Gnaaarrrggh!
Confused - you will be.
I know I am.

Just talked to my friendly local builder (about finding a labourer to help
with barrowing ready mixed concrete) and he asked why I wasn't mixing it
myself.

Told him the figures from the online calculator priced up to be more than
ready mixed.

He was not convinced (to put it politely, which he didn't).
He said (as others here have) that he would mix it himself on site.

On his recommendation I talked to a local concrete firm and asked for a
quote for 3.5 cubic metres of a 5:1 mix.
They said "That's just under 5 (25 kg) bags of cement per ton - shall I
quote you 5 bags?"
and "That comes up at just over 5 tons - shall I quote you for 5 tons
(tonnes?)?"

O.K.

5 tons loose ballast £147:20
25 bags cement £91.20 (625 kilos)

Total £246.40 including VAT.

Weekend hire for a mixer is about £50.

Grand total of £300.

http://www.practicaldiy.com/general-...ator-met-2.php
tells me I need 7.77 tonnes of ballast

http://www.pavingexpert.com/calccon2.htm
tells me I need 3990kg of gravel + 2660kg of sand = 6650kg ballast
735 kg cement

[By the way, 'practicaldiy' tells me that I need (3.855 tonnes sand + 5.11
tonnes gravel) = 8.965 tonnes OR 7.77 tonnes ballast. Now I can see that if
they were calculating by volume then you would need a larger VOLUME of sand
and gravel to get the same WEIGHT of ballast (because the sand fits between
the gaps in the gravel) but a larger WEIGHT??]

But moving on.
The calculators say that I need 7.77 tonnes or 6650 tonnes of ballast
(however see rant above) but my local firm says I need 5.
At 5:1 this comes out as 38.85 bags cement for the 7.77 tonnes.

The two online calculators don't seem to agree on the weight of ballast but
the higher is more than 50% higher than my local firm.
If they are correct then the materials (scaling up the price) should cost
about £383 which is remarkably close to the 'mix at the door' price (not
including barrow running).

So I am now heading towards mixing my own.

My first calculations were based on yet another online calculator which I
can't find at the moment but which (working back from the spreadsheet) told
me I needed about 5.5 tonnes (equating to 7 * 0.8tonne bags) and 25 * 50kg
bags of cement. Looking at these figures again surely that must have been 25
* 25kg bags of cement. (And don't call me Shirley.)
Whatever, using bagged prices from Jewsons this came to over £500.

O.K. I know that I didn't want to put loose ballast on my block paved drive
but at £75 saving over bagged I can afford to lift and relay a few blocks.

So I am now back to the drawing board.

Today (!) I think I will order 5.5 tonnes of loose ballast to be sure I have
enough and get 25 bags of cement because I can easily get more cement from
the sheds or merchants and I can hide any extra ballast round the back of
the shed.

The clincher is the need to hire someone to barrow the ready mixed.
Haven't priced a local labourer yet (last time I checked they were about £80
per day) but mix-at-kerb charge £30 per cubic metre + VAT to do the
barrowing which comes out at an extra £123.38.
For that price I can hire a mixer, a ball and socket truss and a masseuse
then do it all myself.

So - finally - what does the team think about the volumes?

Trust the local firm recommended by my builder (as I would have before
t'Internet raised its ugly head) or go with the online calculators?

Cheers

Dave R

David WE Roberts wrote:

big snip


If I were mixing it I would order the materials loose (getting bagged for
these volumes is futile, as a lot of it will end up on the drive anyway) and
I would pay the following:

4t limestone @ £20 per tonne = £80
2t grit sand @ £20 per tonne = £40
40 OPC @ £4 per bag = £160

Total £280

5 tonnes of loose ballast isn't going to be enough, and 5 cement per tonne
of ballast isn't strong enough - if you say that its 2 parts stone to 1 part
sand, this means that a third of each tonne will be sand IE 333kg - putting
125kg of cement with this isn't strong enough - it would have to be over
150kg to get near to a C20 mix.

but it's all immaterial anyway as you can't weigh the aggregates if you mix
it yourself :-p you can guestimate 50kg of sand and 100kg of stone and add
a bag of cement to each mix and that's the best you can hope for, but
there's an art to mixing concrete - adding the cement at the wrong time will
cause almost all of it to stick to the inside of the mixer, resulting in a
weak mix, then the next mix may be double strength if the cement from the
first mix mixes into it!

