Hauling mixed concrete?

[GLyford]

For $250 I would just crowbar the wallet and call it good. Not unreasonable at all.

Are there any small batch readymix guys near you?

The end price is about the same as regular readymix, but since it is mixed by the truck as it pours they are a lot more flexible on small batches, weird pours where parts of the project are scattered all over, etc.

I used these guys on one of my projects, and was mostly happy with the experience (my only beef is they sell themselves as being cheaper, I ended up about dead even as using regular mix)
American Ready Mix Concrete | Short Load Concrete for the Contractor, Remodeler and Homeowner

But there are others in my delivery area
Small Load Concrete Worcester, MA

But I suspect by the time you pay for the concrete and their time, you'd be pretty darn close to that $250 number, if not over.

I have poured two 6x10 slabs, one with just me, one with my dad and a HF mixer, using counted shovels of sand-gravel-portland cement and a gallon jug for measuring water and it was a long day of work both times...I couldn't mix fast enough to keep ahead of the rate the concrete was setting up, even with Dad helping (but it was better, we managed to get it screeded mostly OK, didn't get much of a broom finish, the other jumbled and raw slab is just to keep rabbits from digging under my woodshed, so no-one sees it anyway).

If you are starting with bags and have them and the mixer close to the pour (bags will save time, not hauling mixed concrete will save time, you need the time to manage the pour), and have one person mixing and one spreading and screeding, and don't mind a day of hard work, it is definitely possible to do yourself...you might even end up with something that looks respectable.

But for all that hassle...$250 sounds awfully attractive to me.

 

[Oldoak]

But for all that hassle...$250 sounds awfully attractive to me.

To me, $250 is a high price to pay for less than 1 yard of concrete.
It may be a reasonable charge for delivery, however, I would not pay it. Not for 3/4 Yd.

 

[scdeerslayer]

I'd vote for trying to get the leftovers from another job, especially with the plant that close (they've got to come back anyway). Probably cheaper for them than having to dispose of it. We've got one close like that and I think they'd otherwise have to go something like 20 or 30 miles away to dump it. My grandfather put concrete all over the place with leftovers like that, one small section at a time. I think he would have covered the entire yard but I think my grandmother made him stop. It's a huge mess of seams and now there's grass growing in all the seams.

 

[GLyford]

My local places have wash plants, any concrete that comes back they can recover the gravel and use again. I don't know what they do with the portland from that. Some of my local places take all their leftovers and make the big wall blocks.

My grandfather put concrete all over the place with leftovers like that, one small section at a time. [..] It's a huge mess of seams and now there's grass growing in all the seams.

I did that the quick way, put in a patio with one of these block forms.
QUIKRETE(R) - Building Paths with the WalkMaker(R)
I made the mistake of using stone dust to fill the spaces. There is a lot of really goo nutrients in stone dust, the plants love it. Now I regularly mow the patio.

I've been thinking about how I want to redo it, and have just about talked myself into doing it as a series of slabs. Debating between that and a single pour slab. If I did it in sections, I would probably "checkerboard" it, set forms for the first, then use the first set of slabs to pour the 2nd. There would still be seams, but they wouldn't be every 8" or so anymore...and I would use the resin sand for those.

 

[Stimw]

I poured a slab behind my house for a room addition.
There was no truck access so I built a box to fit in the back of my PU with rear open.
I had concrete dumped into the box, drove to rear of house and raked out the concrete into my forms.
It was 25 years ago but IIRC it was 2 1/2 yards and I don't remember how many trips but it worked out great!
And it was 97* that day! Got it dropped and finished no problems.

 

[ovrszd]

There's so many variables in this discussion that I can't help but subscribe.

I've hauled concrete in the back of a pickup.

I've paid a high price for a small amount of concrete.

Interested to see where this discussion goes.

For those that have never hauled wet concrete, think thru this extensively before offering suggestions!!!!

This could possibly turn into a very entertaining thread!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[4570Man]

I've mixed concrete for pours that size before. I dumped the mixer in the tractor bucket until it was full and then dumped it in the form. The logic was it should dry slower with less exposed area.

 

[bigdeano]

I hauled some in a pickup in a metal water trough once. It wanted to slosh out, so had to drive carefully.

 

[comancheflight]

Pour bags of sakrete, level dry...then hose it down. Then spread some cement over the surface, float it and take pics and tell us if it worked..

 

[MossRoad]

This is a really dumb question, but I am pouring a 3/4 yard slab sidewalk right by the road. Having a truck delivery will cost $250 due to the small load. I have a mixer, but I'm lazy enough not to want to mix 25 bags of pre mix, and worry if I can mix fast enough. Unfortunately, there are no rental companies here that rent the small towable trailers. There is a concrete company 1 mile away. Any way to haul mixed concrete a short distance and dump it. Heck, i have a dump trailer. Thought about just picking up 3/4 yard and driving it the one mile to my project. Or building a tub with a chute. Am I crazy?

My mixer does two 80 pound bags pretty well. I guess i can work fast enough to mix and dump 3/4 yard. But I brainstorming an alternative.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

3/4 of a yard.
27 cubic feet in a yard.
3/4 of a yard is about 20.25 cubic feet.
There's about 0.6 cubic feet in an 80 pound bag of Quikreet (according to their website).
20.25 cubic feet divided by 0.6 = 33.75
You're going to need 34 eighty pound bags to make 3/4 of a yard.
It's about $4.50 a bag at Lowe's.
34 times $4.50 = $153.00

So are you going to save about $97 by doing the hauling yourself? Or is the $250 just the delivery fee and you'll pay additional for the 3/4 yards?

If it's just $97, man, I'd just pay it. One screw up and you have a pile of concrete you can't use... maybe stuck in the back of your truck or trailer, or sitting in the corner of your yard forever and eternity.