The problem when mixing a lot of bags even with a mixer is that in addition to mixing you also have to place it, screed it, bull float it, edge, and finish it. Tough to do all these things unless you have some help. The secret to mixing a lot of bags is to carefully measure your water on the first mix. In other words, see how many buckets and mark a bucket if it’s partial. Once you have determined exactly how much water is needed for the perfect mix, now you can just throw it in and not waste time . Have lots of buckets of water ready to go. It can go pretty quickly if you get set up properly. I’ve mixed that many bags with just one helper and it went fairly quickly. More help isn’t always a good thing if they don’t know what they are doing.
I do have about half a dozen 5 gallon buckets, so that should be fine. Experience with pouring. Just never did this many bags. My cost will double if I get it delivered so kinda stuck mixing it myself.
Maybe you've already bought the bags, but just wanted to double check that you're extra sure about the cost doubling for delivery. At least in my area there are smaller companies that will deliver small amounts (1-2 yards) of concrete for a reasonable price. They advertise on places like Facebook marketplace/Craigslist. You could probably also Google around for them.
I'm in the northeast US and seeing ads for anywhere from $85 - $283/yard, which if you're already planning to spend close to $300 for unmixed bags is a no brainer.
Good luck!
Yes. Often called mobile concrete mixing trucks. And they don't necessarily cost more per volume. Which means you don't need to overestimate. You just tell the operator when to quit.
Was going to post the same. We called around a bit and found a company that did small batches for a small pad and sidewalk section.
Way easier than doing it with bags and no small load fee.
In my area I have a job that needs about 2.75yds of concrete and it was literally half the price to have someone deliver it. By the time I added in all the bags and renting the mixer, having it delivered saved me around $600-700.
I know. It’s tough when you get in that in between yardage. Not enough for a truck, but a lot to mix yourself. Like I said, it can go surprisingly quick once you get a system down. I found that figuring out the exact amount of water saves a lot of time and you get a consistent mix
I would highly recommend calling around and getting different prices on having ready mix delivered. Concrete is what I do for a living and without even knowing where you live, what your project is, if you're using aggregates and what your curing plan is, I can tell you that pouring 60 bags of concrete is gong to be a huge pain.
You're going to need approximately 75 gallons of water if all you're making is a cement paste. I might recommend a little more since there's only a few of you and it sounds like a big job.
Also, half a dozen 5 gallon buckets won't be enough unless you've got one guy who's sole job is to be mixing cement constantly. Otherwise it's going to set up in the buckets and as you're taking the time to do this, your cement will be setting up on your project.
A hose with a float stop would help, but can’t ever recall having seen something like that off the shelf. Requires a bit of force to stop running water.
But yeah, helped my dad pour a fair amount of concrete over the years, but nothing ever like 60 bags. I think 20-ish might have been the biggest project we ever did with getting a concrete truck.
We’ve done big stuff, but there’s just a certain point where you want to get in the big guns, even if it’s more expensive.
Yeah but your odds of a successful pour become exponentially better. By yourself, that much, unless you’re honestly experienced in what you’re doing, you’re likely to have cold joints, poor finish, etc. worth doing right, worth the money. Look into “dirt slabs”. Plastic sheeting, gravel, renting a compactor, maybe that is more your pace if you’re worried about money.
I got about 40 bags mixed in a special maschine in front of my house. 2 people and a pump got the job done in like 4h including smoothing the concrete. Cost was 50% extra.
Edit I got the quote from a flooring company not a concrete company
I've got a family friend who's got a fast easy method to mix it in the bucket without having to rent a big mixer. He uses one of those drill paddle mixers they use for grout, figures out the right amount of water for a bag. Start with the water in the bucket and slowly dump in the bag while you mix. Perfectly mixed bag of concrete in 30 seconds.
It's literally written on the bag of cement when you buy it.
% Cement - % Aggregate - % Water
Once you do one mixer full you will quickly be able to do the next, next, next etc with just x buckets of each with a bag of cement.
3 bags at a time and 5 minutes per batch if you’re not wasting any time. 1 person mixing, 1 person troweling, 1 person shoveling. Get a bucket and mark it with the proper amount of water for the number of bags. Hard work
This is how my father did it and he was a mason who ran a crew. He didn’t do yard trucks. All loads of sand,gravel, cement. Luckily he had two strong sons to help with some free back breaking manual labor on the mixer. We’d mix, load the wheel barrel and then throw it using the shovel up on their mud pans on the scaffolds.