I always mix it like this:
Water, half the stone, half the sand, more water, all the cement, remainder
of stone, then sand....adding water periodically if required



--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

"Phil L" wrote in message
om...
David WE Roberts wrote:

big snip


If I were mixing it I would order the materials loose (getting bagged for
these volumes is futile, as a lot of it will end up on the drive anyway)
and I would pay the following:

4t limestone @ £20 per tonne = £80
2t grit sand @ £20 per tonne = £40
40 OPC @ £4 per bag = £160

Total £280

5 tonnes of loose ballast isn't going to be enough, and 5 cement per tonne
of ballast isn't strong enough - if you say that its 2 parts stone to 1
part sand, this means that a third of each tonne will be sand IE 333kg -
putting 125kg of cement with this isn't strong enough - it would have to
be over 150kg to get near to a C20 mix.

but it's all immaterial anyway as you can't weigh the aggregates if you
mix it yourself :-p you can guestimate 50kg of sand and 100kg of stone
and add a bag of cement to each mix and that's the best you can hope for,
but there's an art to mixing concrete - adding the cement at the wrong
time will cause almost all of it to stick to the inside of the mixer,
resulting in a weak mix, then the next mix may be double strength if the
cement from the first mix mixes into it!

I always mix it like this:
Water, half the stone, half the sand, more water, all the cement,
remainder of stone, then sand....adding water periodically if required

Interesting that you use limestone instead of gravel.

What are your estimates for a 'shovel' of each?
If I was mixing by weight I would obviously do 2 of limestone to one of sand
but I have no idea of the relative densities and therefore the relative
volumes.

I am a little confused by your calculations on cement.
25 bags * 25kg of cement is 625 kg in total.
Divided by 3.5 is 178kg per ton of ballast which is over your 150kg (tying
in with the 'under 5 bags per tonne' from my local firm).

My (somewhat rusty) mixing method is much the same as yours, apart from
being used to using ballast instead of stone and sand.

How many tonnes of ballast would you estimate it would take to make 3.5
cubic metres of concrete?

Cheers

Dave R

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
David WE Roberts wrote:
snip
Today (!) I think I will order 5.5 tonnes of loose ballast to be sure I
have enough and get 25 bags of cement because I can easily get more
cement from the sheds or merchants and I can hide any extra ballast round
the back of the shed.

I think you will need more ballast unless you local stuff is very light
per cube...

There (as they say) lies the rub!

My concundrum is roughly " Do I trust the local firm which knows the local
agregate or an online calculator which must generalise?".

I will take cross sightings from other firms etc. but as you have said the
online calculators seem a bit high (and don't agree).

As to mixing it all myself I am reasonably sure that I am physically up to
it and it is a lot less stressful to contemplate than having to shift 3.5
cubic metres of concrete the length of the garden within 45 minutes.

Having moved over 6.6 cubic metres of MOT "due to a terrible miscalculation
of scale" when I was expecting to move under 3 cubic metres I reckon I can
move 3.5 cubic metres of concrete.

Indeed, having had the final bag of MOT freeze into something akin to a mega
ice cube I think I can more or less tackle anything!

Thanks, as always to all contributors.

Cheers

Dave R

David WE Roberts wrote:


Interesting that you use limestone instead of gravel.

It's more widely available here than any other type of stone, I assume it's
geographical - some places use what looks like beach gravel, some use
limestone some use granite


What are your estimates for a 'shovel' of each?
If I was mixing by weight I would obviously do 2 of limestone to one
of sand but I have no idea of the relative densities and therefore
the relative volumes.

no one does, which is why it goes on weight - no one can say how much free
space is in a tonne of gravel / stone, therefore they have no idea how much
volume is stone and how much is air, likewise with wet and dry sand, but
this is easier to measure by the volume rather than the weight, IE a barrow
of sand is a barrow of sand, regardless of the water content.



I am a little confused by your calculations on cement.
25 bags * 25kg of cement is 625 kg in total.
Divided by 3.5 is 178kg per ton of ballast which is over your 150kg
(tying in with the 'under 5 bags per tonne' from my local firm).


Yes but you don't measure the cement to ballast ratio, you measure the sand
/ cement ratio, which should be 2:1 in a C20 mix

My (somewhat rusty) mixing method is much the same as yours, apart
from being used to using ballast instead of stone and sand.

