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80 lbs mix of Concrete: how much area will it cover?

J

jk333

NAXJA Forum User
Location
WA
Im looking to pour a fairly good sized area of concrete with an average depth of about 4 in. How much does an average 80 lb bag of concrete mix cover in terms of square ft.? Im doing the work nmyself, so im trying to stay on a budget instead of hiring a concrete truck. Just FYI. I want to be prepared when i make the trip to home depot or l;owes.
 
Nuke Proof said:
Usually about 2 cu feet for a bag that small. 1 yard typically covers 88 square feet 3.5" thick.

I poured a small landing for my deck (about 3'x1'x4") with an 80# sack.
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where can i buy concrete mix in yards instaed of bags? somewhere like home depot or lowes? or someplace like a rockery that sells bark, gravel, rock, etc.
 
jk333 said:
Im looking to pour a fairly good sized area of concrete with an average depth of about 4 in. How much does an average 80 lb bag of concrete mix cover in terms of square ft.? Im doing the work nmyself, so im trying to stay on a budget instead of hiring a concrete truck. Just FYI. I want to be prepared when i make the trip to home depot or l;owes.
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"A fairly large area." You might want to be a little more specific. Figure out how many yards you need to end up with. Total surface area in sq. ft, and divide by 3 (depth of 1/3 of a foot.)

Are you talking about buying Quikrete (just add water,) or are you talking about buying bagged cement (add sand, aggregate, and water?) How much concrete you use really depends on what you're using the pad for.

Small jobs you can mix in a wheelbarrow. A couple of yards, I'd rent a mixer. For a couple of yards to a 10 yard dump, I'd call an on-site mixer.
 
Those 80lb bags go quick. rent the mixer if the area is going to be bigger than 10x10. it is really easy to do the rough finish, just hook a 2x4 to another and it makes a fairly nice float, but if you want a good finish I would consider just paying to have it done. I hate working with concrete.
 
jk333 said:
where can i buy concrete mix in yards instaed of bags? somewhere like home depot or lowes? or someplace like a rockery that sells bark, gravel, rock, etc.
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When you buy a yard (27cufeet), I get it in a mixer trailer at my rockplant. It is a fairly large amount of concrete and if you are not experienced with concrete, it can be difficult to screed, tamp, float, edge and finish by yourself.

You can also mix it yourself by buying cement in a bag and a agg/sand mix. Depending on what you want its typically 5:1(1 cement, 2 agg and 3 sand)
How big of an area are you talking about?
 
jk333 said:
Im looking to pour a fairly good sized area of concrete with an average depth of about 4 in. How much does an average 80 lb bag of concrete mix cover in terms of square ft.? Im doing the work nmyself, so im trying to stay on a budget instead of hiring a concrete truck. Just FYI. I want to be prepared when i make the trip to home depot or l;owes.
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An 80lbs bag of quickcrete is only a little over 1/2 cubic ft of concrete. That means at 4" deep it will only cover about a 1.5' square foot area.
I wouldnt do anything more than a short sidewalk with bags. For intermediate jobs I rent or borrow an electric mixer and have a ton of sand and a a couple ton of gravel and a few bags of concrete mix delivered, then I mix my own up.
 
whatever hte back says it'll cover, expect to it cover less by about 5%ishhh is a rough guesstimate. It never goes as far as they say it should if you mix it muddy not watery
 
souske said:
theres three things i can guarantee about concrete:



3. no one will steal it
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Thats not 100% true.
A guy down my street had one of those concrete jockeys that holds a lantern in his yard. Someone took it from his yard and threw it in my bushes out by the road. I found it the next day and dragged the heavy a$$ed thing out of the ditch for him.
 
call the cement company, once you figure in rentals time, labor of mixing it may be worth the money to get the cement truck to come to the house. Premixed and ready to pour. All you have to do is have the forms set up when they get there. Pour and level. MUCH better way to do it. Plus you don't have to worry about getting the mix wrong.
 
I've always just figured that if I measured a bag of quckcrete and layed it down it would cover the area the dry bag covered and went from there. I always allowed a 10% fudge factor and would buy extra, you can always take back what you don't use.
However it I am doing more than say a 4x8 foot area I get a truck to deliver it. I have to put in 10 12" footers 4-5ft deep in for my new deck, I'm getting a truck for that. They pull up, swing out the boom, mix and pump, then drive away, no muss, no fuss.
 
80 lb bags cover 2/3 cu ft...says so on the bags.

Last weekend I did a small pad about 20 sf. and about 3.5" - 4" deep, and it took me twelve 80 bags to do the job. Let me tell you, it was a bitch at the end of it all to hand mix 12 bags, 2 at a time, in wheel barrow. I even had a helper screen and float while I did the mixing, and I was still barely able to keep up.

If your job is larger than 1 yd in concrete, get a redi-mixed carrier and have it pre-mixed. You can haul it yourself with a 1/2 ton truck, then wheel barrow it to your project, if you can't get the hauler close enough to your project. Or rent a large portable cement mixer at your local rental yard and let it do the mixing. You still have hoist each bag up to the mixer though, and they get heavier with each one you lift...

For anything over 2 yds, get it haul in by commercial mixer and have it pumped if you can get the mixer near the job. I have a 8' x 10' slab I'll be pouring in a few weeks, and I'll be taking this route...
 
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