Installing a plant box

[run24guy]

I need to install a new plant box in our runway. The nearest track company to us wants $1,000 to do it. Like many programs, we are strapped for cash. Am hoping to have our maintenence guys do it. Any ideas how I go about installing a new plant box? Thanks!

[repmujhgih]

First thing to do is get a quote from your facilities department. I was trying to do this early this year, and my facilities department quoted me over $1,000 as well. I wound up building an elevated runway instead. Way cheaper and much more functional. The only problem I have no is I don't have enough vaulters for set up and take down. I actually have to help put it up...haha

[ccvaults]

I've done this 5 times in the last year or so as we opened our new facilities with two runways and have moved the boxes a couple times.


I am assuming you have the area excavated where the box will go...(if you are replacing an old one, you will need to get that one out and remove an additional 4-6 inches bigger than the new box (maybe as little as 2 inches at the widest part on the sides). Make sure you go deep enough so that there is about 2-4 inches of space below the new box. Would also make sense to have a couple inches of stone base.

anticipated materials needed:

1. Drill
2. 3.5" long self taping metal screws with hex head on top. Size isn't that important...maybe 1/4".
3. hex head driver bit to match screws
4. 5' long 2x4 x 2 sections
5. about 6x 50lbs bags of concrete
6. Wheelbarrow to mix concrete
7. hoe to mix concrete with
8. trowel to smooth concrete

If you have to cut the old box out, here are some useful tools that will make short work of it:
1. concrete saw - rent an oversized one that you can walk behind. This is especially important if you are cutting a hole in an existing concrete floor. Just cut through all the layers with the walk behind saw and cut a bunch of brick sized squares. Crowbar one of the pieces out and you will be done excavating in no time from there.
2. sledge hammer
3. digging iron
4. crow bar


Hopefully you will have some remaining runway that is the desired height on each side of the box area where you will set the new box. This can be side to side or front to back. If you don't, you will need to frame up a 2x4 or 2x6 perimeter that will be exactly the desired height that you desire. (email me if you need help with this. Any concrete handyman type guy can frame that up quickly for you.)



Here is how you do it:

1. take a screw (or drill bit if you have it) and predrill your first hole in the top of the new box.
2. lay a 5' (or whatever length you will need) over the top of the box (this will either be side to side or lengthwise depending on where your existing runway is or frame at the correct height is. Drive a screw down through the 2x4 and through the top of the new box (through the new hole you just made...easily accomplished if you drive the screw through the 2x4 and then back it back out most of the way...line it up with the new hole and drive it the rest of the way.
3. Take a second screw and drive that through the other end of the 2x4 and straight through the top of the box. (with the first screw holding it in place, this will happen easily. You may have to go in and out a few times to get it to be tight against the 2x4)
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other 2x4.
5. You will now have a box with two 2x4's attached to the top of the box. The 2x4's should be sticking out well past the new box on either end. Now, you will simply lay the box in the excavated hole. The box will be hanging from the 2x4's in the hole and be exactly the correct height.
6. line up the box so it is square to the runway and in the correct position.
7. You may have to put a piece of duct tape across the front of the box as the front lip is usually curved down a bit lower than the surrounding area and the concrete can run into the box. (not that big a deal, as you can clean it up very easily after the fact.
8. Mix the concrete per the directions. (i would highly recommend that you make it way more runny than recommended as you want the concrete to settle into all the hollow spots underneath and on the sides of the box.
9. Mix and pour until you are all the way full.
10. Weight the box down with 50lbs of weight so that the box doesn't "float" up a bit while it dries.

Anyone can do this, but I would recommend you get the help of someone who has messed with concrete before. Or at a minimum, practice smoothing concrete before you try it for real. You really only have to have the part in front of the box looking good. I am assuming you will coat with runway material or a rollout runway. Make sure you make allowance for that if you will be applying some runway materiel. In our case, we just rolled our runway a tad into the box. The hardest part is mixing the concrete. Once you have the hole excavated, the whole thing would take me (after doing it so many times recently) about an hour by myself. Not that big a deal once you get a feel for it.


Hope this helps. You are welcome to contact me if you need any further help:

Matt Concannon
VaultWorX
http://www.vaultworx.net
concannon@epix.net
717-350-3883

[run24guy]

Wow! Thanks a lot for the detailed reply! That will help me a ton!