Flat metal concrete screed support vs pipe

Do any of you concrete guys on here use flat steel instead of pipe for supporting the screed on concrete pours?

I just bought some flat steel for half the cost of pipe and the yokes are about the same cost. I've been using pipe but fixing the pipe area wasn't always fun and the steel looks like you could almost bullfloat right over the hole it leaves behind.

I'm forming a 46x56 pour in the next few days and was thinking about giving the flat steel a try. Anyone have any problems or pointers they could share?

I'll be using a 24' truss screed on it because I have to slope a 30x30 area to a floor drain.

We always specked chairs to hold the wwf 2" of the bottom of the pour.

pick65

Good luck.... Just guessing, but I would bet there is a reason pipe is used instead of flat. You can't screed on something that is not equally rigid in all directions. I definitely wouldn't try to prove I could on a sizable job with the cost of concrete these days.

I bought the flat steel from a concrete supply company. It's used all the time. There are yokes that hold it in place every two feet on rebar pounded in the ground like a stake. Same as pipe yokes.

If it is suported well, like the yokes you showed, it should work super. The problem with flats is they have no side support, so more yokes would be better. Also the width of the flat would make a difference, depending on the weight of the screed, and width of span. How thick and wide were you planning?

Always used pipe or ran on the forms, I bet it works as good as the rail is set.

I'm pouring 23.5 ' wide and 22.5 on part of it past the floor drain. It will be split again around the drain.
There is 2" foam then 4.5"-5" around the flat screed bar.The bar is 1/4" x 2" supported every 2'. There will be concrete placed on both sides before it's screeded.

The pro's of this is not throwing shovel loads of concrete at the 2" hole the pipe leaves after it's screeded. Then you have to bullfloat it all in after one side has sat for awhile.

When you say a truss screed I'm taking that to be a power screed? You're going to be striking a twenty-four foot radius around a floor drain?

I have only ever used hand screeds so have to ask what is a truss screed? The screeds I use are either 8,10,or 16ft aluminum 2X4. I have ran on pipe, but usually a wet screed between grade pins is sufficient for the work I do. As for the flat stock, I would think if the yokes are close enough to keep it from moving side to side it would work great and like you say should be able to bull float out a thin grove left after picking it out. The only thing I would worry about is no aggregate would be in the groove just floating it in, so it could crack down that line instead of the control cuts. On that line of though you could lay the screed out to match the control cuts.

So I'm confused. Don't you have any forms?
just

You can bolt sections on and span up to 60+ feet. Turn buckles on the top rail straighten it out
And it pulls itself with hydrualic winches.

So you are pouring it all at once.

Watch the video on the bottom of the link page

https://www.floorsupplies.net/marsh...El9TBw-O16YHR4uH5j76uC0rLPhoCkUYQAvD_BwE

That looks like a back saver, probably put my chiropractor out of work.

You must be using relatively short sections of flat stock so you can yank and fill the voids as you go. I figured just over a thirty yard pour based on a four inch floor.

Yes but no, the screed will span half of the width and the flat steel screed bar holds up the screed in the middle of the slab and it's removable after it's screeded. I need to slope a 30'x30' of the 46x56 because part of it is a garage. I just run another screed support inline with the drain and slope it down to the drain. Screed half of that at a time and the floor will be sloped to the drain. Then outside of garage area move the big screed over and finish it.

Yes I cut them into 10'3" they overlap in the wider slot of the yoke.
It's a 45 yard pour, I don't pour 4" I shoot for 4.5" so I don't have thin spots and the garage will be 5"+
I'm pouring the edge 10" thick and about 12-16" wide with extra rebar in it.

I should add I do pour 4" but on small slabs that are easy to gauge the thickness.

I can see where it's doable. So, it's a thirty foot diameter area. You'll cut that in half and swing a fifteen foot radius if I'm understanding it correctly.

Posco I don't slope floors that way. I run my screed pipes from the floor drain to the outer forms and pour it in two pulls of the screed. The the entire floor is sloped this way.

On this pour Ill slope the first screed pipe 1" down 6' away from the drain and about 12' out both directions then run another screed pipe from the drain parallel to the first screed pipe and screed it with a smaller screed. After I get 14-15' past the drain, I'll use the flat 24' screed the rest of the way. I'll get a square spot in the floor that's sloped to the drain that matches the garage framing inside the building.