DIY Concrete Or How To Knead Concrete With A Shovel

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to make concrete with your own hands and save 40% of the effort

Hello dear friends

Any small construction site can never do without a foundation. Whether it is pillar or strip foundations, the main components are steel reinforcement and concrete. Thanks to these two materials, true masterpieces of architectural construction are now being created to withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and heavy loads.

In the modern world, there are a huge number of machines that make it easier to work with concrete, but since we do everything ourselves and with our own hands, we do not need to erect five hundred meter structures, we need a small amount of concrete, then we will knead it manually.

Today I want to talk about how to knead concrete with my own hands, with a minimum of effort.

Even as a child, I remember, my grandfather always told me: "Vlad, in any business you need certain skills, abilities and a certain order in work, only then you can do the job quickly and efficiently."

After that, he gave me an example about two diggers, one had been doing this work for 20 years, and the other was a “novice student”. They began to dig two identical holes side by side. So, the trainee spent three times more time on work than the teacher. Do you know why? A person who has devoted so much time to this profession already intuitively knows at what angle to insert a shovel into the ground, how to throw the earth out of the pit spending a minimum of effort and getting the maximum result and many other secrets.

In my construction practice, I often had to deal with the construction of the foundation with my own hands, and this, accordingly, with the work of mixing concrete. Honestly, I confess to you, as soon as it came to mixing concrete with your own hands - it was a "sharp knife" for me.

And in one of these "unfortunate" cases for me, I remembered what my grandfather told me in childhood. The thought arose, probably, I really mix concrete incorrectly, I use not the technology that people use. Why is it so hard for me to do this job?

Having rummaged through the Internet, and after reading the available literature, I still did not understand what the main secret was. And then, a housemate brought four KAMAZ sand, four KAMAZ rubble, an ordinary metal bath and invited 4 workers from sunny Tajikistan to work.

At first I couldn’t believe my eyes that he wanted to cast a foundation for a house 10 * 10 meters with such forces. Until recently, I did not believe that this was possible.

You know, I was deeply mistaken. A week later, to my surprise, the foundation was cast.

It was here that I borrowed the technology how to mix concrete with a saving of 40% of the effort.

So, I'm telling you how to make concrete with your own hands using the example of one bath.

Step-by-step instructions: how to knead concrete with your own hands and in what proportions

We will make concrete from M500 grade cement, therefore the proportions of concrete preparation will be as follows: 1 part of cement, 3 parts of sand, 4 parts of gravel, 1 part of water. For convenience, we will take one bucket for one part.

Step 1. Pour two buckets of water into the container. Additional water may need to be added depending on the moisture content of the sand.

Step 2. Put 2 buckets of cement into the water (without a bump). In principle, 4 buckets can be placed in a 50 kg bag, i.e. pour in half a bag of cement.

During backfilling, we constantly stir the mixture of water and cement until a homogeneous liquid mass is obtained.

Step 3. Stir constantly, pouring six buckets of sand.

Bring the mixture to a uniform consistency. After the introduction of the last bucket, the mixture becomes difficult to interfere, but bearable.

Step 4. Introduce eight buckets of rubble into the resulting mixture.

It is necessary to pour out crushed stone not in one place, but evenly distributing it over the entire area of the container in which the kneading is performed. After each bucket, mix the resulting concrete.

After the introduction of the last eighth bucket and thorough mixing, our concrete is ready to be poured into the formwork.

I was kneading the concrete with a shovel, but the guys at the neighbor's, they were stirring together from different sides. Moreover, one kneads the concrete with a shovel, the second with an ordinary garden hoe.

I say honestly, as a spirit, you spend 40% less effort than using any other method. And those who advise to mix all the ingredients dry, probably never tried to make concrete with their own hands before adding water, and know all the technology of how to knead concrete only in theory. Stirring dry mix is very difficult to lift and stir, especially from the bottom of the concrete container after adding water.

I hope, after reading the article to the end, now you can save a lot of effort in making concrete with your own hands. In the same way, you can knead the mortar with your own hands for plastering the surface, for laying bricks or for revealing the surface with natural stone.

Video: how to mix concrete with your own hands

All easy and fast construction projects. Good luck with your construction.

Best regards, Vladislav Ponomarev.