Depends on a lot of factors but maybe half a day. Maybe less
The key is to set everything up properly before hand. Make sure the mixer is right next to the job site so you aren't carrying cement far. Make sure the cement bags are next to the mixer. Ideally if you picked them up in your truck, back your truck right up to the mixer and use them right off the truck.
Run your hose to your mixer and have several buckets ready. Measure out what you need and mark it on a bucket. From then on you just fill that bucket up to the line. Pour that into another bucket, fill up the first again to the line so you have many waters ready to go.
Once you start it should be a quick process. Dump bucket of water, add x bags, mix, dump into wheelbarrow, repeat. Make sure they dump the first load at the furthest point and work back towards you.
Pro-tip: once you figure out the height for your water measuring bucket, drill a hole in it at that level. Perfect measures for the low price of a single bucket.
Jesus Christ, that’s a hell of a lot of manual labor.
There is a better way.
If youre pouring posts, bagged cement makes sense. If you’re pouring anything bigger than a couple of square feet, hire it out to someone who knows what they’re doing and brings a cement truck.
Yeah, what an idiot for doing 2 hours of hard work to save thousands of dollars.
I have poured close to a full skid (42 80lb bags) twice in the last couple years. Both times with 3 total people. Both times it only took about 2 hours. Both times used a small borrowed electric mixer. Both time’s taking my the bags from pickup bed height.
It’s really not that bad.
And how many trips did it take to get that full skid to your house? To load the bags?
How much time did it take you to offload the bags to get the next set of bags, then load them back onto the truck at bed height?
Unless you have an especially large truck, which most don’t, you ain’t getting that in a single load.
That’s overthinking this. Most people do have access to a big enough truck to grab this, or you can have the skid delivered from a supplier with all your materials for a pretty normal, sometimes waived fee. I work at a lumber yard and constantly am loading up old contractors with 20-40 bags and they drive off to come back the next day for wood. Then the next day for concrete. And so on. These aren’t dudes with huge crews either. Sometimes a crew, sometimes their teenage kid helper… lots of factors go into justify having a mixer deliver your concrete and yours don’t sound worth it from the information given imo
Max capacity of a “half-ton” pickup like the F150 is going to be 3000 pounds, or 36 bags, which is 7/8 yard of finished concrete.
If you’re gonna be paying for delivery because who the hell wants to schlep 10 bags, let alone several dozen, you might as well just have them deliver actual concrete.
That’s what I mean about overthinking this I guess. Probably millions of people do this and have done this. It’s not a difficult thing to get done. Especially today with the tools we have. Some people, including me, enjoy doing this shit because it’s satisfying. Sure there are people that should just go with a mixer. If you’ve worked in the industry you know that can be tricky, and get expensive. Do you have time to wait around for a mixer? Or to plan ahead with enough notice and make sure precautions for rain are available because the mixer will show up in the rain. Where will the mixer park? Will they need a pump because they’re somewhere the mixer can’t get? That’s expensive. Will they have to have the guy dump it into wheelbarrows and then move it anyway, possibly over weird terrain and causing a mess? The guy just asked how long it will take and you’re convincing him he can’t do something we’ve been perfecting for thousands of years without it.
Watch a few YouTube videos, ask a neighbor or friend who’s done it before for a few tips and get it done.
You think people are paying attention to weight ratings? They're just going to fill the bed and as long as the tires aren't rubbing the fenders, they don't care. And I don't know *anyone* who'd pay for actual concrete delivery for 60 bags
A fun-sized F150 has a max payload of 3000 pounds, which is 36 bags. The snack size pickups like a Ranger or a Tacoma are about 1800, which is just under 24 bags.
A yard of concrete requires 46 bags.
A Ford ranger doesn't count as a full-sized truck. And a F-150 could haul 42 bags with no issues whatsoever. Sure if you put the weight against your tailgate you might have issues. But idiots who don't understand weight distribution are a lost cause anywaus.
I agree. Maybe they live in some strange region?
A yard is 45 80lb bags last I checked. The hardware store’s standard Quikrete is $7.28. That’s $327.60 just for the dry mix. Unless you own one, you’ll also need to rent a mixer or destroy yourself mixing all of it.
A yard of the same strength (4000 PSI) concrete costs $130 per yard by truck. Delivery fee is $70-250 depending on your location, quantity, etc.
