I hand-mixed 27 80-pound bags this past Saturday...
...and had most of them delivered by Lowe's on a pallet. For some reason their website would only allow me to order 20 for delivery, despite advertising that if you purchase 42 you save 20%. I needed 30 bags (to be safe), but I was ordering this last-minute for next-day delivery, so I didn't really have time to call and argue. So, I ordered the 20 and then just went to the store and purchased 10 bags and took them home in my truck. But theoretically, Bay Area should be able to get all of the bags delivered to his driveway IF he chooses to tackle this by hand.
I think 30-35 bags is about all I'd tackle by myself in one pour. It took me about 4 hours to mix and pour 27 bags, and thankfully none of my work will be visible, so I didn't have to worry about waiting around to strip the forms so I could then hand-finish everything. Obviously the finish is going to make or break a slab pour, so a 10x12 slab would be tough to do all by yourself if you're mixing by hand.
For the mixing, I worked out a decent process - I did it in a 32-gallon trashcan using an electric (corded) drill and a paddle mixer. Each bag requires 3.5 quarts of water, so for the first bag, I measured out exactly 3.5 quarts, poured it into a 5-gallon bucket, and then marked the water level on a wooden stake bottomed-out in the bucket. For each bag, I'd use the measuring stick to get the correct volume of water in my bucket, dump the entire amount into the trashcan, and then add 1/2 of a bag of concrete. Then I'd mix that thoroughly with the drill, and then add the rest of the bag and finish mixing. After the first few bags I got into a rhythm, and I averaged just under 5 minutes for that process for each bag. That was considerably faster and less tiring than mixing in a wheelbarrow with a shovel.
|
(
In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
Posted: 05/06/2021 at 6:05PM