With a small electric concrete mixer (2 bags of 60# or 80# ready mix at a time) I'm not able to mix much more than an area of 6' x 12' by 4" thick, anymore I'm not able to finish before it sets in. That was about 44 bags of
60# of ready mix.Would having two small mixers on at the same time increase productivity? I don't think I could, or want to, do more than 100 60# bags day.
your losing fiancially, for larger quanties your better off getting it ppre mixed by a truck.
last time I did a slab, 70 bucks a yard, by truck
by bag 4 tmes that.....
Ok, than how would one guy finish say a 5 yard minimum delivered without the concrete setting in? Or I could get it one yard at a time (same price as premixed bags) but I have to return the trailer within 3 hours which takes away time for finishing. The problem is, its just one of me. If I have 7 guys, there wouldn't be any problem getting a 12 yard truck load at a time.
I'll concur -- or get a larger mixer (and more importantly, a buddy or two) and buy the cement and aggregate/sand and mix it from scratch...
The guy says he's working alone you have to take his word for it. I live in a remote part of the country where it can be difficult or impossible to find helpers. Whether paid or not, no one wants to drive all that way to help out or to make a few bucks. Of course you can get someone if you are loaded and can afford to pay well. Most are not.
When you hire a stranger then they immediatly know a whole lot about you, which is worth avoiding. Even if the contractor is well known his workers may not be. Robberies and home invasions are becoming more common and the bad guys always come armed. Do the job by yourself unless you want to invite the bad guys over to "help" you.
You have no friends that will come for a weekend work/party?
te:
thick,
try to find some friends, or paid help.
check cost of 5 yards delivered
check cost of 5 yards by bag
then check cost of friends realtives or paid help.
I was just pointing out by the bag is the pricest way to go, and not good if your placing a large slab......
thick,
If you'll note, I agreed w/ you and suggested to OP he get some help...Lawrence was the one who ragged about being a loner, not me, and my response was to him, not you...
Here is the mixer I am looking at for pouring piers and fence posts on my place. I know I can have it delivered but I probably won't. On the back of my place no Truck can get. I will be able to pour corner posts and bracing posts for the fence I want to build back there. I bet the OP would love to have this thing.
If I had a big pour I would do what you said and impose upon those who owe me favors and even those who don't. I could go to the local bar and hire men right now. Sure it's better to have a crew and have the mud delivered. The OP said he was working alone, that's all.
I also plan my jobs to be completed alone and on this basis feel I am in a position to respect the OP and his need or desire to work alone. He has his reasons some of which may have been mentioned and some maybe not. Some sites could be inacessable enough to prohibit bringin in the Truck. It don't matter the reason for if you want to work alone then it can usually be done. It's nice to have help, no one can disagree.
The one job that almost has to be hired is well drilling. It is quite a specialty and I have never heard of an average property owner renting or buying a drilling rig, hehe. I hired one. Of course people had to dig their own well back in the day. The don't anymore at least not that I hear of. What other jobs are so specialized that almost no one, no matter how handy, would attempt?
Repairing a slate roof is one I'd feel uncomfortable doing. Of course my grandfather actually did it back in the 40's because like you say money was tight. I also tend to shy away from gas-fired appliances that require flues, just because I don't have the experience to set them up right.
nate
rote:
" thick,
44 bags ofwell the concrete job may cost him 4 or 5 times the cost of concrete to do it alone, besides being very hard work.
on water well drilling google hydra dry or deep rock. the DIY of well drillers for the cost of a well you can buy a machine, I have one here and will drill shortly. I have city water but will use it for weatering lawn, washing cars, toilets and such.
=EF=BF=BDPeople
those fiancially strapped people are just the ones to have help for some fast cash........
quoted text -
That's another good example Nate. I wonder how much one of those slate shingles would weigh? I know I used to put a bundle of ashpalt shingles on my shoulder and carry it up to a two-story roof. I can't do it anymore though. I would hire a lift to put the shingles up there these days. Anyone who delivers shingles will also be able to put them on the roof if desired. Slate has got to be heavy though. It might take two people to lift a slate shingle. I don't know.
Couldn't get any help from in-laws, too rich and busy to be of use. They themselves hire contractors to do their own projects so why should they physically help me? Sadly that's their perspective. If I have a party they would come, but if I need help, forget it. Most of my friends are out of town or in another state and some in bad health. Anyway, there are some Mexicans in the Home Depot parking lot a few towns over, so that might be a possibility but my truck only holds a couple of helpers and they don't have transportation. I have to drive them back, there will be a language barrier and insurance issue so its not worth the hassle. I once hired some people off the street on an hourly bases but it turn out cheaper if I had used a licensed contractor in the first place. That was for interior painting and screw ups I could fix but concrete screw ups are pretty much permanent without a jackhammer.
I have a similar mixer and I have done a lot of concrete with it. Working alone I usually say 20 bags or so is about all I can handle and still have time to finish it. With a helper I can get closer to 30 but you still end up with the first batch setting up before you are done so be sure you have that pretty close to right early. Working with a mixer like this we have figured out you set up behind the truck. Tilt the mixer toward the truck to load from the bed of the truck, away to dump into a wheelbarrow and wheel it to the forms. Starting higher in the truck you don't have to lift the bags as high and you handle them one time less. If you are over this amount, block the end of the form and start fresh tomorrow where you stopped at a clean edge. Put an expansion strip there. Once you get over a yard, get a truck. Even with the delivery charge it will be cheaper than bags. There really isn't a minimum but you do pay for the truck and then for the concrete so a full truck is cheaper per yard than a yard. It was $348 for 2 1/2 yards of 3000# gravel 2 weeks ago in Ft Myers Fla. and they know us. Strangers get a $100 delivery charge.
If you're driving your well through rock, you pretty much have to hire it done. If you're on dirt or sand, driving a well point for a relatively shallow well (say, 20' or less) isn't that big a deal. You can get a sand point from
You COULD drive a deep well by yourself, but the chances are there are better uses for your time, and it probably won't save you much money by the time you're done building or renting the equipment.
There's also a technique using concentric pipes where you use a trash pump to pump water down one pipe and up the other, and sort of wash your way to the aquifer, but I've never seen that done.
Slate roofs can weight anywhere from 750 pounds per square to 2250 pounds per square, depending on the thickness of the slate. The individual slates aren't heavy, though, they're about 1/3rd to 1/2 the size of a regular 3-tab.
I have one here getting ready to drill cobbled together over the last few years......... cheap
the big danger if repairing a slate roof, they last so long the nails often rust away or the slate fails and slides down the roof.
dont walk directly on slate roofs use ladders and wood to spread the weight...
That's a good post Goedjn. My well is 150 feet so you can see why I was a bit imtimidated. It is perfectly reliable so it seems I'm where I need to be. Cost me about $5000 and looks like drillers make a great profit if their busy.
I bet there are times when a shallow well would hold water on my place though. I would be willing to look into it. My soil has rock but it is mostly on the surface. I have clay too so that would slow me down.
The State of Minnesota wants to know when you drill a well and they try to keep track of where they all are. When a property is abandoned they want to close them up for godd reasons.
I am lucky on my place, it seems I can drill a well anywhere and as many as I want on my 20 acres. Water is the number one necessity which makes your property usable. We have a tremendous water resource in our state, the best.
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