In terms of color, texture, and cost, please compare and contrast the concrete that comes in a bag with the ready-mixed concrete from a truck. I want to add a 4 square yard extension to an existing driveway that was poured by the ready-mix truck. Thx. -B
If you intend to make or pour a batch of concrete beyond a certain amount, then making/mixing your own concrete is out of the question anyways.
Because you are even considering bagged pre-mix, I assume you don't have your own mixer (because if you did, you'd be considering making your own concrete out of sand, stone, and bagged CEMEMT, which is a lot cheaper than pre-mix).
4 square yards (I assume 4" thick) is 12 square feet. About 1/3 of a cubic yard. That's a small job for a ready-mix delivery.
Even with a (small) electric mixer (making 1.25 cubic feet per batch) it will take 15 minutes per batch to mix and pour. If you're very fast and work full-tilt, you're looking at 2.5 hours of continuous mixing and pouring. And you'll have to work fast - you don't want part of the slab to set while you're still mixing the last few batches.
If this is going to be 1 solid slab, then you're going to have a hard time finishing it unless you've got some help (that know how to finish concrete).
If you're going to do it yourself, and you're going to use bags of pre-mix, you'll probably need 31 bags (each being 50 lbs). I'd rent a
I don't know if you have it in your area, but I'd suggest the "U-Cart" idea. Small batches of ready mix in a trailer. Research the yellow pages under "concrete suppliers". One of my local rental yards now offers this.
12 square yards is 96 square feet (9 sq/ft in a sq/yd) 81 square feet is a cubic yard. I say get a truck. Anything over a yard is tough to mix and place without a lot of manpower, even with a mixer. You won't save any money. It's about 64 60# bags of concrete (.5cu/ft per bag) Look around and see where else you want some concrete. At this point you are paying as much for the truck as much as the product so you might as well buy some..
Can't be done without knowing the cost and specs on the original pour. You're looking at mixing and pouring about 15 bags of Sakcrete or similar. Buy the highest strength product you can find, do a little archival search in this NG and prepare for a real workout if you DIY. Good luck.
In alt.home.repair on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 20:07:10 -0400 Concrete guy posted:
You make me feel a lot better. When they were doing sidewalks for the homeowners association, from a cement mixer, I bought a couple wheel barrows worth to make the floor. Then things interfered and I never built the shed itself (customized to fit the space and match the house). I was kicking myself that I didn't wait until I was ready to go, and use Sackrete. But you make it sound like a lot of work. And the guy threw in some heavy wire mesh.
Of course mine is just for a shed, only 2 to three square yards, and only two inches thick. I still should have used Sackrete maybe, but at least now I know why I thought it was a better idea to buy some when it was right there in front of my house. All I had to do was put in the wood boundaries, bend the legs for the wire mesh, and shovel it out from his wheel-barrow.
(Now my deck is falling apart, and if I replace it with a bigger one, the floor might not be the right size anyhow. :) Or it might be, still. ) P&M
Meirman If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter.
Get the truck. It may even be cheaper. BTW don't expect it to match what you have either from the truck or the bag. The sand and other materials used will make for some difference. The finish you put on it will make a bigger difference and the age of the concrete will also make a difference. Just accept it will not match now and you will be a lot happier.
Bagged concrete, (at least the brand Home Crapo sells), is pretty low quality. It's generally long on aggregate and short on Portland cement.
If you ever use bagged concrete get some Portland cement to spike it with. Adding one of two coffee cans of cement to the concrete mix helps increase it's strength.
I'd also be leary of buying the "haul your own" batches available at rental yards. They generally don't take very good care of the ingredients and the bozos that work there don't have any concept on how to mix it. (ex: dirt in the aggregate, varying moisture levels in the sand, etc).
The Mitsubishi dry mix truck that came to pour a 3' x 20' sidewalk in front of my sister's house a few years ago carried its own water for mixing and cleaning. Carrying its own water is necessary for the mixer to dial in the proper amounts of water/mix according to the size of the job.
"B" wrote in message news:ioDcd.26153$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com...
This is Turtle.
Small job , the bag stuff is cheaper but you mixing it and you deciding on the moisture level to pour at , The Curing rate of the bag stuff, and just plain having the right mix for the weather and climate of your area. The Cement Company have it down to a Tee on mix types, moisture at the time of pour for weather and climate of your area, and everything is just plain RIGHT for the pour. You can't beat the Cement company for quality. I have had to get cement poured 3 or 4 times in the last few years and I would have to bite my tongue and pry out my bilfold with a craw bar and get it mixed right the first time by the Cement companys to come pour it. Now I form it and set everything up myself but get them to get the mix right the first time. I have seen a bunch of crumbly slabs in the past but not one was bought from a Cement company that was used. I have a Friend of mine that live by me that poured a 24' X 24' slab out back of his house and used Bag cement and he regreets it everysince. The bag stuff requires rebar or screening to stop it from cracking and if you use the Concrete companys they can bring you fibre concrete or Fibrecrete where you don't need no screening or rebar at all. It lets the concrete dry even and moisture stays where it should be without you working with it. The Bag Concrete was so ruff and crumble that he had to build a Cypress board decking to cover it up and the decking material cost alone was more than the concrete from a company would cost.
Also if your going to pour a slab you expect to last a 100+ years , I would get the concrete companys to pour the good stuff and leave the bag stuff for some fellow to regreet it for years to come.
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