My knowledge of concrete is just about enough to make me dangerous. But, I can build the forms, mix it, and work it up to get reasonable slabs for the sheds to be placed on. I live in an area where precipitation is in the 150"/yr range, so wooden platforms are out of the question. I will be erecting a couple of HD special type plastic yard storage sheds soon. I have been setting up the location by spreading 1-1/2"- red cinders to make a place to put them. It has been a few months since I began spreading the cinders. I am not finished yet. Due to the time and rains since beginning to spread them, the location, so far, has become very firm and looks to be a good stable base for the slabs. There is still enlarging and leveling to be done yet. Each pad, if 4" thick, will use almost a cuyd each. The cost of using a Quickcrete mix is going to be too high for my Scottish blood. Doing a "standard mixture" will be too complex to gather up and still quite expensive. The most abusive use for these sheds will be parking a riding mower and other yard machinery in one, and tool/materials storage in the other, very light duty use with a plastic floor over it. I have loads of the 1-1/2"- red and black cinders sitting in the yard. They are the same screenings, but overall the black is much finer. The black is much softer than a regular aggregate, and the red is a bit softer still. I think they can be used in a portland cement mixture in what would normally be classified as a C5 mix, fulfilling my needs nicely. Thoughts?

I have a settlement crack on the inside and outside of my exterior garage wall. It was identified about 6 years ago during home inspection and cement repair was done to the interior wall only and I forgot about it. A few days ago, I noticed the bottom of the wall was wet about 4-5" from the bottom suggesting water is coming up from the bottom or going down the exterior wall and entering at the footing. I am not sure if this is a settlement crack or from the water that's going downgrade along the side of the house that is slowly deteriorating the wall. The wall at the bottom has a bit of white powder I assume is from the cement that is being impacted. I took a few pics of the interior/exterior and outside grading. I spoke with a contractor who suggesting taking the gutter to a 3" PVC pipe downgrade about 12" underground all the way to the front of the garage/driveway to allow the water to exit about 1/2" from the surface. Then, digging down to the footing at the track and using a water prevention "calk" or similar and then using flash paper. Then, digging a 1/2" groove around the crack in the interior and filling it with a water-preventative caulk. Is this overkill? My home inspector said that I will be fine with just digging down to the footing at the crack but did agree that any water being redirected is a good thing.