ballast to concrete ratio please?

[muckington]

Im getting all kinds of figures coming up online. Anyway Im making a molt to hold 2 field gate hooks that will in turn hold a 12' metal gate

Any ideas on the mix please?

PS how much water is needed as well, as no water on site!

Thanks

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

5 ballast to 1 cement.

As much water as needed. Depends how wet the ballast is. Take a bucket per bag of ballast, you won't need it all but won't run out.

 

[muckington]

Take a bucket per bag of ballast, you won't need it all but won't run out.

They are sold in 800kg bags. How big is a bucket?

 

[muckington]

5 ballast to 1 cement.

So they are 80kg ballast bags/5 =160KG/ 25KG per bag= 6.4 bags needed! is that correct?

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Volume is what matters, weight varies depending on how recently it's rained.

Start with the size of the hole, measured in cubic metres.

They're 0.5m2 bags. I'd just take plenty of cement and measure by the shovel-full. Definitely no need to measure carefully with concrete, it's not bricklaying mortar where you do need to measure by the bucket to keep the colour constant.

Working with this sort of volume you'll need a mains water supply, or a tank on a trailer.

 

[muckington]

Volume is what matters, weight varies depending on how recently it's rained.

Start with the size of the hole, measured in cubic metres.

They're 0.5m2 bags. I'd just take plenty of cement and measure by the shovel-full. Definitely no need to measure carefully with concrete, it's not bricklaying mortar where you do need to measure by the bucket to keep the colour constant.

Working with this sort of volume you'll need a mains water supply, or a tank on a trailer.

But for 2X 200 litres drums, how much water do you think i will need

 

[stevie888]

For this application you could safely go to 8:1 or even weaker: you only want weight. I would be bulking the mix out with lumps of broken concrete if any available

 

[muckington]

For this application you could safely go to 8:1 or even weaker: you only want weight. I would be bulking the mix out with lumps of broken concrete if any available

But I need the mix to hold in and bond the gate brackets too

 

[catlad]

Be aware, it will take a while to fully cure in this weather, especioally if you are going to stress it with a large gate.

 

[muckington]

Be aware, it will take a while to fully cure in this weather, especioally if you are going to stress it with a large gate.

how long do you recon then?

 

[stevie888]

But I need the mix to hold in and bond the gate brackets too

8:1 will do that: You've got a steel barrel holding it altogether

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

For this sort of quantity you may as well overdo it and not have to worry.

I'd go with 5:1. It will have a lot of stress holding that gate up, no point in saving the price of a pint then watch it fall over.

GIve it 2 weeks before hanging the gate.

 

[muckington]

GIve it 2 weeks before hanging the gate.

Wow i though you would of said 2 days!

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Wow i though you would of said 2 days!

After 2 days you could probably still scratch into it with a stick.

 

[stevie888]

That's an old (>40 years) strength curve. Modern cements typically give 75% of 28 day strength at 7days.

You're going to tip the barrel over long before the concrete fails even after a couple of days but if it's very cold then strength gain will be slower.