Mixing concrete in the FEL Bucket

[beowulf]

I need to pour a pad (3.5' x 8' x 4" deep) and have bought enough 60lb bags of concrete. The forms are built, with wire and rebar. It is on a hilltop where I don't have electricity but will bring up a generator and a HF mortar mixer - which I have used effectively before to mix concrete in 5-gallon buckets. The job is too small for contracting out and a bit too much to contemplate mixing concrete bag by bag in buckets - and that would seem to be a bit slow as the first buckets would be setting up while I was mixing the other bags. So - my idea - to speed up the process is to bring up a few trash cans full of water and mix the concrete in the FEL bucket. Raised up 2' and tilted back it seems it will hold quite a bit and another advantage is that I can then dump it - batch by batch - right into the form. Anything I need to consider?

 

[ptsg]

I mixed concrete on the bucket by hand using a shovel and a how. Man that was a workout and a half! Granted, I tried to mix almost an entire bucket at once, which wasn't very smart.

Now I just mix it on the cement mixer and dump it to the bucket, then drive to the place it needs to be poured.

 

[2manyrocks]

My experience has been that it's easier to mix one bag at a time. A bucket full of concrete would be a lot to have to mix at once.

My preference is to mix the concrete in a mixer, dump it into the loader, and then use the loader to move the wet mix where I want it.

 

[beowulf]

Thanks guys. Great options, but I don't have a mixer anymore, and the drive to the site from where we live is a bit rough and some distance away. I may be stuck with mixing at the site.

 

[ponytug]

Me, I would use the FEL to move a generator and a concrete mixer to the job site. Mixing that much concrete is no small undertaking.

All the best,

Peter

 

[scaredychicken]

Get 3-4 friends to help you with the mixing of concrete. Probably just need some cold beverages.

The loader / bucket could work, but it will be a lot of effort also. Clean the loader out thoroughly afterwards, before it hardens.
Bag by bag in a rented mixer might be easier.

That will be a day that you will feel accomplished

 

[Diggin It]

I did a 3 x 5 pad that way. I think I did 10 or 11 bags, 2 - 80# bags at a time, mixing by shovel. Really wasn't all that difficult. You should be able to do 3 60s per bucket, maybe more if your bucket is bigger than mine, which most are. More bags at once will give you a better consistency overall than doing one at a time.

A 3 or 4 tine cultivator or garden fork will help quite a bit in getting the dry mix circulated.

And yes, get the bucket cleaned out before the mix hardens.

 

[Jstpssng]

I did a 3 x 5 pad that way. I think I did 10 or 11 bags, 2 - 80# bags at a time, mixing by shovel. Really wasn't all that difficult. You should be able to do 3 60s per bucket, maybe more if your bucket is bigger than mine, which most are. More bags at once will give you a better consistency overall than doing one at a time.

A 3 or 4 tine cultivator or garden fork will help quite a bit in getting the dry mix circulated.

And yes, get the bucket cleaned out before the mix hardens.

His bucket is probably around 6 cubic feet, so probably could go as high as 6 bags.
I agree with everyone else though... get it cleaned out.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Why not dump the dry mix in the form and wet it. Keeping it below grade. Then mix some with water and pour the remainder and skim off smooth. Trowel or screed? That's how they do it in foreign countries. Seen it myself. That's how I do it. I do not mix in post holes either. Pour dry stuff in, pour a bucket of water, move to next. Moved a cattle chute and built a new corral. That concrete was just like other concrete and it was done that way years ago. We just dug new holes for concrete and all. It's handled some rough cattle with no problem.

 

[Ken45101]

they used to mix it in a mortar boat, a 3x4x1' pan. I've done 80 cu ft by hand in a wheel barrow (when I was younger). from cement, sand a gravel. I agree, mixing in a loader bucket might be too much to mix well.

These days, I would find a project to use additional concrete and just get a mixer truck to deliver a minimum load ;-)

Ken

 

[beowulf]

Thanks again for the input.

Mixing dry in the form could work if I took out the wire and rebar. Think I want to leave that in.

Mixing it in the FEL bucket would be a challenge to mix it well, but with the power (two handed) variable speed mortar mixer it will be somewhat doable. Or I may learn not so much.

I am a bit of a magnet for hard work - have tackled some enormous tasks alone - typically over build and have mixed many hundreds of bags of concrete alone (80 lb bags and later 60s) and the hard way - so know I can get it done. Knowing myself, I am guessing I will gather what I need topside and just do it. And feel great about it afterwards. Maybe not the smartest way to get-er-done, but it will be done. And dinner will be great whatever it is.

 

[2manyrocks]

FEL mixing.....

 

[civilian]

Seeing 2manyrocks first video gave me the thought someone might be able to take an old snowblower and use it to mix concrete. Not offering mine though. Jon

 

[JJT]

I've done bigger, by hand, alone, not that big of a deal. I did one bag at a time in a wheelbarrow. I see no issues using the FEL bucket. A buddy to help would be nice.

 

[ponytug]

Thanks again for the input.

Mixing dry in the form could work if I took out the wire and rebar. Think I want to leave that in.

Mixing it in the FEL bucket would be a challenge to mix it well, but with the power (two handed) variable speed mortar mixer it will be somewhat doable. Or I may learn not so much.

I am a bit of a magnet for hard work - have tackled some enormous tasks alone - typically over build and have mixed many hundreds of bags of concrete alone (80 lb bags and later 60s) and the hard way - so know I can get it done. Knowing myself, I am guessing I will gather what I need topside and just do it. And feel great about it afterwards. Maybe not the smartest way to get-er-done, but it will be done. And dinner will be great whatever it is.

As they say down under, "Good on you, mate"!

Go for it then. I would keep the rebar, too.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jaxs]

More bags at once will give you a better consistency overall than doing one at a time.
A 3 or 4 tine cultivator or garden fork will help quite a bit in getting the dry mix circulated.

It might work but who wants to be a mortar forker.

 

[2manyrocks]

You'd think there would be some simple way of taking a barrel, bolting angle to the inside, adding water and cement, and then rolling the thing with the tractor to mix cement.

 

[rbstern]

I did about 70 bags in my 54" bucket. Four 80lb bags at a time. Four one gallon milk bottles for the water. Used a shovel and a hoe to mix. It's a workout, but very doable.

 

[grsthegreat]

the largest slab i mixed by hand in a wheelbarrow was 10’x10’x4”. Mixed, poured and screeded as i went along. Troweled as needed. It was a tack room floor so it got broom finish. No cold joints. Looks great 15 years later. 80lb bags. Sucked.

 

[bcp]

You'd think there would be some simple way of taking a barrel, bolting angle to the inside, adding water and cement, and then rolling the thing with the tractor to mix cement.

That's a larger version of this.

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Bruce