Restricted access: Readymix v mixing by hand.

[sherburn]

Hi all, was hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself (which is probably most of you!), could advise me on the best approach here:

I need to lay a concrete slab in my living room, have been advised to lay a minimum thickness of 4inches, which adds up to a total volume of 2 cubic metres. Problem is access is between 2 houses and the driveway is only 8'6" wide at it's narrowest point. I rang round a few local ready-mix firms and the narrowest vehicle they had was 8'2", so I doubt they'd be able to get in without causing a major standstill on the main road that they'd have to be maneuvering in from.

Is it worth ringing a few more places, or is about 8'2" the narrowest I'm likely to find?

Alternatively, there's a road running along the back of the house, and I have a 5x7" air brick in the back wall that can easily be knocked through, about shin height on the exterior and head height inside, so I was wondering if it might be possible to funnel the stuff into the house through such a small hole. Anybody have experience of doing this or am I going to have to face the fact that mixing by hand is my only option? I didn't seem to be able to successfully explain that on the phone so thought I'd be better off asking here than continuing to confuse people over the phone!

It seems that the materials alone for mixing it myself are going to cost more than ordering a batch of ready-mix, and then I'll have to cart over 5 tonnes of cement and aggregate 50 yards to the house from where they'll have to drop it off before I even get started on mixing it, so if at all possible I would prefer to have ready-mix delivered. From the research I've done though I think I'd be better off mixing it by hand than having them pump it in because the main restraining factor is money!

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[noseall]

If you can, find a small local concrete supplier who also happens to work in cahoots with a small in-line concrete pumping company.

The driver or operator may even organise the pump for you.

They can then park a fair distance out of the way whilst you watch them pump your room with said concrete.

Just inform the operator of the distance, and the pump people will bring enough tube. Usually there is enough on the truck for 100m or so.

The last job we had done was only £150 for the pump.

 

[OwainDIYer]

pump it.

They can crane the pump hose over the house if necessary

 

[sherburn]

Thanks for the replies, problem is that although £150 would be cheaper than I had imagined it'd be to pump it, that's still a lot of money to me and I'd probably sooner mix it all by hand if it meant saving £100 or so!

So I take it from your responses that a 5x7" hole set up with some sort of funnel/chute into the living room wouldn't be a practical approach then? I've never worked with ready-mix before so in my head it seems like it might work but I'm probably missing something!

 

[noseall]

Er no. It aint gonna happen with a little hole like that.

You would be as well carrying it in by the bucket load as it would still need shifting. A shin height hole that small will only admit a small pile of concrete just t'uther side of the wall before it starts bunching up.

 

[cotswoldbuilders]

If you mean 5 inch x 7 inch, that wouldnt be big enough, you need at least a 2 foot square hole to get the chute in.
At that height the concrete will go every where, and splash all up the walls, plus it will rip all the membrane out.

Are you sure there are no mini mix wagons, or arrange to have a couple of friends to barrow it in, it wouldnt take long.

Even a good driver might be able to get in, I wouldnt worry about holding the traffic up, the jobs got to be done.

 

[sherburn]

Cheers, I'll rule out the small hole idea then!

I'm not sure if there are any mini-mix wagons, what's the smallest any of you have heard of? If they do come smaller than the one I've found already then maybe I've just not been ringing the right places yet.

 

[cotswoldbuilders]

We have a couple of firms that carry about 3m, the wagons are nearly half the size of the normal ones.
One firm is Chelmix, but thats in our area, have you asked the local builders if there are any smaller wagons in your area.

 

[sherburn]

Coming round to the idea of just having them park 50 yards round the corner and getting someone to lend a hand barrowing it in now...

Which leads me to another question. The room is self contained, approx 4x5 metres and the concrete wants to fill it wall to wall. The walls are quite uneven and it'd be hard to lay formwork around them, so I was wondering if I'd be able to do the job properly without constructing forms and just filling the whole room, making sure it's level with marks on the walls and spirit level?

Alternatively, rather than the formwork being around the perimeter, can it be laid centrally across the length and width of the room in a "+" shape, splitting the room into 4 sections, effectively forming joins and helping me to keep the slab level? And if that's possible, is it also possible to leave the formwork in place after the job's done?