame [could be 48x48]
> sand/HPB base, tamp flat
>put 4 18x18 pavers [24x24 if you make frame 48x48] down and then this Ultralite concrete pad on top.

Perhaps using some Tapcon concrete screws and screw this pad to the down to four pavers. Voila - you have heavy stable concrete pad.