How much cement?

[Eastside]

I dug a 4x4x4 hole for the tower base....how much cement will it take to fill the hole?

How many sacks of cement...and how many yards if I decide not to do it myself and pay to have a cement mixer truck come.....thanks.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

4X4X4=64 cubic feet. One cubic yard is 3X3X3 or 27 cubic feet therefore 64/27=2.37 cubic yards. As for how many bags I couldn't tell but I can tell you not to use that premixed Quickcrete stuff. If this is for a tower and you do it yourself you should use regular Portland cement and have the sand and gravel on site to mix it up. If you order it you want 3500 psi mix which is standard foundation grade cement for use below ground level.

 

[Eastside]

4X4X4=64 cubic feet. One cubic yard is 3X3X3 or 27 cubic feet therefore 64/27=2.37 cubic yards. As for how many bags I couldn't tell but I can tell you not to use that premixed Quickcrete stuff. If this is for a tower and you do it yourself you should use regular Portland cement and have the sand and gravel on site to mix it up. If you order it you want 3500 psi mix which is standard foundation grade cement for use below ground level.

Why not use the Quickcrete?

 

[Mr Clean]

I would have it delivered. Its a pain otherwise. I put up a tower last year and after digging the hole it was worth getting a cement mixer to bring it.

 

[Eastside]

I would have it delivered. Its a pain otherwise. I put up a tower last year and after digging the hole it was worth getting a cement mixer to bring it.

That would be nice....how much was it $?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Why not use the Quickcrete?

It may be OK for setting posts in the ground but it is simply not the best idea for a tower foundation. Using this calculator on the Quickcrete site you will need 107 eighty pound bags to make up 2.37 yards. See why I said not to use it? I used 6 yards in my tower hole and it is 5.5X5.5X5. Six yards is 12 tons of ready mix.

QUIKRETE® - Quantity Calculator

I made a mistake in my initial quantity estimate due to a brain fart so the proper quantity is now listed above.

 

[Mr Clean]

That would be nice....how much was it $?

I cant remember exactly. I think around 350 bucks.

 

[Eastside]

They wanted $400 here......I just hired a couple guys to dig the hole and then made a trade deal for our local tower man to do the cement work and put up the tower....the base is in the cement curing right now....I got a little tarp tent over it to keep the rain off.....should be ready to put the tower up by next sunday.

 

[office888]

They wanted $400 here......I just hired a couple guys to dig the hole and then made a trade deal for our local tower man to do the cement work and put up the tower....the base is in the cement curing right now....I got a little tarp tent over it to keep the rain off.....should be ready to put the tower up by next sunday.

Climbing harness?
Hardhat?
Good boots?
Gin pole?

 

[GnG8d]

I don't see the problem with Quick-Crete, it gets used by contractors daily and has for decades. I had no choice but to mix mine by hand (1.5 yds) due to the location, but I mixed it a little wet and dumped it in one load at a time and then covered it with heavy plastic for a week ............ not a tent BTW. The rain isn't the problem, it's the drying, you want a little "greenhouse" effect keeping the surface wet while the rest sets.

Anyway, I don't forsee any problems with using bagged cement.

 

[Eastside]

Climbing harness?
Hardhat?
Good boots?
Gin pole?

Yep.....he left a lot of his gear in my pole barn.

 

[Eastside]

I don't see the problem with Quick-Crete, it gets used by contractors daily and has for decades. I had no choice but to mix mine by hand (1.5 yds) due to the location, but I mixed it a little wet and dumped it in one load at a time and then covered it with heavy plastic for a week ............ not a tent BTW. The rain isn't the problem, it's the drying, you want a little "greenhouse" effect keeping the surface wet while the rest sets.

Anyway, I don't forsee any problems with using bagged cement.

Yep....I went up to tractor supply and bought a skid loaded high....they sat it in my crewcab with a forklift....quite a heavy load....took it home and 357 and 125 mixed it up in a wheel barrel sack after sack until it was up to the last rung on the base.....he also put big field rocks in the bottom....we used press board as forms....I just lay a tarp across it to keep the rain out.

 

[Eastside]

I should have taken some pics today.....it was a nice sunny day.....tomorrow its supposed to rain.

 

[GnG8d]

took it home and 357 and 125 mixed it up in a wheel barrel sack after sack until it was up to the last rung on the base.....

I've heard of guys doing it this way, but I don't recommend it. A yard or more of concrete is a pretty permanent fixture, thin walled steel tubing? ....... ehhh, not so much.

I put four 3/4" and four 5/8" "J" bolts in my conrete pour.

 

[mackmobile43]

I've heard of guys doing it this way, but I don't recommend it. A yard or more of concrete is a pretty permanent fixture, thin walled steel tubing? ....... ehhh, not so much.

I put four 3/4" and four 5/8" "J" bolts in my conrete pour.

That's one way of doing it, I use under size double wall pipe in the concrete with
cross bolts through those for anchoring purposes and mount the base section to those then drill small weep holes to allow condensated moisture to pass through as to prohibit rusting.