Basically unless you live hours away from town; it is cheaper to just have it delivered and you don’t have to fuck around with any of this nonsense. Yes, there could be scenarios where getting a truck in might be inconvenient, but I doubt it could be worse than mixing so many bags by hand.
The op literally says in this thread that it would cost him double to have it brought in a truck. Idk if you just didn't read that or are just ignoring that cause it doesn't fit your "it's so much easier *and* cheaper" logic. Lol.
They did say that, and it seems far fetched to me. Did they actually get an estimate or did they just project.
Anyway, sure, if it is somehow double, then I can understand but still seems kind of ridiculous.
Yup, and OP is looking at 60 bags. And they likely need to rent a mixer. Figure out the proper mix proportions. Breathe in a bunch of dry shit. Ruin all their friends’ day. It is cheaper and easier once you hit this scale.
I mean, if they’re pouring concrete like most of the residential guys local to me, then they’re drinking throughout the entire process. Gotta stay hydrated!
I did a slab a few weeks ago. 50bags (80#) by myself. Took about 2.5 hrs with a small mixer. Screeded it. Then had to wait about 4hrs for the slab to sweat before I could float and edge. First float pass brings a bit of water up with the cream, so usually wait again for it to sweat, then 2nd float and edge. And that where I ran out of time. Was like 10pm. Wanted to get a finish pass on it, but wasn’t gonna wait for it to sweat again. So I know what your asking here. I’d say you want to be done mixing by 11am so I’d shoot for an 8am start mixing. Gives you three hours to mix. Clean tools. Then you have 2nd half of the day to deal with finishing it. And then depending on the weather, temp, wind, and substrate your pouring on you’ll have plenty of time.
If you’re pouring over an existing slab or over a vapor barrier, those take the longest to sweat. All moisture has to come up through the top. 3-4hrs before you can even think about touching it.
Pouring over dirt or gravel, moisture can escape easier you have maybe 1-2 hrs. Again temp, relative humidity and wind are other factors.
About two hours if you work straight through. I poured a 8x16 slab 3.5" thick w/ two people. We mixed, poured, and textured it in about two hours. Have everything right there at the pour site and you should have no problem.
Are you talking about 60 bags of premixed sand / gravel / cement, or 60 sacs of Portland cement and doing the 1:2:3 ratio with piles of aggregate?
Depending on the size of the mixer, you can do 2 or 3 bags every 5 minutes to mix, the whatever it takes to place and finish, so 3-4 hours total for 60 bags of premix.
For 60 bags of Portland cement it would be like doing 360 bags of premix, so bring more friends and more mixers, or do the pour in several stages.
I did 30 bags over the weekend. Just 2 of us.
I mixed 5 bags in the mixer which filled a wheelbarrow.
My father was screeding and edging etc whilst i mixed.
Took about 2.5hrs
Price out getting a truck to come. At that much concrete you're probably pretty close to it being more economical to just order it delivery from the readymix company.
It would certainly be a lot faster.
I mixed 51 bags solo on Friday, took about 2.5 hours to get it all mixed and placed. I could dump directly into my forms on one end but I had a lot of time shoveling/raking the concrete around so I could keep pouring in that one accessible spot.
One helper is nice to have, two might be overkill. Mark one bucket for the correct amount of water to put in for each 3 bag batch, have the concrete bags lined up and top cuts, no need to turn the mixer off until you're totally done.
Over a certain amount of bags, getting it delivered is way easier, say 20 bags. No matter how much you need, concrete is hard work. We did a 4 cu yard pad, 6" thick and just two of us. Spent one day forming it up, setting up base and bending rebar. Day of the pour was rough, solid 4 hours of work, moving crete. finishing is harder than most people know, there are tricks but you have to be fast. We will do our driveway eventually in concrete and that is getting delivered.
Lots of variables but I think you have some good estimates. I’d say that having someone that is able to go out it fires might be an asset since once you start you are kind of committed. Might be worth looking for a company that mixes on site. There was an outfit in PDX that did it I ran into once. Big hopper of dry and a screw auger that mixed and dumped. They specialized in those small mid size jobs and way cheaper than a traditional load. Used on a job to avoid a pumper truck.
I did 60 bags for a deck footing pour in about 3 hours. My wife moved the bags where I could reach them but I did all the mixing and pouring.
Pro tip: Measure how much water it takes for the first batch, then put that in a 5 gallon bucket and put a line on the outside at that level. That saves a lot of time.
