Please forgive my ignorance but...

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

... can anyone tell me the approximate weight and volume of a standard Wickes bag of concrete mix?

The catalogue and bags themselves are rather uninformative.

TIA

[Newshound]

But not the web site. This is one of the "Good Ideas" leaflets

[The Medway Handyman]

Approx weight - bl**dy heavy.

Approx volume - never quite enough!

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Newshound" typed

Thanks!

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

You being a woman like,don't you have digital bathroom scales?

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Newshound" typed

Looks helpful, then I read "as a rule of thumb, one bag of Wickes concrete mix will cover an area of 0.0125m³..."

I presume this means a volume but such a phrase does not inspire too much confidence...

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"The Medway Handyman" typed

Cloff!

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" typed

Not here (I have some at my parents' place.)

[Colin Wilson]

I think with it being dry mix, the fat monitor part throws a wobbler, so it doesn`t tell you anything...

And apologies to Helen for what appears to be turning into a sexist thread :-}

[Weatherlawyer]

Gunny sacks are about 25 kilos these days. That will vary as they might be filled wet or get rained on while open. IIRC you'll get about 3 buckets out of a mix. Maybe less. 2 1/2 say.

[DJC]

m^3, call it 100cm x 100cm x 100cm = 1,000,000 cc

1,000,000 x 0,0125 = 12,500cc

ie 12.5 litres

spread it around an inch thick (2.5cm) and you get a 70 cm sq (~ 27in x

27in)

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

DJC typed

Thanks. I'd worked out they meant 1/80 of a cubic metre but was rather disappointed they didn't seem to know the difference between area and volume.

A pedant.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Most bags of cement are now limited to 25kg.

Concrete is about 3 times as dense as water, so lets say about 8 liters.

[Christian McArdle]

The problem is that building material weight depends on humidity, so is variable and they don't like writing on the side in case you complain when it is less and think they have underfilled the sack.

In actuality, most sacks are around 25kg or a little less in most conditions, as that is the HSE weight limit for a single person carrying stuff.

Christian.

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Christian McArdle" typed

Thanks. I was aware the moisture level varied, and only wanted an approximate idea.

[Frank Erskine]

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:51:29 +0100, "Christian McArdle" had this to say:

Pah - aren't people soft nowadays - when I were young we were expected to carry a one hundredweight sack.

:-)

[Guy King]

The message from Frank Erskine contains these words:

On each shoulder.

[Owain]

Up ladders.

In t' pitch dark.

Ah know, we wuz lucky to 'ave ladders. And darkness. Reet posh we wuz, 'avin' darkness.

Owain

[<me9]

And the Irish coalmen delivered in 10st sacks, 16 to the ton.

[John Cartmell]

That's what they told you once they had delivered 16 sacks and demanded payment for a ton. They knew you couldn't weigh it all to check. ;-)

In my first (paid) job as a slim 16 year old I was expected to carry 1cwt sacks (potatoes) and found it within my capabilities even without any training (though bloody tiring - especially the 20 sacks to a chippy with access along an uneven path with limited headroom). I would have found 10st possible with experience - but experience would also have led me to tell the boss that 1cwt was a more reasonable limit!