How to Pour Large Concrete Pads

Clear an area large enough for your concrete pad that is relatively level. Make sure there are no structures, trees, or plants cluttering the ground. Dig up all of the grass from a space just larger than the pad that you need.

Build a form to shape your pad to your particular specifications out of coated 2-by-4 lumber. Attach the boards together with flat-headed screws using a drill with a screw bit. Check the form with a level to ensure that it is straight and the corners are square.

Place the form into the prepared pour area. Hold it in place using wooden stakes placed tightly around the outside about every 2 feet and hammered halfway into the ground. Saw off the top of a stake to make it level with the form if it is taller.

Create a trough along each interior side of the form with a shovel. Make each one 4 inches deep and as straight as possible. Spray the dirt within the form with water from a hose so that it is just damp; tamp the whole area and check that it is even all over with the level.

Pour concrete into the form to make a layer 1 inch thick in the center of the form. Drop a reinforcing rod straight onto the concrete 3 feet from each end, then place one every 3 feet between them. Line the inside of the form 2 inches from the sides with rebar; connect the rebar to the rods at the points where they overlap with tie wires to keep them still.

Fill the rest of the form with concrete. Tap each side of the frame 2 to 3 times with the hammer to release any air within the concrete. Screed the surface of the pad from one end of the form to the other.

Drag a rubber float across the top of the pad in straight lines to make it level. Let the concrete sit for 30 minutes and float it again. Wait another half hour and float the top of the pad a final time.

Let the concrete rest undisturbed until the majority of the released water has evaporated from the top and it is not so shiny. Use a metal finishing trowel in the same manner than you did the rubber float to give a final finish to the concrete. Cure the pad 3 to 5 days; spray the surface lightly with water once daily to maintain an even cure and remove the form when the pad is complete.