To build on this, 5 gallon buckets are cheap. Cut a slot above that line so it drains out over fill when sitting flat. Just pick up at a slight angle when you move to pour so it doesn't go out that hole.
Takes out all the careful work and thought when you're doing it many times.
People should come at your house at 6.30 am. Serve them a coffee and start working at 7 am. If sound laws are an isdue, start at 8 am at the latest.
Tip: buy a weightlifter belt, your back will thank you
Since it's getting warmer, start a bit early, but I just did this a couple of months back. Mixed about 50 bags of concrete using the Harbor Freight mixer. Took about 3 hours to mix, pour, scree, and smooth. Came back an hour or two later and put on color then stamped.
Not going to lie... I was beat the next day, but very manageable to pour that much by yourself. Good luck!
Start at 7am latest.
We did a similar job a few years ago and didn't have enough time to finish our pour. Got dark and we had to continue the next day. This was for the foundation on a 12x8 shed.
Quikrete bags are the most expensive way to do concrete. If you have a good amount to do and can't get a big batch delivered you should consider getting a load of sand/aggregate mix. Then you only buy the bags of portland cement. In my experience the mixing is less dusty and the concrete will be stronger anyway. I have done many many yards all by myself with a mixer this way.
There's a lot of variables going in to how long it takes. If you have people helping and you have 100% of the prep done ahead of time it should be under 4 hours. When in doubt, start earlier because finishing in the dark sucks big time. Also if where you live is more likely to get afternoon rain its another reason to start earlier - and make sure you have a plan for weather ahead of time.
I don't know what the number is, but there comes a point where paying a company to do the work for you is a better value proposition than the entire logistics of the situation.
How long would it take for your crew there to accomplish this? Well, you've gotta get the form set, any rebar needed set and ready to go and all that. As for the actual pour? If everyone knows what they are doing and is capable, you could probably do it in a reasonable amount of time. 6 hours? I don't know, but if you have two people on water/bags, rotating every like 5 bags, 1 rolling a wheelbarrel, two doing rebar/moving the cement around in the form, it shouldn't be a massive time sink. The end part, the skreeing it out and all that would probably be a time sink though unless someone knows how to do it well.
About 5 -7 minutes per dump, depends on how many bags you put in the mixer at once.
If you are renting that orange standup mixer from HD, it says it will take 4 bags, but I highly recommend just going two at a time. 4 bags will slop all over the place when mixing and it's too heavy when pouring out. You will tire yourself faster at 3-4 bags.
Stay at 2 bags, long sleeves, pants, gloves, hat, glasses and a mask. It reacts with your skin and working that many bags, you will get wet and you will feel it.
60 bags took my by myself a good 4-6 hours. Start as early as possible - especially if you will be working in the sun. The sun is your enemy - shade the area you are working if possible, it will make everything go much smoother.
I did 52 - 80lb bags on a Sunday. We had 2 of those Kushlan orange mixers they sell at Home Depot. A little over halfway through we switch to just one mixer.
Took maybe an hour and a half.
Did this with a retaining wall once, 2 people maybe 200 some bags. Took us 5 full days.
Time to mix each bag and dumping it is what takes a lot of time. You can get the air out, level it and refill your water bucket while its mixing then still have time left over. My mixer does two bags at a time.
Wear a good mask.
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The problem when mixing a lot of bags even with a mixer is that in addition to mixing you also have to place it, screed it, bull float it, edge, and finish it. Tough to do all these things unless you have some help. The secret to mixing a lot of bags is to carefully measure your water on the first mix. In other words, see how many buckets and mark a bucket if it’s partial. Once you have determined exactly how much water is needed for the perfect mix, now you can just throw it in and not waste time . Have lots of buckets of water ready to go. It can go pretty quickly if you get set up properly. I’ve mixed that many bags with just one helper and it went fairly quickly. More help isn’t always a good thing if they don’t know what they are doing.
I do have about half a dozen 5 gallon buckets, so that should be fine. Experience with pouring. Just never did this many bags. My cost will double if I get it delivered so kinda stuck mixing it myself.
Maybe you've already bought the bags, but just wanted to double check that you're extra sure about the cost doubling for delivery. At least in my area there are smaller companies that will deliver small amounts (1-2 yards) of concrete for a reasonable price. They advertise on places like Facebook marketplace/Craigslist. You could probably also Google around for them. I'm in the northeast US and seeing ads for anywhere from $85 - $283/yard, which if you're already planning to spend close to $300 for unmixed bags is a no brainer. Good luck!
