Concrete foundation without a cement truck

[Sprinklerman]

And dont forget the beer , after a day of mixing concrete , cold beer is required

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Lemonade is all I need.

 

[nickmags]

Lemonade is all I need.

Lemonade is all well and good, but at the end of the day after that much intense physical work my aching back and arthritic joints would necessitate a nudge from Jack, or maybe Ezra in my lemonade. Plus the next day I would live on Advil.

 

[oosik]

Ha, ha - mixing concrete. Forty years ago I could mix concrete all day and be ready to do the same the following day. Today - anything much beyond three to four hours at a stretch and I'm laid up the following two days. I've used Jack to dull the pain but definitely AFTER all the days work is done. Otherwise, you would find me walking around the mixer - trying to figure how to unload it.

 

[Egon]

And you've got to segregate the finishing crew if straight and level is required.

 

[Little_Grizzly]

I thought I would mention one last thing about the water. We have plenty of it but it is extremely hard water. It has lots of Calcium and Magnesium. I've been told this can have an effect on the concrete. I will tell you this however, it's what we are going to use. I have to haul in the cement but I'll be damned if I'm going to haul in the water too!

 

[not2old]

And that higher strength nabe brand stuff is not the $2.00-$2.50 per pag stuff. More like $5 per bag. times 270 bags....~$1400 vs $400 for mixing by hand from raw materials, and I still maintain that the raw material approach is gonna yield better concrete.



Its 16000# no matter how you roll the dice. A shovel at a time or a 60# bag at a time, you are still handling the same.



Being an old fart, I've figured out an easier way, but I'm mixing much less per pour, making concrete "railway ties" for a retaining wall. I pre-measure the aggregate by filling 5 gal. pails. I do this the day before so that I don't get too tired during the mixing. It's easy to just pour in 2 1/2 pails per batch and then 1/2 pail portland. I get to keep my gravel in a "pickup" trailer, all nice and clean and keeps the mixing area clean too.

 

[bannerd]

Any update? This was a good read, haha.

 

[MFWD]

Hey Little_Grizzly,
You were saying that you might be favoring piers instead of a regular footer. I agree with that idea. You also said that the digging was worrying you....you also said that you have no real frost line....so go down 2" and then you are basically pouring the concrete right on top the ground. As long as it is undisturbed soil it should be fine. I live in Pa. so putting in piers requires you to dig a 30" deep hole, but with no frost line, a piece of cake !!!!

MFWD

 

[MFWD]

Hello,
This thread kind of went dead after my last comments. Anything happening with the cabin or have you decided how you are going to do it?

MFWD