Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

[Gulf]

Yep! I've done that too lol

[libertyhillmichael]

[Gulf]

I like your "back saver" idea. I do sometning similar but, using 80lb bags, cut the bags in half.

[Mongo]

I call this "the back-saver". Slice the bag open, push the whole thing into the barrel, then pull the bag out.

[merrilljima]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I bought a harbor freight 3.5 cf for under 200.00 have put 230 -- 60 lb bags thru it and going strong
took me 3 hrs to pour 30 bag slab last weekend
weekend

see facebook - pompeii oven saga details

[Double Ds]

Re: Armstrong concrete mixer

I am just about ready to start with the hearth but I am confused about the mix. Can you tell me abou the insulation layer and the hearth layer. I want to buy the correct products and mix them to correct proportions. I bought the bread builders book but it is very vague. thank you in advance

[Neil2]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

"I'm also considering putting an ash dump in the back of the oven."

Put the ash dump in the front, outside the door.

[DAG]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I bought a low profile one. I really like it. It is really easy to manuever.

[DAG]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I invested in a small concrete mixer a while back. This weekend I poured the foundation for my oven! I will be building a high dome pompei. I'm also considering putting an ash dump in the back of the oven.

Take into consderation that I live in a rural area. The local concrete company has a 3 yd minimum for ready mix and their ready mix is way overpriced because they are the only game in town. They also have a monopoly on the gravel in my community.

I used 4 bags of portland at $8 a bag, as much "pre-mix" gravel as I could carry in my half ton pickup for $20 (from the concrete place).

I calculated that my foundation was 2/3 of a yd. My wife helped me pour. She brought me the gravel in 5 gallon buckets. I put these in the mixer with the prescribed amount of portland. While it mixed and I place the concrete, (pouring, raking, compacting scrreding) she would go get two more buckets. It took about an hour and a half of really intense work. After it was all in place we screeded it and took a break. As it cured I floated it, troweled it and of course, put the kid's footprints in it!

I'll post some pictures as I take them.

[Brickster]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

New guy here...just finished reading through this thread. I have no new information to add, but for past projects I have had a truck brought in for large amounts (concrete pad off of garage), or hand mixed (black plastic pan bought at HD many years ago) for small bases. A friend has offered to loan me his power mixer, so when I'm ready to go, I guess I'll go that way. The sand + gravel + bagged cement sounds like a winner as well. The little roll-around container looks good, and the idea of rolling it down the hill is brilliant! Just too much concrete needed for this sort of project, I believe.

[WJW]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I did it both ways. After dry-stacking the concrete block for the stand and putting the rebar in, I mixed up approximately fifteen bags and filled the cores most of the way. (Because the block had bond-beam openings the concrete pretty much poured from one void to another)..as such I eneded up pouring all of the forms. The fifteen bags was enough to fill the voids three fourths of the way up. A lot of work!!!

When I was ready to pour the hearth slab (and top off the voids in the concrete block voids) I ordered up a U-cart where they put 1.25 yards in a trailer and I pulled it to my house. Much much easier. Cost $138 for the concrete and trailer.

Since it takes 67 sixty pound bags of quick-crete to make a yard and a quarter, the U-cart method is a lot cheaper too. The only way it doesn't pencil out is if you don't own a vehicle to pull the trailer.

Bill

[azpizzanut]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

Hi All,

Quoting tracygg

"it's difficult for me to use a wheelbarrow, because i don't know how to use"

I certainly understand the problem. I knew someone who never found a shovel handle, saw, or trowel that fit his hands, so he avoid using them. LOL

Cheers,

[Killian]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I like to get a load of sand and gravel at the quarry in my pickup truck. Then I back the truck right up to the concrete form and open the tailgate. I put the wheelbarrow and some bags of portland up there with me, along with the garden hose and mixing tools. Then I mix up the loads in the wheelbarrow right there in the truck; gravity helps you dump it out, and it's way cheaper to mix up 'crete when you buy the ingredients instead of pre-mixed 80lb bags.

[mackerrow]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

I have been using a small electric mixer, the orange brand you can rent at the local big box hardware store, for an outdoor kitchen until it recently broke. This unfortunate incident made me nervous about having to build my foundation slab and oven stand by hand mixing in a wheelbarrow. Well, I must admit that the wheelbarrow method was not that bad. What really helped was having two people, one person mixing in one wheelbarrow while the other one transported the full wheelbarrow from the piles of concrete and portland cement (we mixed our own) to the oven location 100 yds away. This kept a continuous flow of concrete to the installation. Good workout, but doable.

[tracygg]

Re: Concrete by the wheelbarrow, mixer, trailer or pump

it's difficult for me to use a wheelbarrow, because i don't know how to use