Well first the you need to remove any top soil from the area your wanting to build on. It will NOT compact as well as clay or gravel.
Second you need to make sure the area under the slab drains. This can be done by grade only or with drainage tile runs under the floor. (My newer shop has compacted clay with drainage runs on 20 foot centers under the fill.
Third. Six inches of fill/gravel is the MINIMUM I would want under a shop floor. Even then the dirt/clay under would have to be well drained and compacted. ( my shop had six inches of 1 inch stoned compacted with six inches of 304 or 3/4 crusher run compacted on top of the base.
Forth: You need a vapor barrier under the concrete. If your going to heat your shop insulation should be under the concrete too.
Fifth: #4000 mix is not really strong enough for a shop floor if you ever plan on lifting heavy loads in small area. Meaning a hydraulic jack directly on the floor. A good friend poured a six inch shop floor with #4000 mix. He pulled a loaded semi in to change a tire. He set a 20 ton jack right on the floor. He raised the truck fine. He also cracked the floor where the jack was setting too. Also if you ever are thinking about a car lift or floor mounted jib crane then the #4000 mix is not good enough for that. All the shop floors I have poured have been #5000 mix. I also used rebar every foot on center and the last shop has rebar and fiber bond in the concrete.
Some things to think on. Going from #4000 mix to #5000 mix will cost about $10 per yard of concrete. The #5000 mix ix 20% stronger than the #4000 mix. REBAR is CHEAP!!! So use plenty of it. Your only going to be doing this once. The extra cost of doing it right wouldn't be more than 10% higher than doing it wrong/cheap. So figure the extra cost over the life of the building. It is a very few dollars per year. I have never heard anyone say they wished they had poured their floor thinner/weaker/poorly drained.
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Today's Featured Article - The Fordson F Ignition System - by Anthony West. A fellow restorer contacted me earlier this year asking for some help and advice on a model F that he was restoring. He had over a period of months spent a fair amount of his hard earned cash on replacement parts for the old "trembler" ignition. Sadly though all his efforts seemed to be a waste of time and money as he still couldn''t get the temperamental old thing to run correctly!! If i said that this was a little frustrating for him that would be "conservative" in fact the problem had reduce
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