OT what to do with extra concrete/ critique my plan

[jamscal]

I'm filling in a pit for a press brake and I'm going to need about .18 yards of concrete.

Minimum delivered is 1 yard.

I'm not going to rent a mixer and do bags...paying for the full yard delivered is more than worth it, so I'm 'stuck' with the extra.

The current plan is to fill a couple 55 gallon drums and have some lifting eyes on them so I can block my side driveway (shop). It's also useful to have a counterweight, hold down, smasher, etc.

I have a couple tires I was going to fill too.

Any tips of other creative things to do with the drums before filling with concrete?

 

[Rob F.]

Not sure of your question, you need 18 yds to fill your hole? That is about 2 trucks worth. Is it a foundation for the machine going in or are you just filling the hole it is leaving behind? There should be a slurry mix to just fill the hole if that is the case, cheaper than actual concrete...

 

[Rudd]

read again, minimum delivery is 27 cu ft, he needs 5. 5 cubic feet. I wouldn't rent a mixer either, I'd use a wheelbarrow and a hoe.
I'd imagine you can pay for 1 yard, and take less. Check with the mix plant.

 

[duckfarmer27]

I'm with Rudd - mix it in a wheelbarrow. 3 bags of sackcrete.

But around here you can just take what you want and let them take the rest. Local guy here makes blocks for headwalls out of any turn back - some people buy the same concrete twice.

On the drums, use at least a little rebar tied to the lifting eye to help it stay together after the drum rusts away. At least that's the way I'd do it.

I usually have a place where I want to extend a pad in the implement shed behind the shop in case there is any leftover available in the neighborhood.

Dale

 

[Scruffy887]

read again, minimum delivery is 27 cu ft, he needs 5. 5 cubic feet. I wouldn't rent a mixer either, I'd use a wheelbarrow and a hoe.
I'd imagine you can pay for 1 yard, and take less. Check with the mix plant.

I do not know any hoes that would mix concrete. For sure hard turning.

Many mix plants will make crush blocks with extra concrete, but you seem to have some good ideas for leftover mix. I would like to make a dumpster masher that I could use with my forklift. Very often we fill the thing with fluffy stuff. It would be nice to have a fookin heavy thingy to mash it down. And not worry about somebody stealing it.

 

[GregSY]

Any press brake that needs a .18 cu. yd pit doesn't need a pit of any sort. Leave it on the pallet.

 

[Bobw]

Go to the restaurant supply store, and get some ice molds and make concrete dolphins.

 

[kb0thn]

The 55 gallon drums of concrete with rebar loop are somewhat handy. I've made more than a few with extra concrete. What I've found more useful is a small rectangular wooden crate that nicely held 1,000 lbs of concrete. Much easier to move with the forklift since it has runners underneath.

When you are in a rural area, the trucks aren't always as keen to take extra back to their plant. You either have something prepared to use the concrete or they wash it out wherever it is least convenient for you. If they use enough water it just make a mess. If they are assholes they just dump it undiluted when they are out of view and you find that you have a multi yard blob of concrete in your ditch.

 

[dstig]

If you have a tractor you can make a nice 3-point counterweight by adding in the lower arm and upper arm lift points to your drum.

But I'm with all the others that said to mix it by hand. It is a trivial amount of concrete to mix by hand in a wheelbarrow or tub.

 

[ferrretcatcher]

If you're not in a hurry I would ask if you could get some concrete when they go by your place on another job. Might even be able to get leftovers from somebody else's jobsite. Otherwise I would mix it by hand. Here the minimum is 2.5 yards and it's around $130 a yard with fiber.

 

[Bondo]

.18 of a yard is somewhere around 10 80# bags. That's 2 hours or less by wheelbarrow.

Other purposes for concrete are bollards, walking pads, rain diverter pads, or as other have mentioned, most concrete companies sell bin blocks which is made from left over concrete.

.8 of a yard left over is like 3,000# so use it accordingly.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[henrya]

There are undoubtedly some gentlemen from beyond our southern border who would come with bags of concrete and leave you with a poured and finished job for not much money. And you never even get dirty.

 

[kustomizer]

Throw down some plastic sheet, form up a few handy size slabs with some rebar in them. Next time you need a slab just fork it over to where you need it. This is a slab that was in the way, we cut 2 8x8's and some 4x8's and 4x4's, I set them out in the field for later except one 8x8, I put down some pea gravel then plopped on a slab for my brake.After I plopped it on the pea gravel I put a tumbler on it and let it run a couple of hours.

