Making good homemade concrete? Brown swiss?

rockyridgefarm · Dec 4, 2016

Hey Brown Swiss,

You mentioned making concrete for $70 a yard. I just poured a pad for a bulk bin. Cost $101 plus $13 for fiber. I was on Menards site and priced bagged concrete - came out to $150 a yard. Do you mix the componants to make it that cheap? What are your ratios?

Russ from MN · Dec 4, 2016

When people talk about cheap concrete I imagine they buy portland cement in 94 pound bags and mix it with local gravel. The quality of the
gravel will determine the quality of the finished product. You need at least 4-5 bags of cement per yard for good concrete. I just looked at
Menards and regular price for portland cement (1 cu. ft. bag) is about $10. So if you can buy local gravel for $10 a yard you can make your
own concrete for $50-$60.

Dave H (MI) · Dec 4, 2016

I don't buy my materials but the yard, it is sold by the ton. Local pit I frequent has 60/40 washed for $15.95 per. How that relates to a yard is going to depend on the material on any given day.

rrlund · Dec 4, 2016

I've got a mixer here that goes on the 3pt. It'll take a whole bag. We sure poured a whole bunch of concrete around the farm and the neighborhood with that thing. Plenty of pole barns and even the brother in law's basement. After the barn burned in 64,Dad poured all the concrete in the new barn with a little electric stationary model and had to wheel it all in with a wheel barrow.
The Mennonites still pay a good price for those 3pt mixers when they come up on auctions.

Brown Swiss · Dec 4, 2016

Went to Menards to get Portland, 94 pound bags, then just gravel delivered, if remember correctly was 6 or 7 dollars a
ton from Wamsley (Dad bought that, I buy lime from them for a little over 7 a ton). 5 shovels of gravel and 1 of
portland. Load of gravel is shy over 150 dollars.

rrlund · Dec 4, 2016

I think we went 60 shovels to a bag with the 3pt mixer. Put in half a bag with water,30 shovels,the other half,then 30 more.

I made a T shaped outfit out of two 2x8s standing on edge,then we'd put the bag of cement on it and cut it in half with a jack knife. The two halves would just drop over the sides,then cut the other half of the bag on the wood. Never lost any cement. The halves dropped fast enough for all of it to stay intact.

Brown Swiss · Dec 4, 2016

It seems to take a hair more then a bag, we have a 3 point mixer also. I load the wood trucking trailer with gravel then pour a couple bags on the side, back up to it and shovel in, I use a hose for water. But yep it is around 60 shovels.

JD Seller · Dec 4, 2016

Brown Swiss the way we always mixed concrete was 3-2-1. 3 shovels gravel, 2 shovels sand, 1 shovel Portland cement. I have pored a fair amount of concrete in my younger days. The entire west cattle pens here where poured with a hand filled mixer. Each yard is 100x 200. There are four sections this big. Usually took a week per section. I sure could not shovel that much any more.

We had two mixers that fit on the three point. We piled the sand a gravel out side of where we were pouring. So park one tractor/mixer by the piles and fill that one mixer up. Move it to where we were pouring while filling the other mixer. Usually four of us. One on each tractor and two shoveling, with one dumping the concrete and rough leveling it out. Every 5 dumps we would screed off the poured concrete.

We used a lot of old wire corn cribs as reinforcing wire in these floors. At the time you could get wire cribs for tearing them down. Many of those cribs where galvanized too.

I have had to cut out some sections of this to replace water lines. That concrete is harder then the ready mix stuff. We poured it pretty dry so it would not flow too far as we worked across each sub-section.

moresmoke · Dec 4, 2016

60 to a bag is what I have always done also. Had good clean gravel to work with so that wasn't too bad, but last time I did any amount of concrete the portland bags were the same price as the ready mix delivered. As long as I could use the minimum load without a surcharge, it was a whole lot less work to order a truck.

