Expert advice on competition basketball court

[ukgh]

Hi

Expert advice on competition Basketball court, that will be situated in hot sun. it will be north/south facing. Many mention large pour, we will use a 1 bag mixer.

Our proposal is: .125 thick slab with .6mm rebar, concrete in 15 m x 4.3 m section, using a 1:2:4 mix. tie bars connecting each section, plastic/wood floated then metal floated surface. (Power floats are not readily available where I live manual floated.
I will have at hand when concreting, shades, and portable cover in case of rain.
Due to the excessive heat, quick and sudden down pours in certain months, I'm concerned over cracking later on.
We do not have plastic strip to add to concrete extra crack resistant.
Would it be advisable to lay damp membrane under the concrete?
The land is reddish laterite.

Is there any sure way or other recommendation I should consider.

Regards and thanks in advance.

ukgh

 

[Ingenuity]

Before you even contemplate the behavior of the completed slab you need to consider amending your concrete production.

A 1-bag mixer will yield only about 0.02 m³ and the concrete volume for your slab is 8 m³, so you will need something like 400 batches. Given the environmental conditions you state there are going to be issues with 'cold joints' and resulting finishing issues.

Is it possible to seek alternative batching equipment?

 

[rapt]

What is .6mm rebar?

Find an engineer to sort it out for you.

 

[BigH]

Why are you going to use a steel float finish? I've played a lot of basketball on outdoor courts (some 40 to 50 years ago) and no one wanted to play on a super smooth finished concrete court - too slippery. I would think that a wood float with the same type of texture you get with sidewalks would be best - the basketball will not notice the 1 mm "bumps" but your footing will surely be thankful. (quite a number of courts were actually asphalt instead of concrete - but you would need to ensure to use a hard asphalt so it doesn't become sticky in the hot weather).

I would also look into the underlying base onto which you are placing the concrete - I would urge you not to place directly onto the lateritic soil but to place a "base" course of well graded sand and gravel" preferably with some crushed faces for some 150 mm to 300 mm thick and even ensure that there is a slope in the base course to provide a positive drain for any water that might rise up from the ground below during rainy seasons.

You will need to do saw cuts on regular spacing - and then you can infill them with a filler - but for a single slab this thick - unless you consider to use plastic fibres - wouldn't use steel and they will rust eventually and stain.

And for heaven's sake . . . CURE CURE CURE ! ! ! If placing in the hot weather - you should have some way of providing a misting spray during initial curing - or you might end up with plastic shrinkage cracks.

Anyway - my two cents worth!