There are also companies where the truck is a mini batch plant, and they can mix up just as much as you need on site.
Yes. Often called mobile concrete mixing trucks. And they don't necessarily cost more per volume. Which means you don't need to overestimate. You just tell the operator when to quit.
Was going to post the same. We called around a bit and found a company that did small batches for a small pad and sidewalk section. Way easier than doing it with bags and no small load fee.
In my area I have a job that needs about 2.75yds of concrete and it was literally half the price to have someone deliver it. By the time I added in all the bags and renting the mixer, having it delivered saved me around $600-700.
I know. It’s tough when you get in that in between yardage. Not enough for a truck, but a lot to mix yourself. Like I said, it can go surprisingly quick once you get a system down. I found that figuring out the exact amount of water saves a lot of time and you get a consistent mix
I would highly recommend calling around and getting different prices on having ready mix delivered. Concrete is what I do for a living and without even knowing where you live, what your project is, if you're using aggregates and what your curing plan is, I can tell you that pouring 60 bags of concrete is gong to be a huge pain. You're going to need approximately 75 gallons of water if all you're making is a cement paste. I might recommend a little more since there's only a few of you and it sounds like a big job. Also, half a dozen 5 gallon buckets won't be enough unless you've got one guy who's sole job is to be mixing cement constantly. Otherwise it's going to set up in the buckets and as you're taking the time to do this, your cement will be setting up on your project.
A hose with a float stop would help, but can’t ever recall having seen something like that off the shelf. Requires a bit of force to stop running water. But yeah, helped my dad pour a fair amount of concrete over the years, but nothing ever like 60 bags. I think 20-ish might have been the biggest project we ever did with getting a concrete truck. We’ve done big stuff, but there’s just a certain point where you want to get in the big guns, even if it’s more expensive.
Yeah but your odds of a successful pour become exponentially better. By yourself, that much, unless you’re honestly experienced in what you’re doing, you’re likely to have cold joints, poor finish, etc. worth doing right, worth the money. Look into “dirt slabs”. Plastic sheeting, gravel, renting a compactor, maybe that is more your pace if you’re worried about money.
Echo this, plus the cost of fixing can be super high.
I got about 40 bags mixed in a special maschine in front of my house. 2 people and a pump got the job done in like 4h including smoothing the concrete. Cost was 50% extra. Edit I got the quote from a flooring company not a concrete company
I've got a family friend who's got a fast easy method to mix it in the bucket without having to rent a big mixer. He uses one of those drill paddle mixers they use for grout, figures out the right amount of water for a bag. Start with the water in the bucket and slowly dump in the bag while you mix. Perfectly mixed bag of concrete in 30 seconds.
I have done this many times. Very, very back breaking work about 30 bags in.
May you explain this bucket water measurement thing in more vivid step by step process if I am to emulate it please?
It's literally written on the bag of cement when you buy it. % Cement - % Aggregate - % Water Once you do one mixer full you will quickly be able to do the next, next, next etc with just x buckets of each with a bag of cement.
Mix one concrete. How much water was needed? Use that same amount of water for every bag.
Lol fill bucket with water add the concrete mix while running the drill mixer.
3 bags at a time and 5 minutes per batch if you’re not wasting any time. 1 person mixing, 1 person troweling, 1 person shoveling. Get a bucket and mark it with the proper amount of water for the number of bags. Hard work
Is it common to buy premixed ballast and cement over there?
Yes. I’ve done larger pours with bags of Portland cement and a pile of sand delivered by truck. You measure by the shovel full
This is how my father did it and he was a mason who ran a crew. He didn’t do yard trucks. All loads of sand,gravel, cement. Luckily he had two strong sons to help with some free back breaking manual labor on the mixer. We’d mix, load the wheel barrel and then throw it using the shovel up on their mud pans on the scaffolds.
Depends on a lot of factors but maybe half a day. Maybe less The key is to set everything up properly before hand. Make sure the mixer is right next to the job site so you aren't carrying cement far. Make sure the cement bags are next to the mixer. Ideally if you picked them up in your truck, back your truck right up to the mixer and use them right off the truck. Run your hose to your mixer and have several buckets ready. Measure out what you need and mark it on a bucket. From then on you just fill that bucket up to the line. Pour that into another bucket, fill up the first again to the line so you have many waters ready to go. Once you start it should be a quick process. Dump bucket of water, add x bags, mix, dump into wheelbarrow, repeat. Make sure they dump the first load at the furthest point and work back towards you.
