comparing cost of ready mix and bags

theGrinch

I will be laying a patio next month and I was wondering the guide cost of hiring a ready mix truck vs mixing it ourselves.

its approx 8 cubic metrics in london in the front garden.

any idea of the cost we should be looking at?

thanks

Ebe_Scrooge

Not quite sure I understand what you're trying to do. Are you laying a "traditional" patio, i.e. slabs of some sort laid on a bed of mortar ? If so you'll need to mix by hand - I didn't know you could get ready-mixed mortar delivered in bulk ( concrete, yes, but not mortar ), but in any case it would set before you had chance to lay all your slabs. When I say "By Hand", it's actually quite heavy work to mix mortar, it can be a wise investment to hire a mixer for the weekend - there speaks the voice ( and aching back ) of experience :-)

If you're talking about just laying an expanse of concrete, then a ready-mix delivery can make a lot of sense. You need to have the site prepared and all shuttering in place before-hand, so that you can finish levelling off etc. before the concerete sets. But it does save an awful lot of work in mixing, plus you get a consistent mix which is harder to get if mixing by hand.

bobhawke

quote taken from pavingexpert.com

0.25m³ of fresh, unset concrete weighs in at around two-thirds of a tonne, and that two-thirds of a tonne will need to be turned over at least 5 times to ensure all the ingredients, the sand, cement, gravel and water, are thoroughly mixed. Two-thirds of a tonne lifted and turned 5 times comes in at over 3 tonnes ... and that's a minimum figure!

Minimum of 12 ton of lifting for 1m3 of concrete, multiply that by 8 for your area and that is 96 ton of lifting to mix it by hand.

wallbash

Perhaps a little more info on the project might well be useful.

ormus

8 cubic mtrs of ready mix is one hell a lot of concrete.
are you sure youve measured correctly?

aboard_epsilon

well he's said 8 cubic metres ..it isn't slabs ..

that would be something like 10 tons dry.

bags of concrete is very expensive compared with ready mix delivered by mixer truck

sand and gravel delivered separately with bags of cement ..would be cheaper than ready mix ..but when you look at the work involved in mixing 10 tons of it it ..id think again ..thats 10 dry ..maybe 12 or 13 wet

also don't know what they charge down London way ..i know that up here in north wales a friend did a base for a shed ..with a portable mixer ..and it saved him about 30 percent over having it delivered ready-mixed mixer wagon...but that was only 4 cubic metres...and it looked like very hard work ..5 hours of hard work .

all the best.markj

square_bear

theGrinch wrote: »

I will be laying a patio next month and I was wondering the guide cost of hiring a ready mix truck vs mixing it ourselves.

its approx 8 cubic metrics in london in the front garden.

any idea of the cost we should be looking at?

thanks

Do you mean that the patio area is 8 square metres?

theGrinch

thanks all. we've decided to go with bags and a dry mix with option of a mixer and manpower - just need the weather to be dry!

vaio

out of interest, is it 8 cube or 8 square metres?

theGrinch

vaio wrote: »

out of interest, is it 8 cube or 8 square metres?

8 cubic metres

vaio

8 cubic metres is a lot of concrete to mix, I don’t envy you