How to mix concrete. Concrete Mixing Steps

It is always easier to turn to specialists with experience and concrete to get it ready-made, but if you see in yourself the potential of the builder, then the mixture can be prepared for you!

For a really high-quality mixing of concrete, a concrete mixer is needed, only with its help it is possible to completely observe all measured proportions and have time to deliver the mixture to its destination before it dries and cracks appear. However, for small volumes it seems unreasonable to rent or buy it. Then you can mix all the ingredients in two ways:

- First, all the dry components of the future solution are mixed, and then the prepared volume of water is added to them.

- In the required and pre-measured amount of water, all other ingredients are gradually added

For a large amount of work, the manual method is not suitable in any case, and for small volumes it is very difficult to control the mixing process. So in the first case it seems that all (at least dry) elements are evenly distributed, but when water is added it is impossible to control the wetting quality of the entire mass. In this case, a dry residue may remain at the bottom, which is already a deviation from the proportions and may affect the strength of the final product. You can of course mix it long enough until all the lumps are completely dissolved, but during this time the solution will begin to set and peel off, everything will look normal, and strength will drop.

The second option is more optimal for manual kneading, and they should be used with small volumes of concrete. With such a batch, the appearance of lumps is unlikely, the main thing is to add a dry component not too quickly.

In the end, it is still better to use a concrete mixer, this will save your time and nerves. It is better to choose its location at a distance of about 40 meters from the site where you want to pour concrete, so that the concrete does not have time to decay during transportation. A simple concrete mixer includes about 200 liters of the finished mixture, which must be taken into account in the calculations. Water is then poured (with a slight underfilling for subsequent application, in order to simplify the removal of lumps that have appeared, about 10-15%); poured cement (when water is not refilled, leave an equal amount of cement to it); then follows sand (at this stage there is a complete mixing of all ingredients, 2-3 minutes); necessary additives are introduced; now the main filler is added and, if necessary, water, previously mixed with cement. All stages should take no more than 10 minutes.

Dare, and you will succeed, and most importantly with independent mixing it is cost savings, because concrete price cooked by yourself - much lower!