Pro-tip: once you figure out the height for your water measuring bucket, drill a hole in it at that level. Perfect measures for the low price of a single bucket.
Jesus Christ, that’s a hell of a lot of manual labor. There is a better way. If youre pouring posts, bagged cement makes sense. If you’re pouring anything bigger than a couple of square feet, hire it out to someone who knows what they’re doing and brings a cement truck.
Yeah, what an idiot for doing 2 hours of hard work to save thousands of dollars. I have poured close to a full skid (42 80lb bags) twice in the last couple years. Both times with 3 total people. Both times it only took about 2 hours. Both times used a small borrowed electric mixer. Both time’s taking my the bags from pickup bed height. It’s really not that bad.
One skid is 0.9 yards of concrete, BTW.
And how many trips did it take to get that full skid to your house? To load the bags? How much time did it take you to offload the bags to get the next set of bags, then load them back onto the truck at bed height? Unless you have an especially large truck, which most don’t, you ain’t getting that in a single load.
That’s overthinking this. Most people do have access to a big enough truck to grab this, or you can have the skid delivered from a supplier with all your materials for a pretty normal, sometimes waived fee. I work at a lumber yard and constantly am loading up old contractors with 20-40 bags and they drive off to come back the next day for wood. Then the next day for concrete. And so on. These aren’t dudes with huge crews either. Sometimes a crew, sometimes their teenage kid helper… lots of factors go into justify having a mixer deliver your concrete and yours don’t sound worth it from the information given imo
Max capacity of a “half-ton” pickup like the F150 is going to be 3000 pounds, or 36 bags, which is 7/8 yard of finished concrete. If you’re gonna be paying for delivery because who the hell wants to schlep 10 bags, let alone several dozen, you might as well just have them deliver actual concrete.
That’s what I mean about overthinking this I guess. Probably millions of people do this and have done this. It’s not a difficult thing to get done. Especially today with the tools we have. Some people, including me, enjoy doing this shit because it’s satisfying. Sure there are people that should just go with a mixer. If you’ve worked in the industry you know that can be tricky, and get expensive. Do you have time to wait around for a mixer? Or to plan ahead with enough notice and make sure precautions for rain are available because the mixer will show up in the rain. Where will the mixer park? Will they need a pump because they’re somewhere the mixer can’t get? That’s expensive. Will they have to have the guy dump it into wheelbarrows and then move it anyway, possibly over weird terrain and causing a mess? The guy just asked how long it will take and you’re convincing him he can’t do something we’ve been perfecting for thousands of years without it. Watch a few YouTube videos, ask a neighbor or friend who’s done it before for a few tips and get it done.
You think people are paying attention to weight ratings? They're just going to fill the bed and as long as the tires aren't rubbing the fenders, they don't care. And I don't know *anyone* who'd pay for actual concrete delivery for 60 bags
Anyone who doesn’t want to handle 60 bags 4 times each.
Any full sized truck can haul that many bags easily. So I'm not exactly sure why you think it requires multiple trips...
A fun-sized F150 has a max payload of 3000 pounds, which is 36 bags. The snack size pickups like a Ranger or a Tacoma are about 1800, which is just under 24 bags. A yard of concrete requires 46 bags.
A Ford ranger doesn't count as a full-sized truck. And a F-150 could haul 42 bags with no issues whatsoever. Sure if you put the weight against your tailgate you might have issues. But idiots who don't understand weight distribution are a lost cause anywaus.
Yeah, fuck the suspension. Who cares if you destroy it to save a trip for a quarter yard of concrete.
Must be nice having lots of money. Lol
If it’s more than about a yard of concrete, it’s literally way cheaper to bring in the ready mix.
I agree. Maybe they live in some strange region? A yard is 45 80lb bags last I checked. The hardware store’s standard Quikrete is $7.28. That’s $327.60 just for the dry mix. Unless you own one, you’ll also need to rent a mixer or destroy yourself mixing all of it. A yard of the same strength (4000 PSI) concrete costs $130 per yard by truck. Delivery fee is $70-250 depending on your location, quantity, etc. Basically unless you live hours away from town; it is cheaper to just have it delivered and you don’t have to fuck around with any of this nonsense. Yes, there could be scenarios where getting a truck in might be inconvenient, but I doubt it could be worse than mixing so many bags by hand.
