***94 lbs.***

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

can anyone tell me why Portland comes in a 94 lb. bag ? Why 94, not 100 not 80 Just curious if there is any special reason ?

[Les]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

The info I found says that it is 1 cubic foot. Sounds like a reasonable number. Interesting question.

Les...

[dmun]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

I think it's the amount needed to produce a cubic foot of concrete, after the needed aggregates are added. It makes mason arithmetic easier.

It's the sort of thing that makes metric cheerleaders pull their hair out!

[Wiley]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

I believe Les is correct, at least what he says agrees with what my concrete books say.

Concrete was/is mixed by volume rather than by weight thus it was easy to have recipes that could be easily duplicated. The simple 1-2-3 mix is a good example. That's one cement, two gravel and three sand. Having one cubic foot per bag made computation of mixing larger batches easy. I'm sure glad one cubic foot of cement doesn't weigh more!

Wiley

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

maybe they should cnsider making 1/2 a cubic foot. At least a 47lb. bag would be a little easier to carry. Thanks for all the info though, I figured there was a good reason, just thouht it was an odd weight...

[Rastys]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

Wiley,
I think you have your mix formula incorrect!
Over here we have 20kg bags of cement rather than the larger (pre metric) 94 lb bags and are a lot easier to handle.
Incidentally, 94 lb bags are 24 to the ton, or one pallete!
Our mixes as printed on every bag are:
Cement: sand: Aggregate or 20kg bags/ cubic metre
Structural cement 1 : 2 : 3 or 20 20kg bags/ cubic metre
Paving 1 : 2.5 : 3.5 or 16 20kg bags/ cubic metre
Render 1 : 4 : - or 24 20kg bags/ cubic metre
Mortar 1 : 6 : +1 lime or 12 20kg bags/ cubic metre

Rastys

[Wiley]

Re: ***94 lbs.***

Good catch Rastys! I transposed the sand and gravel. I should have written: 1 cement, 2 sand and 3 gravel.

Bests,
Wiley


As a friend says:
"Learn to laugh at yourself and you will never lack for amusement." --MW