How to achieve sidewalk color with Basalite brand 80# sacks of concrete mix?

I have to pour a small section of driveway strip using sacks of dry Basalite brand concrete mix. When ordering ready mix, for sidewalks and slabs the ready mix company mixes in color, lamp black or carbon black or their modern equivalent. It's painless, just tell them you meed a sidewalk mix.

Okay, so now I have to repair a small section, ten 80# bags worth, the street is too narrow for cars to get around a truck, so I will just mix it on sight. My problem is that the concrete color most readily available is 10 ounce plastic bottles of Quikrete concrete color. They have a charcoal color but I don't have a clue as to how much to use per sack of concrete mix to get the desired sidewalk color. The bottle says one 10 ounce bottle colors two 80# sacks, but it doesn't give any indication of how dark that will make the cured conc. I also saw some powdered color at Home Depot made by Sakrete.

But it is really tough to find any info on how to achieve a sidewalk color using sacks of conc and off the shelf products available where sacks of conc are sold.

Anyone familiar with this problem? I have seen sidewalk patch jobs come out looking way too white when using sacks. Are some brands whiter than others? How does Basalite look when it cures?

Reply to
Major Debacle
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Stop by the ready mix company and tell them you want to buy enough pigment to color 1/4 yard of concrete and you should be good.

(snip)

Reply to
Mike Paulsen

Works for me.

Thanks, Mike.

Reply to
Major Debacle

make a few 1/2 bag test chunks with differing amounts of colorant to see which matches better. use them for stepping stones somewhere.

Reply to
charlie

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