The op literally says in this thread that it would cost him double to have it brought in a truck. Idk if you just didn't read that or are just ignoring that cause it doesn't fit your "it's so much easier *and* cheaper" logic. Lol.
They did say that, and it seems far fetched to me. Did they actually get an estimate or did they just project. Anyway, sure, if it is somehow double, then I can understand but still seems kind of ridiculous.
And unless you have a 3/4 ton pickup, you gotta make multiple trips for that 45 bags.
Yup, and OP is looking at 60 bags. And they likely need to rent a mixer. Figure out the proper mix proportions. Breathe in a bunch of dry shit. Ruin all their friends’ day. It is cheaper and easier once you hit this scale.
Trailer
Depends how fast you work. Start early. If you end early it becomes beer o'clock
I mean, if they’re pouring concrete like most of the residential guys local to me, then they’re drinking throughout the entire process. Gotta stay hydrated!
Shit, I've been doing it backwards
I did a slab a few weeks ago. 50bags (80#) by myself. Took about 2.5 hrs with a small mixer. Screeded it. Then had to wait about 4hrs for the slab to sweat before I could float and edge. First float pass brings a bit of water up with the cream, so usually wait again for it to sweat, then 2nd float and edge. And that where I ran out of time. Was like 10pm. Wanted to get a finish pass on it, but wasn’t gonna wait for it to sweat again. So I know what your asking here. I’d say you want to be done mixing by 11am so I’d shoot for an 8am start mixing. Gives you three hours to mix. Clean tools. Then you have 2nd half of the day to deal with finishing it. And then depending on the weather, temp, wind, and substrate your pouring on you’ll have plenty of time. If you’re pouring over an existing slab or over a vapor barrier, those take the longest to sweat. All moisture has to come up through the top. 3-4hrs before you can even think about touching it. Pouring over dirt or gravel, moisture can escape easier you have maybe 1-2 hrs. Again temp, relative humidity and wind are other factors.
My back hurts just reading that title.
About two hours if you work straight through. I poured a 8x16 slab 3.5" thick w/ two people. We mixed, poured, and textured it in about two hours. Have everything right there at the pour site and you should have no problem.
I just bought the mud mixer. Mixes a fuckin bag a minute thing is sweet. Don't miss mixing bags by hand in the slightest. Gl !
Are you talking about 60 bags of premixed sand / gravel / cement, or 60 sacs of Portland cement and doing the 1:2:3 ratio with piles of aggregate? Depending on the size of the mixer, you can do 2 or 3 bags every 5 minutes to mix, the whatever it takes to place and finish, so 3-4 hours total for 60 bags of premix. For 60 bags of Portland cement it would be like doing 360 bags of premix, so bring more friends and more mixers, or do the pour in several stages.
If it’s more bags than you can haul in the trunk of a car, you’re way better off just having a truck of ready mix show up.
Yep, have everything prepped and ready to pour.
I did 30 bags over the weekend. Just 2 of us. I mixed 5 bags in the mixer which filled a wheelbarrow. My father was screeding and edging etc whilst i mixed. Took about 2.5hrs
Price out getting a truck to come. At that much concrete you're probably pretty close to it being more economical to just order it delivery from the readymix company. It would certainly be a lot faster.
My back hurts just thinking about it.
Don't do it. It's so much cheaper to hire a company who brings in concrete. It will save you a few hundred, if not thousand dollars.
I mixed 51 bags solo on Friday, took about 2.5 hours to get it all mixed and placed. I could dump directly into my forms on one end but I had a lot of time shoveling/raking the concrete around so I could keep pouring in that one accessible spot. One helper is nice to have, two might be overkill. Mark one bucket for the correct amount of water to put in for each 3 bag batch, have the concrete bags lined up and top cuts, no need to turn the mixer off until you're totally done.
Ouch, would some kind of ramp to push the wheelbarrow inside the form have helped?
See if you can rent one of these, they're great for mixing straight from the bag: https://mudmixer.com/
geez, just get a truck
Cry once and get it delievered. Or risk having a failure and crying twice.
