No info for a smaller concrete job

[Captain Ledd]

Originally Posted by lil_Blue_Ford

Locally it is around $150-200 for one to two yards delivered (they whack you pretty hard for short load charges) but under some circumstances, it's well worth the money

Shoot, even at $200 that's nearly worth it. I thought it would run near $1000 to bring a truck out.

I'll give the local ones a call and see what they actually charge. Maybe I'll frame out that patio in front of the doors after all.

Meanwhile, borrowed a rotary hammer and the concrete is only 3" thick! I honestly thought it was heavier duty. We've even had a complete engine block fall on it and it only left a little dent.

The area is marked out (we're going 4'x4') and we're renting the saw tomorrow.

Thank you gentlemen, you have reassured me I can make this work one way or another.

[Str8sixfan]

Now since your pouring mostly footing pads, you might be alright with the mixer, but I think you'd be better off getting a truck to come in if you're pouring that many yards. My dad and I extended my back patio last fall, with a perimeter footing, and a simple rectangular 8'x8' pad. I ordered redi mix. The truck was able to boom into my backyard about halfway from the property line to the patio, and we wheel barrowed back and forth (maybe a 12' path).

He's a superintendent for a construction company (going on 40 years of doing this), and it was just me and him and intermittent help from an older gentleman (neighbor) and 6 yds of concrete. And we barely made it. When he was finishing it out, it was starting to get too far set up. We maxed out what 2 guys could do. Mixing that much concrete in a mixer might not give you the results you want...though I guess you have the luxury of doing it in two jobs 1 for each footing, and you might be alright as you say it would be about 5.5yds in a concentrated area that you might be able to keep up.

For me it was closer to $100/cu. yd. here in KS (near KC). It was a little over. I just remember all the form work and materials and new tools I had to buy was close to $300, and the total was around $1000. So I'm pretty confident it was $100/cu. yd and some delivery surcharges and a fuel surcharge.

[shane96ranger]

Originally Posted by Captain Ledd

Shoot, even at $200 that's nearly worth it. I thought it would run near $1000 to bring a truck out.

I'll give the local ones a call and see what they actually charge. Maybe I'll frame out that patio in front of the doors after all.

Meanwhile, borrowed a rotary hammer and the concrete is only 3" thick! I honestly thought it was heavier duty. We've even had a complete engine block fall on it and it only left a little dent.

The area is marked out (we're going 4'x4') and we're renting the saw tomorrow.

Thank you gentlemen, you have reassured me I can make this work one way or another.

I paid 1300 for 9.5 yards, with 2 delivery charges

[homefix]

I use a guy here in Phoenix that has a truck that mixes the amount you need right at the jobsite. He specializes in small batches. Beats the hell out of lifting and transporting all those bags! I think his minimum is about $250.00

homefix

[Captain Ledd]

Well really we're only using a yard (combined) between the 2 pads.

More and more I'm thinking we can just rent a small mixer and do it ourselves. I just had no idea how much time we had between batches or if they'd crack if we did multiple pours. According to those here, if I keep it damp and don't dilly-dally I should be fine.

You're probably right about the redi-mix stuff being higher quality, but we just don't have enough yardage. We do have money to spend on this thing but I can't say "spend whatever because we need to be safe". I just mean we don't exactly have unlimited funds here.

HOWEVER, I do still plan on calling the redi-mix companies out here, just to see what they say (or hear them laugh).

We're doing a 4'x4', 8" thick slab and using longer bolts that have a higher tear out rating than the shorter ones (if I read their strength sheet correctly), and (for now as of this post) using the highest strength stuff we can get at the local building stores.

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Originally Posted by Tominator

According to my son, foreman for a flatwork crew, you just nailed it lil_Blue_Ford!

The boss of the company I worked for was a firm believer in making sure the entire crew was better educated. There were several times that he took the whole crew to go through a course on certain kinds of concrete work and get us all certified. Of course, the end result was that any time I walk around and see concrete work failing, I look at it and know what they screwed up.

Originally Posted by Captain Ledd

Shoot, even at $200 that's nearly worth it. I thought it would run near $1000 to bring a truck out.

I'll give the local ones a call and see what they actually charge. Maybe I'll frame out that patio in front of the doors after all.

Meanwhile, borrowed a rotary hammer and the concrete is only 3" thick! I honestly thought it was heavier duty. We've even had a complete engine block fall on it and it only left a little dent.

The area is marked out (we're going 4'x4') and we're renting the saw tomorrow.

Thank you gentlemen, you have reassured me I can make this work one way or another.

The cost of getting a mixer out depends on both the area you reside in and the amount of concrete you get on it. Locally, for anything under 5 yards you get hit with a small load charge in addition to a higher per-yard price (cubic yards). Anything over 5 yards is just a standard flat yardage charge (IIRC it's around $115 a yard over 5 yards for 4,000 lb mix). For less the short loads, they usually don't add any extra charge for high-early strength cement or higher PSI rated cement.

For exterior concrete you'll want a higher air content than for interior work. Interior you want a lower air content because it is protected from the weather and high air makes it hard to finish properly (smooth troweled). Exterior concrete needs more air to make it more resistant to freeze/thaw damage and the like, but here's the secret - unless you REQUEST an air content when you order, you just get whatever they put in it. Locally we've had more success ordering a higher air content (6-8%), you just have to ask for it (and we also had the equipment to test to make sure we were getting the right amount).

As to having the engine fall on it and barely making a dent, there are a couple things that could be a factor as to why that was the result. It could be a higher PSI concrete (you can get through most redi-mix companies concrete up to 10,000 psi), it could have a solid compacted stone base (we have successfully driven loaded concrete mixers on 4" thick concrete driveways that we poured which had a thick base of modified (2a) limestone under them, it could have been properly moisture cured (as long as moisture is present, concrete molecules will continue their process of hydrating and continue to harden - this results in concrete that is green or blue in the middle over the right amount of time), it could be old style concrete that did not have all the chemicals and water reducers that are used today (which tends to make a harder slab), or it could have been because someone coated the floor with a floor hardening agent. Or some combination of those factors.

[Will]

You can do it yourself Ledd.