How many tonnes of ballast would you estimate it would take to make
3.5 cubic metres of concrete?

I don't know of anyone who buys all-in ballast, that is, sand and stone
mixed - it's more expensive and harder to estimate WRT mixing (as you are
finding) than purchasing the 2 ingredients seperately, especially for large
projects such as this.
I suppose it could be useful to buy a tonne bag if you were putting up a
concrete fence or patching up a path or something similar, where a failry
large amount is needed and buying 25kg bags of everything would be
prohibitive


--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

In message , David WE Roberts
writes

"John Rumm" wrote in message
news:EOKdnfJoyfAzg_rWnZ2dnUVZ8qGdnZ2d@brightview. co.uk...
David WE Roberts wrote:
snip
Today (!) I think I will order 5.5 tonnes of loose ballast to be
sure I have enough and get 25 bags of cement because I can easily
get more cement from the sheds or merchants and I can hide any extra
ballast round the back of the shed.

I think you will need more ballast unless you local stuff is very
light per cube...

There (as they say) lies the rub!

My concundrum is roughly " Do I trust the local firm which knows the
local agregate or an online calculator which must generalise?".

I will take cross sightings from other firms etc. but as you have said
the online calculators seem a bit high (and don't agree).

As to mixing it all myself I am reasonably sure that I am physically up
to it and it is a lot less stressful to contemplate than having to
shift 3.5 cubic metres of concrete the length of the garden within 45
minutes.

Having moved over 6.6 cubic metres of MOT "due to a terrible
miscalculation of scale" when I was expecting to move under 3 cubic
metres I reckon I can move 3.5 cubic metres of concrete.

Right. So you don't need a labourer other than for tamping:-) After
Phil... draw off mixed concrete and park barrow. Load mixer but leave
final water. Run barrow to site, empty and return to mixer which should
now be ready for the last bit of water... etc.

Personally I think it is a two man job as 3.5 cube is a days work and
the stuff you mix in the morning will be too hard to tamp by lunch.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

In message , John
Rumm writes
Phil L wrote:

I don't know of anyone who buys all-in ballast, that is, sand and
stone mixed - it's more expensive and harder to estimate WRT mixing
(as you are finding) than purchasing the 2 ingredients seperately,
especially for large projects such as this.

All in one is about all you can buy easily here... otherwise the
nearest you can get to gravel is Type 1 MoT, but that's a bit coarse
for concrete.

20mm ballast is normal for Herts. I suspect they mix it from sharp sand
and separated pebbles.

*As dug* used to be available from local pits. Nowadays, ballast
delivered from St. Albans is ordered from Leicestershire!

regards


--
Tim Lamb

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , John Rumm
writes
Phil L wrote:

I don't know of anyone who buys all-in ballast, that is, sand and stone
mixed - it's more expensive and harder to estimate WRT mixing (as you
are finding) than purchasing the 2 ingredients seperately, especially
for large projects such as this.

All in one is about all you can buy easily here... otherwise the nearest
you can get to gravel is Type 1 MoT, but that's a bit coarse for concrete.

20mm ballast is normal for Herts. I suspect they mix it from sharp sand
and separated pebbles.

*As dug* used to be available from local pits. Nowadays, ballast delivered
from St. Albans is ordered from Leicestershire!

Ballast is the norm around here as well - AFAIK it still comes from local
pits.
The MOT I have been using looks like ground up concrete with added chunks
(yum).

"Phil L" wrote in message
om...
David WE Roberts wrote:
snip
I am a little confused by your calculations on cement.
25 bags * 25kg of cement is 625 kg in total.
Divided by 3.5 is 178kg per ton of ballast which is over your 150kg
(tying in with the 'under 5 bags per tonne' from my local firm).


Yes but you don't measure the cement to ballast ratio, you measure the
sand / cement ratio, which should be 2:1 in a C20 mix

Sigh.
I shall be joining Tim in remedial maths.

I should have worked forward and not backwards (especially not using a
factor of 3.5 instead of 5).

150kg cement per ton (working on your assumption that 1/3 of the ballast is
sand) comes in at 6 bags per ton - one more bag per ton that suggested by
the local firm.

I am assuming that 5:1 is a volume measure of 5 shovels (or other more
accurate measure) ballast to one shovel cement.
Which I again assume means that (as suggested elsewhere) the weight to
provide this volume may differ depending on the density of the ballast.
Will investigate further and confirm they were estimating for C20 and not a
leaner mix..

