Do you need a concrete mixer to mix 20, 80 pound bags?

tibberous

I have a hand-held 5 gallon bucket mixer, but do I need a an actual concrete mixer?

Pianolady

Yes rent one. Your back will thank you by the end of the day.

riddlers

I use a wheel barrow and hoe for small batches. Much of it would be dependent upon of you needed to mix all the concrete at once or were using smaller batches throughout the day. If you're mixing all at once, a mixer would help quite a bit. You could also save money and simply buy the ingredients and mix them.

cleveman

You could just mix 20 batches in a wheelbarrow. If you need to mix it fast, get another wheelbarrow and some help. Two guys should be able to mix it all in a half hour.

sublime2

Lol! Half an hour?
Take that long to just dump the bags!

Daniel Holzman

Cleveman, you must be Hercules. I mixed enough concrete for 12 sonotubes, each 10 inch diameter, and 3-4 feet deep. That is a bit over 20 cubic feet. I mixed each batch in a plastic wheelbarrow using stone, sand and portland cement purchased from a local supplier.

It took me about half an hour per load to mix it, transport it to location, place it, and vibrate it into position. One cubic foot of concrete weighs about 150 lbs, which is about the limit for my wheelbarrow, so I ended up spending about 10 hours total mixing and placing concrete. I would gladly have hired a truck, but the location was such that truck access was impossible, and besides it wasn't even a full yard of concrete. A mixer would likely have saved me 10-15 minutes per load, but I would have either had to rent one (figure the time to drive to and from the rental place) or buy one for a one off project, so I elected to hand mix. Not bad if you need the exercise. But then again I split nine cords of wood by hand two years ago, so maybe I am not the best role model if saving time is your objective.

cleveman

I don't know what to tell you guys. If I had a helper and we each had 10 bags, I think it wouldn't be much of a job. I just fill the wheelbarrow with the right amount of water and hoe or shovel the kwikrete across it 3 or 4 times and dump. A hoe makes it much easier. Obviously I would have the materials and water next to where the concrete was being used.

Then again, my dad and I built the log cabin that I was born in.

SPS-1

5 gallon bucket isn't going to do it.
You could do it in a wheelbarrow.
You could even take a scrap piece of plywood, and frame a box of 2 x 10's around it as a mixing area.
But after you finish, you will wish you rented a mixer. Its hard work.

Davejss

Wheelbarrow and a hoe. Piece of cake.

tibberous

I just bought this:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...37__W168493319

And this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Still have no idea how to do rebar - but my stuff won't be here for a week anyway.

tibberous

Btw, I bought 50 bags of this: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Will that help with not needing rebar? All I'm trying to do is build a 4x6x3 foot deep waterproof hole out of concrete -- seems like it shouldn't be super hard? It isn't free standing, shouldn't the dirt hold the water in like a normal pond?

GBrackins

gotta be one of my favorite quotes ....

thanks for the chuckle

__________________
Gary

"You get what you pay for, and sometimes free costs more!"

jomama45

Just be careful when using that on the walls, it has far more power than 99% of DIY'ers will ever need and can move/distort your forms in no time.....



No you still need a little rebar IMPO, especially in the connection between the floor & walls............