# What are the disadvantages of using cement / concrete mixer



## vikasintl (Jun 24, 2015)

I have an electrical cement mixer and I want to pour driveway using this concrete/cement mixer but I have heard mixed reviews....some say its ok to use it...some say ...no order cement truck because using this mixer you can't finish whole job in one day ..(total area would be about 700 square feet) so there will be many cold joints and they will crack..

Is this true?

what is your opinion? there is no solution to cold joint problem..I assume I will take about 7 days to complete about 700 sq. feet area so there will be 7 cold joints...


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## beachguy005 (Jun 25, 2015)

That is a big slab to be pouring by hand and 7 days will probably creep beyond that because of weather and such.  If you're adamant about doing it as you say, I wouldn't pour it with all those cold joints.  I would do it in sections and have expansion joints between each new section.

http://www.sakrete.com/products/detail.cfm/prod_alias/Concrete-Expansion-Joint


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## bud16415 (Jun 25, 2015)

Forget about the quality issues. Just focus on the work and the economic issues first. 

It will be a lot of work, very hard work. Figure out how many bags and how big of piles of material you will have to move several times by hand. I have poured by mixer and it is a lot of work. You will be worn out after each 100 sq. 

That being said get your pricing together it&#8217;s easy to get the price mixed and delivered now get the price for sand and stone and whatever bag mix you want to make of Portland having it all delivered or how much gas you will spend hauling multi pickup loads. Compare the two prices and find out how much you will save. Say it ends up taking you 100 hours to pour divide the savings by 100 and that will be your hourly rate for your effort. The way I look at it is you could go get a part time job at min wage and pay for it if that worked out better and work less hard maybe. 

With that being said I would still say go for it if you want to learn and experience DIY to the fullest. If you are young and strong it will be a much better work out than going to a gym.


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## vikasintl (Jun 25, 2015)

bud16415 said:


> Forget about the quality issues. Just focus on the work and the economic issues first.
> 
> It will be a lot of work, very hard work. Figure out how many bags and how big of piles of material you will have to move several times by hand. I have poured by mixer and it is a lot of work. You will be worn out after each 100 sq.
> 
> ...



Thanks...I was going to buy ready mix bags and will have at least 4 guys help me....I was mostly worried about having cracks later down the road if I use mixer instead of ordering truck.... so if I use expansion joint after each slab there will not be any cold joints? anything else I should be worried about?


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## bud16415 (Jun 25, 2015)

It will take 393 bags at 80 lb per bag a bag goes for about $4 so that&#8217;s $1572 plus tax plus gas getting them home. 

http://www.quikrete.com/Calculator/...m8Df_FZmvE7pMd0KtFdWjk7FRwx5JvXR_gaArma8P8HAQ

Call up and price the job to be dumped in your forms and finished by you and let us know.


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## beachguy005 (Jun 25, 2015)

Depending on the size of the sections you do pour, you may need to also add control joints to the individual sections. That's done with a few math calculations. 
There are tons of videos on youtube that explain it in detail.


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## nealtw (Jun 25, 2015)

I agree with Bud, you will find it cheaper to order it, and you will be having hot dogs and beer by lunch time.
When I was a kid all the neighbours got together to mix and pore concrete, they took turns doing the different jobs and they always had someones wqife there whos job was to count shovels fulls of gravel sand and cement and monitor the water in the mix. They installed skreeting forms every four feet and as the forms were filled and skreeted those forms where pulled and the gaps filled. Every one knew the proper mix, and how long to wait before troweling and most basements were perfactly level and flat. 1000 sq. feet, 6 guys, one day.


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## stadry (Jun 27, 2015)

IF you're asking such basic questions in this AND the other forum, this is NOT a job you want to be doing yourself  :beer:  work some overtime & hire a pro


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