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , David WE Roberts
writes
snip
As to mixing it all myself I am reasonably sure that I am physically up to
it and it is a lot less stressful to contemplate than having to shift 3.5
cubic metres of concrete the length of the garden within 45 minutes.

Having moved over 6.6 cubic metres of MOT "due to a terrible
miscalculation of scale" when I was expecting to move under 3 cubic metres
I reckon I can move 3.5 cubic metres of concrete.

Right. So you don't need a labourer other than for tamping:-) After
Phil... draw off mixed concrete and park barrow. Load mixer but leave
final water. Run barrow to site, empty and return to mixer which should
now be ready for the last bit of water... etc.

Alternatively, put in the initial water and a few shovels of ballast to give
the drum a quick clean and stop any build up of cement on the paddles, and
leave running. Carry on mixing after running the barrow.


Personally I think it is a two man job as 3.5 cube is a days work and the
stuff you mix in the morning will be too hard to tamp by lunch.

I shall have two 'light duty' labourers for some of the tamping and final
spreading.

I will also be checking to see how much a local labourer will cost for a
day's work.

I keep chasing my own tail on this one - if I am going to hire a labourer
for a day then it is going to be a lot easier to use him to barrow ready
mixed concrete.

The cost of ready mixed + a labourer is much higher than me running as mixer
but if I add in a labourer to help with the mixing and barrowing then the
cost difference comes down again.

As a backup strategy is there a reasonably safe way to lay this slab in 2
days?
I am assuming that I should be looking at laying one full side then the
other full side, not filling the whole site half full then putting the top
on the following day (some sources recommend having jointing steel between
the two slabs).
My problem with this strategy is getting half level and tamped without a
board of some sort to support the temporary end of the pour - won't the edge
of the slab slump?
Putting a board in isn't going to be easy with membrane down and reinforcing
steel on top.
Any tips and tricks?

Cheers

Dave R

On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:24:43 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

Phil L wrote:

I don't know of anyone who buys all-in ballast, that is, sand and stone
mixed - it's more expensive and harder to estimate WRT mixing (as you are
finding) than purchasing the 2 ingredients seperately, especially for large
projects such as this.

All in one is about all you can buy easily here... otherwise the nearest
you can get to gravel is Type 1 MoT, but that's a bit coarse for concrete.


Quite the opposite, actually. MOT Type 1 has far too many fines to
make a good concrete. There are insufficient voids for the cement
paste and the high proportion of fines means that a very large amount
of cement paste would be needed to coat them all. A non-starter.

The grading is closer to that of an unbound macadam.

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:24:43 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

Phil L wrote:

I don't know of anyone who buys all-in ballast, that is, sand and stone
mixed - it's more expensive and harder to estimate WRT mixing (as you
are
finding) than purchasing the 2 ingredients seperately, especially for
large
projects such as this.

All in one is about all you can buy easily here... otherwise the nearest
you can get to gravel is Type 1 MoT, but that's a bit coarse for concrete.


Quite the opposite, actually. MOT Type 1 has far too many fines to
make a good concrete. There are insufficient voids for the cement
paste and the high proportion of fines means that a very large amount
of cement paste would be needed to coat them all. A non-starter.

The grading is closer to that of an unbound macadam.


The MOT we have just put down and whacked does look quite like tarmac
without the tar - almost solid enough to skim and ignore the concrete layer
:-)

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

Any tips and tricks?

If its going to take a long time you can get stuff to retard the setting.

Top, middle and bottom posting so everyone is catered for :-)
Thanks again to John and Phil for suggested volumes.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
David WE Roberts wrote:
snip
** Calculating for 3.5 cu m concrete **
I usually estimate based the "standard" ratios, and then cross check the
weight on an assumed finished density of around 2400kg/cube

If you use McCormack's C20 estimator, it gives

1120kg cement, 2205kg sand, 4095kg gravel, and 1050kg water. A total mass
of 8470kg. To check 3.5 x 2400 = 8400, so allowing for some water
evaporation that sounds about right.

My dodgy arithmetic makes this 6300 kg of sand/gravel and so presumably
equivalent to just over six tons of ballast.
1120kg cement equals 45 bags.

This is close to Phil's
"4t limestone @ £20 per tonne = £80
2t grit sand @ £20 per tonne = £40
40 OPC @ £4 per bag = £160
"

Either way it is more than 5 tons + 25 bags.

