Video Vault: Mixing Concrete in a Wheelbarrow with John Ross
You can’t go wrong if you add the water first and work your rake through the mix until you have an even consistency.
Mar 07, 2017
When working with concrete, it’s best to work smarter, not harder. Fence and deck specialist Scott Grice’s system for mixing concrete by the bag eliminates the heavy lifting. In this gem from the Fine Homebuilding Video Vault, former editor John Ross demonstrates that system and shows that you can’t go wrong if you add the water first and work your rake through the mix until you have an even consistency.
See Scott’s step-by-step system in the Building Skills article Mix concrete by the bag.
CivilEng43, maybe you're applying a large project mentality to a wheelbarrow mix. He's not pouring bridges, footings, or elements where concrete strength piers. It is important to remember that the guy is a fence specialist, and his stakes are low.
I, too have mixed countless bags in a wheelbarrow. Adding the right amount of water to start is the key to getting the mix right and making it as easy as possible on the mixer. I prefer a heavy duty, narrow hoe to mix with. Dump the mix in the front of the wheelbarrow, and start on one side making sure that hoe is scraping bottom every time. The first portion will be too wet but will tighten up as you pull the rest of the dry into it. About 6 1/2" of water in a 5 gallon bucket is a good starting point, and adjust from there.
When the rake was pulled away, it didn't look to me like the concrete held it's shape. In other words there was too much water. If you're not concerned about getting strength, durability, low shrinkage, water tightness and frost resistance, the stuff in that wheelbarrow might be good enough. When I was with CALTRANS, we'd send slop like this back to the batch plant.
Anybody who does lots of concrete work ought to know how much water they need for one bag and have a system to get it right. Run water into a marked bucket and then pour it into the wheelbarrow. This eyeballing an inch of water in the bottom of the wheelbarrow looks like a recipe for crummy concrete.
Burly Flitches eases in the water to get the right consistency. He'd have a lot better chance to give me concrete that I'd accept.
I've actually mixed many thousands of bags of concrete in a wheel barrow kinda like that over the years mainly filling block cores. I use a regular shovel. I mix two 80 pound bags of 5000 psi mix together at a time. First, like John, I put in the water being a bit liberal. Then, I put in the first bag and mix it. The first bag mixes quickly and easily because there's a little more than enough water. I don't care if it s bit too wet because I'll add the second bag. That's when the real work starts. I overspray the newly added dry cement to hold down the dust and then add water to bring the mix to the consistency John points out in the video. For me, there's a rhythm to this work. Once I'm in it, I can go through a pallet of concrete (42 eighty pound bags) in a few hours.