Technical > Home Improvement > Footings - Mix Your Own Concrete or Have It Brought In?

Footings - Mix Your Own Concrete or Have It Brought In?

If my math is right, you are right about a yard of concrete which is about as small as what a mixer would deliver. Can the mixer easily get to where the footings are going to be poured? If not, you'd probably have some damage to the ground where the mixer would go unless you were going to wheel barrow it...

If you are doing it yourself, I'd probably rent a mixer for an afternoon. You can rent a smallish 5cf wheelbarrow mixer at Sunbelt for about $30 a day. Position, mix, dump at each hole.

reply to NullQwerty
I mixed a total of a cubic yard or so of concrete up once by hand (and I do mean that literally - "by hand" - like it was bread dough or something), but I did it in small batches over the period of several weekends, as I didn't need it all at once. I wore gloves and while these didn't hold up too well, I didn't get any chemical burns or anything else from it either. Not that I would necessarily do this again or recommend that anyone else do it.

Lately I've been using the fast-setting, no-mix stuff (QUIKRETE - the red bag) for post holes and such. I start off with a hole maybe eight inches wide and 24 inches deep, pour in some dry mix to form a base, drop the post in on top of that and pour enough in dry mix to fill the hole. Then just add water with a water hose - no mixing at all. This stuff seems to hold up just as well a regular concrete for my purposes, even though at first I was pretty certain that I would eventually need a do-over. Some of these posts have been in the ground at least ten years now with no apparent problems. I don't know that this stuff would be appropriate for your situation but it might be worth looking into.

I forgot to add that they make preformed concrete blocks for deck footings - where these are wide at the bottom and notched at the top to hold the cross-members. These can probably be used by themselves or maybe combined with smaller, shallower footings or other pre-cast blocks. Go searching around the internet for "deck blocks".

reply to NullQwerty
Around here they have 1 cu. yd. haul aways. Just hook it to your hitch and drive home.

Always beats mixing by hand and about the same price.

reply to NullQwerty
Don't use dry mix for footings. Dek Blocks are not legal is a lot of places due to the fact they aren't below the frost line.

Use a sonotube for the top 2' of each footing unless you are going to frame square tops for each. If you are close to a yard of concrete I would order it and have it delivered. Order 10% more than you need for any oops issues. If you need to put a slab in for a landing for any stairs, you might as well order extra for that too.

reply to NullQwerty

premixed is quicker at same price with rental mixer.

reply to NullQwerty

Re: Footings - Mix Your Own Concrete or Have It Brought In?

reply to NullQwerty
Why 12"? Is it two storeys or are your spans that long?
I just pored some 6" by 4 and half feet yesterday for a small carport and used about a bag and a half pre-mix per tube.

reply to cdru

reply to NullQwerty
In this neck of the woods, the minimum delivery for concrete is 3 cubic yards. They'll deliver less, but they still charge a 3-yard minimum. The other option I've seen, though, is those outfits that mix right on site. They might be more prone to allow smaller deliveries as their is no "waste" to deal with.
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Sometimes I think it's a shame... When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain

reply to NullQwerty
Mix it. That is how I did my 4 footings. Took me and the wife about 2 hours of mixing by hand. Water wheelborrow and Garden How is all you need.

reply to NullQwerty
OP here.

I found one delivery company that usually does larger loads, but would do this one for around $500. Then I found one that specializes in small deliveries and they're the type that will mix it on site. They were around $375. They don't pour directly into the tubes though...it's wheel barrow and shovel. I couldn't find one that allowed you to tow it away, but I might not be googling the right keyword for that (this is in MA).

The truck would be able to pull right up next to the site. But the ground definitely isn't level.

The size of the footings is so that in the future if I want to add on a roof and turn it into a 3 season porch, I can (checked with the inspector). So the deckBlocks wouldn't be an option anyway.

Sounds like delivery might be the way to go though.

Although a wheel barrow mixer at 5 cubic feet means about 7 or 8 mixes, which doesn't seem too bad, but I've never used them before and not sure how much of a pain they are or how long they take.

True or false...I'm looking at about 80 bags of 60 lb concrete mix if I were to do it myself? If so, it's probably worth the delivery just to avoid that.

Thanks everyone!

reply to NullQwerty
Mixing concrete? F___ that! Rent a concrete buggy (if you have a truck). It's a "mini-mixer" on a trailer. They usually hold 1 yd. They have a small engine that keeps the mix moving (just like a big truck). It also screws the mix off down the chute.

reply to NullQwerty

reply to NullQwerty
4ft deep really..

reply to i1me2ao

reply to peterboro
damn all my decks have just sat on ground, i mean on concrete block..

reply to i1me2ao
The farther North you go, the deeper the frost line is.