 

[Rudd]

I do not know any hoes that would mix concrete. For sure hard turning.

Stop by some time, I'll introduce you to mine. People that do a lot of this often cut a hole in the center of the blade. It's really not that hard.

 

[E189552]

1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet
.18 x 27 = 4.86 cubic feet
The cube root of 4.86 = aprox 1.694
So a cube 1.7’ x 1.7’ x 1.7’ , roughly a 20” cube
According to the Sackrete calculator you would need 1 80lb bag.
I put that much in each post hole in my fence

 

[Bobw]

1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet
.18 x 27 = 4.86 cubic feet
The cube root of 4.86 = aprox 1.694
So a cube 1.7’ x 1.7’ x 1.7’ , roughly a 20” cube
According to the Sackrete calculator you would need 1 80lb bag.
I put that much in each post hole in my fence

The depth on the calculator is in inches. If you tell it 1.7" deep,
it comes up with one bag. If you give it 20", it comes up with 8.

Mixing up 8 bags, even by hand, in a $10 Home Depot plastic tub won't
take you but an hour or so to mix and pour. If there are 2 or 3 of you, you'll be done
in a half hour and it'll only cost you $50.

 

[wheels17]

I've had this for years and it is great for small jobs.

Set it up about 30 feet away from the hole. Add water and sackcrete. Roll it about halfway to the hole, turn 180 degrees, roll the rest of the way and it is usually ready. My easiest job was as the end of my gently sloping driveway. I filled the mixer at the top, controlled the roll down the driveway, and unloaded.

This is a snip from a review that gives good advice on using this.

I did 1200 lbs concrete in this bucket at 60 lbs a bag let me tell you what I learned. Wash the lid right away after opening it or the concrete will dry on the inside of the lid before you can finish spreading out the cement you mixed. Wash out the bucket before you mix another batch of cement. the Cement will build up inside the bucket if you don't rinse and prep before you do the next batch. If buildup up occurs in the bucket you will be trying to get the cement off the inside of the bucket where it tries to bond to the walls and bottom. More cement mixing means more buildup till its really a pain to remove. Rinse the bucket between batches. If you fail rinse the lid right away the o ring will seat on concrete deposits making it wear out faster. When this o ring is gone you will have a leaky mixing bucket with concrete liquid coming out all over your mixing surface ( driveway grass what ever). My bucket is cleaned every time I mix a batch this way it will last and make the job require less work.

It's available here:
Leonard OdJob™ Concrete Mixer

 

[Scruffy887]

.18 yards is a very small pit. I had to fill a sinkhole at side of my driveway. Old septic beehive filled with washed stone and we lost the lid. Put down asphalt and after some heavy rain and driving over it an 18" sinkhole formed. 5)80 pound bags did the trick and I dumped 4 bags dry. About halfway through 5th bag I could not get any more and poked and tamped the last bit in. Then added water to mix up the top 6". Ground moisture will do the rest.

 

[jamscal]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm figuring over 10 bags depending on weight of bags, but I'm not mixing it myself.

The questions was what to do with the excess

I'm saving money by saving time. It will take an hour to go to Lowe's and back for X bags and mixing tub. Then an hour min. to stage, mix and pour.

Or if you don't think I'm saving money, I'm saving my back, or saving aggravation. Believe me, it will be well worth the $200ish (I think) to have a truck show up and fill up.

FYI the pit was over 24" deep and 10' long for the main part. We bought a scoop of gravel to bring it up to within 6" of the surface.

 

[Fitznoodle]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm figuring over 10 bags depending on weight of bags, but I'm not mixing it myself.

The questions was what to do with the excess

I'm saving money by saving time. It will take an hour to go to Lowe's and back for X bags and mixing tub. Then an hour min. to stage, mix and pour.

Or if you don't think I'm saving money, I'm saving my back, or saving aggravation. Believe me, it will be well worth the $200ish (I think) to have a truck show up and fill up.

FYI the pit was over 24" deep and 10' long for the main part. We bought a scoop of gravel to bring it up to within 6" of the surface.

Tell the dispatcher at the concrete supply that you are only using 0.2 cy. They will tell you if you can send back the balance or if you have to wash it out on site. There's a reason they have those large blocks for sale at the plant for cheap ( they are made from sent back loads such as this). They might even dispatch that truck to a nearby job if the timing and mix is right.