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Today, I poured & placed 6 yds of concrete in three hours. The truck came at 9 am and I was done with cleanup by two. The actual placing took 3 hours and includes the time spent unclogging the truck from the too dry mix they delivered.
A while back, Mr. Homeowner asks if I would be interested in helping him on a project involving form work, pouring, and, later, setting slate on an outdoor patio. This evolves into ME doing the work, naturally, while he is mostly underfoot. (Why does he keep putting tools back when he must know we’ll need them again?) He did finally admit he doesn’t have a clue–his words–about screeding, after telling me he has lots of experience with concrete.
I wished the morning fog hadn’t burned off so soon because the day soon went to 80 degrees. Thought I was gonna’ die.
Yeah, I guess I’m boasting, but I really want to know: is this a pretty good pace?
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6 yrds in 3 hours? Let me tell you what I did -- ordered 6 yds, when the truck showed up, he looked at me and asked where was my help? My wife and I got the 6 yard pad poured in 45 minutes -- then spent the next couple of hours edging and finishing.
If you have the job laid out well and the truck can get in there -- you can handle the stuff almost as fast as it comes off the truck.
Oh, by the way my wife is not a weight lifter, she's a former beauty queen that understands getting where you want to be takes a lot of hard work and she is willing to pull her share.
Am sure the 45 minute "record' will be broken in the next post. Did I ever tell you about the time I had 14 yds ordered and the 8'x28' form gave way after we had only 6 yards in? What an expensive form making lesson.
*Well, I did forget in my original post to say that the pour was not all flat work. Being an exterior deck, it was sloped in three directions towards a drain at the far end. The slab was surrounded on two sides by the house and the other two sides by pony walls. Kinda' like a big bathtub.
*I've seen smallish crews dig, form, and pour the drives, walks, and gargage floors all in one day! The inspector showed up at the end of the day to inspect the sand! (and take the payoff, I assume).Funny story:We all had just moved into a new suburban neighborhood. B.S. Bob, told his impressionable new neighbor Tim, that he knew how to lay concrete. Incredibly, the perfectionist Tim (he even polished the windmill on top of his house!) agreed to let B.S. Bob, pour a front driveway approach, and side drive extension (about 8' X 50'). That morning, he ordered, the concrete! They hadn't even begun to excavate (by hand) or had any form materials available!They then wandered over to me to "borrow" tools. I laughed as I told them I didn't have any concrete related tools.Long story short, the pour was a mess! They barely had time to lift the sod. No body had a clue how to finish, and the perfectionist Tim had the worst concrete drive in the neighborhood!blue
*Blue, good story, but an expensive one, eh? While on the pour that started this thread, the owner though we should just empty the truck onto an area adjacent to where it would eventually be placed. I asked him if he had ever seen a 6 yd. pile and that, with the direct sun on an already too dry mix, he'd have an expensive monument to alternative thinking in his front yard. Not to mention having to move it twice.BTW: From the way the posts have sounded to me, I'll go ahead and think that I did OK as far as time. Unless you want to steer me straight. (Hint, hint.)
*Rich,Here in Texas a good concrete man can pour, screed and edge about 60 yards an hour. But this is Texas.Ed. WilliamsLOL
*Yeah, but everything's Big in Texas...Kind of a recipricol Canadian exchange rate. (instead of dollar = ten dollars, Foot = Mile.)I poured a nine yard slab (I'm a carpenter mind you, NOT a concrete guy -- but I did work on a foundation crew for a summer) with the help of an Irish immigrant, a high strung rock climber and a very laid back (Canadian Whiskey) homeowner. About four hours.Nice sunny day for Missoula, Montana in May. (It always snows in May In Missoula. Always.) Poured it in three sections. part of it was a foundation wall, most was a slab. I finished bull floating the last section and was getting the magnum to the first when it sarted hailing. Big f*ckin' hail balls whappin', no, Pelting the mud.I just happened to have a whole bunch of plastic and covered the slab till the hail let up. Then went to troweling.The sun came back out as the first few Pabst Blue Ribbons cracked...Ever been to Terlingua Ed?Dan
*Dan,My drinking buddies back home told me I was there, but it's all a little fuzzy to me. They said I had a great time.Ed.
*Must've been the sotol
*HEY! - all you mud hounds! Remember when we used to screed it, JITTERBUG it, then bull float it? Whatever happened to jitterbugging? Anybody know? - jb
*That'd be 60 sq.yds.
*Well Jim, modern music just doesn't cater for those type of dances I'm sorry.
*Youngbob,You are showing your age.I worked for a concrete company many, many years ago. I was the jitterbug guy. Never worked so hard in my life. ( except the summer I spent hot top roofing in Denton, Texas.)I just don't see it anymore.Don't know why.Maybe the guys doing it today say "f**k that".Can't blame them.Ed. Williams
*...what the heck?...was it to knock the rocks to the bottom?...or what? It was about 7 or 8 years ago when I realized I hadn't seen one in quite a while. I'm really wonderin' if "they" decided it was a bad practice or something?Hey Rich - to answer your question about production, I'd ask - how did it turn out? 'Cause I think if you get it done in a day, and it really looks good, you made good time. - jb
*... thought it was to drive out big bubbles ... but that it also can cause the concrete to separate
*...I guess air could get trapped under there if you poured real fast. I'll buy that. Then you're saying the aggragates and liquids could get strattified? (definately could create a brittle situation) Makes sense, I'll think that until I hear a better explanation, thanks. - jb
*I was told it was to push the aggregate below the surface .Only had to do it a few times fortunately . Like Ed said , man that was work . Chuck