Insulating Hearth Questions

[dmun]

Question in regards to concrete for the hearth. I will probably pour the structural concrete part of the hearth this weekend and was planning on going to one of these rent-all places and purchasing pre-mixed concrete. Does anyone see a problem with this? I know I have seen some posts where people are recommending a fiber reinforced type of concrete. I am planning on buying the "strongest" concrete the place has to offer.

I'm confused. Ready-mix concrete, around here, is delivered in huge trucks that can't go on a driveway because of weight restrictions, and have a minimum of one cubic yard for a delivery, and a maximum of 20 minutes to offload it from the truck in the street.

Do you have a place that will sell mixed concrete to go in your truck? Remember, the stuff is really heavy, and a small pickup like mine probably wouldn't do the trick.

[dalucca2003]

I'm confused. Ready-mix concrete, around here, is delivered in huge trucks that can't go on a driveway because of weight restrictions, and have a minimum of one cubic yard for a delivery, and a maximum of 20 minutes to offload it from the truck in the street.

Do you have a place that will sell mixed concrete to go in your truck? Remember, the stuff is really heavy, and a small pickup like mine probably wouldn't do the trick.

There are a couple of places here locally who sell cement by the yard and provide you with the trailer to haul it. Around $80 per yard.

[DrakeRemoray]

Mix on site

There are also some concrete trucks that mix it as it is delivered.

These are known as "mix-on-site" trucks. They are great for smaller jobs. They may be more expensive than sack concrete for just a hearth pour, but certainly eaiser. I used this type of truck when I poured the stand (I did not use block walls for the stand). I did not use it for the the hearth pour becuase they could not mix insulating concrete. If I were using super-isol, I might have used these guys for the hearth. As it was, I was already renting a mixer for the perlcrete, and figured that I would just mix up the hearth concrete first. What a back-breaking job.

Here is a picture of the truck.

Drake

[dalucca2003]

The place I use mixes the concrete on their site, dumps it into a trailer and you haul it and unload yourself. So it sounds like it should be fine as far as structurally as I will be using the Super Isol to complete the hearth.

[DrakeRemoray]

Yes, yours sounds like a good deal. I think I paid $110 per yard + $60 delivery fee. I got 10 minutes per yard, ($1 per minute extra time) but it took longer and they did not charge me any extra.

Just for comparisons...

Drake

[DrakeRemoray]

One more thought...ask them if they can add fiber to the mix. The mix on site truck offered that. Not sure it is needed, but if it is $10 more...


Drake

[janprimus]

video

So Nick, when are you going to start posting video footage for us to watch?

[dalucca2003]

One more thought...ask them if they can add fiber to the mix. The mix on site truck offered that. Not sure it is needed, but if it is $10 more...


Drake

That was my real concern...is it necessary to have fiber added or just a bonus. I plan on having them mix the "strongest" batch they offer and was hoping that should be sufficent. Don't kow yet if they offer fiber to their mixture. Let me know your thoughts.