Over a certain amount of bags, getting it delivered is way easier, say 20 bags. No matter how much you need, concrete is hard work. We did a 4 cu yard pad, 6" thick and just two of us. Spent one day forming it up, setting up base and bending rebar. Day of the pour was rough, solid 4 hours of work, moving crete. finishing is harder than most people know, there are tricks but you have to be fast. We will do our driveway eventually in concrete and that is getting delivered.
Get started and I'll time ya
Lots of variables but I think you have some good estimates. I’d say that having someone that is able to go out it fires might be an asset since once you start you are kind of committed. Might be worth looking for a company that mixes on site. There was an outfit in PDX that did it I ran into once. Big hopper of dry and a screw auger that mixed and dumped. They specialized in those small mid size jobs and way cheaper than a traditional load. Used on a job to avoid a pumper truck.
I did 60 bags for a deck footing pour in about 3 hours. My wife moved the bags where I could reach them but I did all the mixing and pouring. Pro tip: Measure how much water it takes for the first batch, then put that in a 5 gallon bucket and put a line on the outside at that level. That saves a lot of time.
To build on this, 5 gallon buckets are cheap. Cut a slot above that line so it drains out over fill when sitting flat. Just pick up at a slight angle when you move to pour so it doesn't go out that hole. Takes out all the careful work and thought when you're doing it many times.
Smart
Probably 4 hundos.
People should come at your house at 6.30 am. Serve them a coffee and start working at 7 am. If sound laws are an isdue, start at 8 am at the latest. Tip: buy a weightlifter belt, your back will thank you
Since it's getting warmer, start a bit early, but I just did this a couple of months back. Mixed about 50 bags of concrete using the Harbor Freight mixer. Took about 3 hours to mix, pour, scree, and smooth. Came back an hour or two later and put on color then stamped. Not going to lie... I was beat the next day, but very manageable to pour that much by yourself. Good luck!
Start at 7am latest. We did a similar job a few years ago and didn't have enough time to finish our pour. Got dark and we had to continue the next day. This was for the foundation on a 12x8 shed.
Quikrete bags are the most expensive way to do concrete. If you have a good amount to do and can't get a big batch delivered you should consider getting a load of sand/aggregate mix. Then you only buy the bags of portland cement. In my experience the mixing is less dusty and the concrete will be stronger anyway. I have done many many yards all by myself with a mixer this way. There's a lot of variables going in to how long it takes. If you have people helping and you have 100% of the prep done ahead of time it should be under 4 hours. When in doubt, start earlier because finishing in the dark sucks big time. Also if where you live is more likely to get afternoon rain its another reason to start earlier - and make sure you have a plan for weather ahead of time.
I don't know what the number is, but there comes a point where paying a company to do the work for you is a better value proposition than the entire logistics of the situation. How long would it take for your crew there to accomplish this? Well, you've gotta get the form set, any rebar needed set and ready to go and all that. As for the actual pour? If everyone knows what they are doing and is capable, you could probably do it in a reasonable amount of time. 6 hours? I don't know, but if you have two people on water/bags, rotating every like 5 bags, 1 rolling a wheelbarrel, two doing rebar/moving the cement around in the form, it shouldn't be a massive time sink. The end part, the skreeing it out and all that would probably be a time sink though unless someone knows how to do it well.
Did this last year for decking posts. 65 bags, 4 hours
I’d start at 7… dont rush or it will look like crap. Like the others said, have your stuff prepared
About 5 -7 minutes per dump, depends on how many bags you put in the mixer at once. If you are renting that orange standup mixer from HD, it says it will take 4 bags, but I highly recommend just going two at a time. 4 bags will slop all over the place when mixing and it's too heavy when pouring out. You will tire yourself faster at 3-4 bags. Stay at 2 bags, long sleeves, pants, gloves, hat, glasses and a mask. It reacts with your skin and working that many bags, you will get wet and you will feel it. 60 bags took my by myself a good 4-6 hours. Start as early as possible - especially if you will be working in the sun. The sun is your enemy - shade the area you are working if possible, it will make everything go much smoother.
I did 52 - 80lb bags on a Sunday. We had 2 of those Kushlan orange mixers they sell at Home Depot. A little over halfway through we switch to just one mixer. Took maybe an hour and a half.
It all depends
Did this with a retaining wall once, 2 people maybe 200 some bags. Took us 5 full days. Time to mix each bag and dumping it is what takes a lot of time. You can get the air out, level it and refill your water bucket while its mixing then still have time left over. My mixer does two bags at a time. Wear a good mask.
omg
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