I then made the mistake of reading the Building Construction Handbook by
Chudley & Greeno which tells me that C15 and C20 are suitable for
unreinforced plain concrete or reinforced using lightweight aggregate (such
as clinker, perlite etc.).
For reinforced (and I have been persuaded to add some reinforcement) I
should apparently be using grade C25.

snip
O.K. I know that I didn't want to put loose ballast on my block paved
drive but at £75 saving over bagged I can afford to lift and relay a few
blocks.

I doubt bulk bags will move the paving if it was laid right in the first
place. The pressure exerted by a bag will be far less than a car wheel for
example.
snip

Cross purposes, I think.

I am happy with bulk bags craned onto the drive - that is what I did with
the MOT.
I was less happy with a loose load being tipped onto the drive because the
tipper will probably have to put the rear wheels on the drive which might
cause damage. The ballast itself is not a problem.
However I am now considering the risk of minor damage to save money by
having a bulk delivery of loose ballast.

In message , David WE Roberts
writes

Right. So you don't need a labourer other than for tamping:-) After
Phil... draw off mixed concrete and park barrow. Load mixer but leave
final water. Run barrow to site, empty and return to mixer which
should now be ready for the last bit of water... etc.

Alternatively, put in the initial water and a few shovels of ballast to
give the drum a quick clean and stop any build up of cement on the
paddles, and leave running. Carry on mixing after running the barrow.

Then you will be standing around while it mixes.


Personally I think it is a two man job as 3.5 cube is a days work and
the stuff you mix in the morning will be too hard to tamp by lunch.

I shall have two 'light duty' labourers for some of the tamping and
final spreading.

I will also be checking to see how much a local labourer will cost for
a day's work.

I keep chasing my own tail on this one - if I am going to hire a
labourer for a day then it is going to be a lot easier to use him to
barrow ready mixed concrete.


The cost of ready mixed + a labourer is much higher than me running as
mixer but if I add in a labourer to help with the mixing and barrowing
then the cost difference comes down again.

As a backup strategy is there a reasonably safe way to lay this slab in
2 days?
I am assuming that I should be looking at laying one full side then the
other full side, not filling the whole site half full then putting the
top on the following day (some sources recommend having jointing steel
between the two slabs).
My problem with this strategy is getting half level and tamped without
a board of some sort to support the temporary end of the pour - won't
the edge of the slab slump?
Putting a board in isn't going to be easy with membrane down and
reinforcing steel on top.
Any tips and tricks?

Hiring the dumper truck avoids the 2 day issue. Something else you need
to consider is weather. Rain is not good on wet concrete. Hiring a
dumper and ordering readimix needs to be last minute.

On the half and half method.... you could attach a couple of temporary
supports to your side shuttering, fit your board above the reinforcing
and use a some timbers to brace from the unfilled end. If you use a
reasonably stiff mix it should not slump under the board too badly and
you can always top up a bit.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , David WE Roberts
writes
snip
Hiring the dumper truck avoids the 2 day issue. Something else you need to
consider is weather. Rain is not good on wet concrete. Hiring a dumper and
ordering readimix needs to be last minute.

Tell me about it :-(
The weather is either lows coming in from the west bringing warmth but heavy
rain, or highs sitting over the UK and bringing clear skies but freezing
winds down from the north and snow and frost to the east coast.
I need to catch a slot when the weather is changing over between wet and
dry, but before the frost sets in.
The ready mix brigade normally need a couple of days notice and the weather
forecast isn't that consistent at the moment - they keep changing their
minds.
One thing I don't fancy is trying to keep cement bags dry whilst hand mixing
in the rain.

On the half and half method.... you could attach a couple of temporary
supports to your side shuttering, fit your board above the reinforcing
and use a some timbers to brace from the unfilled end. If you use a
reasonably stiff mix it should not slump under the board too badly and you
can always top up a bit.

I think that is feasible.
It would be a lot easier to put down the bottom half of the slab and put the
top on the next day but that gives a join across the whole surface of the
slab instead of one small one across the slab.

On the gripping hand I could go to the Canaries until the weather improves.
Hang on - they've just had floods as well.

In message , David WE Roberts
writes

On the gripping hand I could go to the Canaries until the weather improves.
Hang on - they've just had floods as well.

