Moving and storing ballast and MOT

[OldKettle]

Hi,
I am intending to lay a couple of concrete slabs in my back garden.

I will be barrowing the MOT and ballast from dumpy bags in the front garden, to the read of the back garden. I'll be doing so over the course of a few days. I'll be mixing with a Belle Minimix.

The MOT I will likely just put directly down in the slab location, but with the ballast I want to stage it on the site, so then have everything ready to mix and pour.

I can either transfer the ballast to some spare dumpy bags I have, or I can just pile it up on some tarp.

The only thing that I wanted to check was whether doing it that way would introduce any risk of the ballast settling and unblending itself in such a way that might affect the concrete mix. I think that is highly unlikely, but just wanted to check.

Although, in this case, I will be adding the MOT directly to the slab base, rather than staging it, it would be useful to know whether there would be any similar risk of unblending of the different sizes of stones in the MOT, that would then be difficult to rectify.

Also, if there are any other problems with doing it this way, I would greatly appreciate any input.

Thanks

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

It won't affect it, I've done similar before. It stays well blended. The worst that will happen is if it gets lots of rain you'll get a bit more gravel on top but that's trivial.

If it's not a huge distance then my choice would be to put the mixer on its stand next to where the ballast currently is. Shovel straight from the bags into the mixer, then tip the mixer into your barrow. So you're only lifting it once, beyond that it's tipped by gravity or rolling in the barrow.

 

[OldKettle]

It won't affect it, I've done similar before. It stays well blended. The worst that will happen is if it gets lots of rain you'll get a bit more gravel on top but that's trivial.

If it's not a huge distance then my choice would be to put the mixer on its stand next to where the ballast currently is. Shovel straight from the bags into the mixer, then tip the mixer into your barrow. So you're only lifting it once, beyond that it's tipped by gravity or rolling in the barrow.

Thanks very much, that is good to know.

For the location I really need to stage it first, because it is just over 50 metres from the delivery location to the slab. Even though it is more work, I don't mind because I can do all of the moving at my own pace.

 

[cdbe]

I've stopped mixing my own concrete - it was costing me more than barrowmix.

 

[SFK]

Experts feel free to shout me down....
Last time I mixed lots of concrete I found that putting water into mixer using the hose pipe slowed the process down as the water flow was slow.
So I put a plastic dustbin next to Cement mixer and had hose continuously filling the bin.
When I needed water I could dump a bucket into the dustbin, instantly filling it with water and then poored it into the mixer.
The dustbin then slowly re-filled with water whilst I was pouring the concrete into the wheelbarrow and then into the foundation hole.
Sfk

 

[noseall]

Experts feel free to shout me down....
Last time I mixed lots of concrete I found that putting water into mixer using the hose pipe slowed the process down as the water flow was slow.
So I put a plastic dustbin next to Cement mixer and had hose continuously filling the bin. When I needed water I could dump a bucket into the bin, instantly fill it with water and poor it into the mixer. The bin then slowly re-filled with water whilst I was pouring the concrete I to the wheelbarrow and then into the foundation hole.
Sfk

Pro's do the same. We fill the big blue water drum every time.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Hosepipe time is vital for getting your breath back! Actually it doesn't seem to take that long, and it's getting mixed the whole time anyway.

I find it useful to jet off the mouth of the mixer and any sticky bits inside it, keep it clean as you go.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I've stopped mixing my own concrete - it was costing me more than barrowmix.

You can't beat the convenience of self-mixing. A bit here and there, as you need it and no set time to plan around. Usually less messy too.

 

[stevie888]

Hosepipe time is vital for getting your breath back! Actually it doesn't seem to take that long, and it's getting mixed the whole time anyway.

I find it useful to jet off the mouth of the mixer and any sticky bits inside it, keep it clean as you go.

Easier to get water quantity consistent with a bucket, but I do the same as you and keep the drum as clean as possible as I go,