Bruce from Can. · Dec 4, 2016

I had a 3 point mixer , and like many of the rest
here, did a lot of concrete with that thing. When you
are young and broke, need concrete, and can
barely afford gravel, then it's ok. But it is slow , and
if your time is worth anything, better to workout,
earn some cash and buy ready mix. The few $$
you save , are more then spent in your time and
labor.

dpendzic · Dec 4, 2016

you should always have sand in the mix for concrete---it needs cement,fine aggregate and course aggregate and a minimal amount of water---the slump should not exceed 4 inches unless you are using a superplasticizer which is a water reducing agent. I always had a retarding densifer in my design mixes as it reduced the water needed and extended the time limit of the mix to over 90 minutes

Geo-TH,In · Dec 4, 2016

I buy Portland at lowes $10 a bag. 7 bag
mix $70. I have FREE sand and gravel. Also
have mixer.
No way will I make concrete if I have a big
job.

rockyridgefarm · Dec 4, 2016

5 yard minimum where I bought my last load, so I had to form up a few more spots that I wasn't planning on doing at the time. I have a lean on the barn that I just used deck boards to put in a floor, and it hasn't worked out. I really don't wanna buy 5 yards to pour 2.5 yards. That, and the lean is my utility/junk room, so I'd have to remove all the crap. If I pour it myself, I can pour it over the course of a week while cleaning/shoveling my crap from one side to the other.

Andy Martin · Dec 4, 2016

Lot's of good replies so here's my 2 cents worth:

3-2-1 is the correct ratio.

Concrete without sand, or without gravel, is not very good.

Gravel must be clean, and the sand must be clean.

Lot's of good looking sand has enough clay in it to make the concrete weak. Put a half a shovel in a bucket of water and you'll see how clean it is.

The dryer you mix it the stronger it will be. I proved that to myself in a college class, mixing my own then breaking it with a calibrated load tester. Dry always wins. Mix it as dry as you can still get it to work into your forms.

For posts and pole barns I usually put dry mix in (no water added). Tamp it in and in 30 days it will be plenty hard from ground moisture. Saves hauling water out to a fence job.

504 · Dec 4, 2016

In the sixties we mixed it ourselves,(well dad did). There was two new houses with the driveways and sidewalks poured with our T-20 and three point mixer,a bunch of concrete for a farrow to finish hog farm,and a house trailer park, with concrete sidewalks and runners under every trailer.That park is still there and covers 1 1/2 blocks in town. I sure am glad I was old enough to remember and too young to help! I did run the Fergy for part of the work.

jm. · Dec 4, 2016

I have to haul my own some 20 miles but clean pea gravel (or concrete gravel) is sold for $6.50 per ton and the concrete sand cost $ 7.00 per ton. My local cost on Portland cement is $8.70 bag if I buy 20 bags or more. Only time we use self mixed is small projects of 4 yds or less or when we cannot get a tuck to the place.

john in la · Dec 4, 2016

We also use a 3/2/1 mix.
The thing you have to watch when figuring home made cost is if you mix
3 Yards gravel
2 Yards sand
And
1 Yards Portland cement
You will not get 6 yards of concrete.

You have to account for the fact that the sand and cement will fill voids in the gravel.

showcrop · Dec 4, 2016

When I was a young fella with more time than money I mixed mortar for the concrete block foundation for an addition to my house. I used local sand that on older neighbor had. He didn't charge me for it, and I set up a screen in his pit to screen the rocks out. I don't remember how I transported it, I may have borrowed a trailer. He taught me that you can test if sand and gravel is suitable for concrete or mortar by taking a handful and squeezing it. If it squeaks it is clean and good, if not it has too much clay in it, lubricating the pebbles so that they don't squeak.

bigbob1939 · Dec 4, 2016

There is a fellow in my area of NE that has two trucks, they have a 5yd hopper for
sand/gravel mix and a hopper for portland with a water tank also on truck. He will
come out to job and mix what you need on site, any amount. Price is based on
how much you take. 3-4 yds @ $75.00 per yds. Mixing is done buy an open top
auger running up an incline, when it comes out the top it is mixed. Has been a
while since I have used him, price may be a little off. Bob

cannonball · Dec 5, 2016

look here
Untitled URL Link

rdandersom · Dec 9, 2016

The last concrete I made used recycled/crushed concrete as aggregate. There is a place that takes concrete rubble from demolished buildings
(for a fee) and crushes it and sells it back. It is clean except for occasional brick shards and every piece has rough edges from being broke
apart to give the portland cement something to grab onto. I believe I made it 5 shovels of recycled concrete to 1 of cement powder.

Bret4207 · Dec 10, 2016

My Dad and I mixed tons and tons of concrete at home with a Wards electric mixer and local sand and gravel. We had a garnet mine nearby where you could get beautiful crushed stone delivered cheap and local sand was coarse and clean. Now trucking the stone and sand makes redi-mix cheaper. I have a pit on my farm but the sand is useless for anything other than bedding because it's clay blow sand. Too bad.

Making good homemade concrete? Brown swiss?

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