We had two days of steady rain on Madeira last month! Locals said it was
the wettest Christmas for years.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

David WE Roberts wrote:

On the gripping hand I could go to the Canaries until the weather improves.

I've never actually seen anyone use that phrase before.

Can't you just wait until the weather improves - it'll give you
something to put in "what I did on my summer vacation"

Andy

"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:

On the gripping hand I could go to the Canaries until the weather
improves.

I've never actually seen anyone use that phrase before.

Some of my best friends are Moties ;-)

Can't you just wait until the weather improves - it'll give you something
to put in "what I did on my summer vacation"

I currently have a load of stuff in paid storage so I would like to get it
out as soon as possible.
It was in 'free' storage but we had to move it to paid a short while back.
I also don't have any space to set up tools, and the bikes are living
outside in the cold and wet.

I just wasn't expecting such a harsh winter - any of the other 17 years
would have been fine but I get building during the coldest in 18 years. :-(

On Feb 2, 9:21 pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:

One thing I don't fancy is trying to keep cement bags dry whilst hand mixing
in the rain.

buy it in plastics and don't worry yourself...


JimK

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Gnaaarrrggh!
Confused - you will be.
I know I am.
snip

Update - I've decided to mix it myself this weekend and ordered all the
stuff.

Checked my price for ballast with another supplier and he said 'very
roughly, 1.5 tons to the cubic metre' which gives 5.25 tons for 3.5 cubic
metres.

So, as the original supplier said 'just over 5 tons' they are both singing
from the same songsheet.

I've ordered 6 tons to be on the safe side (and mindful of the advice from
this group), recognising that if I am short I can order a bag to finish off.

[Ordered a mixer at the weekend rate and it is arriving at about 08:00
tomorrow (of course I won't use it until Saturday morning even though the
ballast is arriving between 9 and 11 Friday and hopefully the cement will
arrive Friday a.m. as well).]

I will update photobucket with progress picture.

Hopefully now all I will be adding is 'Easy, easy, easy' :-)

In article , David WE Roberts
scribeth thus

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Gnaaarrrggh!
Confused - you will be.
I know I am.
snip

Update - I've decided to mix it myself this weekend and ordered all the
stuff.

Checked my price for ballast with another supplier and he said 'very
roughly, 1.5 tons to the cubic metre' which gives 5.25 tons for 3.5 cubic
metres.

So, as the original supplier said 'just over 5 tons' they are both singing
from the same songsheet.

I've ordered 6 tons to be on the safe side (and mindful of the advice from
this group), recognising that if I am short I can order a bag to finish off.

[Ordered a mixer at the weekend rate and it is arriving at about 08:00
tomorrow (of course I won't use it until Saturday morning even though the
ballast is arriving between 9 and 11 Friday and hopefully the cement will
arrive Friday a.m. as well).]

I will update photobucket with progress picture.

Hopefully now all I will be adding is 'Easy, easy, easy' :-)



And the weather forecast is;-?....
--
Tony Sayer

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , David WE Roberts
scribeth thus

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Gnaaarrrggh!
Confused - you will be.
I know I am.
snip

Update - I've decided to mix it myself this weekend and ordered all the
stuff.

Checked my price for ballast with another supplier and he said 'very
roughly, 1.5 tons to the cubic metre' which gives 5.25 tons for 3.5 cubic
metres.

So, as the original supplier said 'just over 5 tons' they are both singing
from the same songsheet.

I've ordered 6 tons to be on the safe side (and mindful of the advice from
this group), recognising that if I am short I can order a bag to finish
off.

[Ordered a mixer at the weekend rate and it is arriving at about 08:00
tomorrow (of course I won't use it until Saturday morning even though the
ballast is arriving between 9 and 11 Friday and hopefully the cement will
arrive Friday a.m. as well).]

I will update photobucket with progress picture.

Hopefully now all I will be adding is 'Easy, easy, easy' :-)



And the weather forecast is;-?....

After heavy rain Friday morning, warm (compared to recently) and dry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2272

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

snip
And the weather forecast is;-?....

After heavy rain Friday morning, warm (compared to recently) and dry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2272


After that, a return to arctic conditions for a few weeks so if all goes
well I will have laid the concrete just in time.

If the snow is anything like the last lot I will probably end up with an
igloo with the most impressive foundations in Suffolk ;-)

I was, of course, planning to start building block walls...........