# how much does concrete weigh?



## 47_47 (Sep 11, 2007)

Why don't you use concrete block? Easier to move and store. A 10"x 8"x 16" weighs about 60 lbs.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

It's about 4,045 pounds per cubic yard.... then add all the rebar you will need.


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## bob22 (May 28, 2008)

An 80-lb bag of dry concrete will weigh about 80-lbs mixed. Divide the amount of weight you need by 80lbs and you've the number of bags needed to mix.


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## hoang (Nov 20, 2009)

concrete weighs anywhere from 135lbs to 150lbs per cubic foot.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

If you need a single number, use 145 pcf cured. that will put you withinh 5 pcf, no matter where you are.

I don't imagine you want to pay the extra to get lightweight concrete that is 105 to 125 pcf.

Dick


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

The OP does not even need to mix. Just place outside in wet weather, and he will have a 80# rock.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

gregzoll said:


> The OP does not even need to mix. Just place outside in wet weather, and he will have a 80# rock.



I need to pour because I want this to be one solid piece I can put in and out with a chain fall or a tractor with a bucket. 




> 47_47 Why don't you use concrete block? Easier to move and store. A 10"x 8"x 16" weighs about 60 lbs.


actually, storing is no problem. I have several acres to consider when storing it. As to easier? No way!! 1000 lbs of block (using your numbers because I don't really know) 17 blocks I would have to load or unload and have them sliding around in the bed. Plus they would take a lot more room than solid concrete. I would like to maintain room to still carry stuff in the bed as well.

a poured to fit around the wheel wells weight would be stable in the bed and as I said before, lifting it is no problem.


So, it sounds like about 7 cf is around 1000 pounds. That is amazing that that little amount of concrete would weigh 1000 pounds. I never would have guessed.


thanks a lot guys. Now, all I have to do is find time to do it between that, fixing electric at dads house, fixing gutters and roof at mine, wifes car, kids car...all before snow.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

concretemasonry said:


> I don't imagine you want to pay the extra to get lightweight concrete that is 105 to 125 pcf.
> 
> Dick


Uh, no. I think the lightweight would be kind of counter productive for the purpose. Thanks for the idea though.:whistling2:


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Just for traction in the snow?
What kind of truck ?
I have a Ford F150 4wd
I dunno how our winters are compared to yours
But I haven't had any problem yet & we had a lot of snow last year


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

SW Michigan can really get dumped on with a lot of miserable, heavy, wet snow and can be very difficult to get around in especially when you can get 12-20" overnight from a lake-effect storm off Lake Michigan. In some areas, they get real heavy wet, slippery snow that does not disappear quickly because of the cold from the NW that follows it and freezes everything for a day or so.

I lived in NE Michigan (not the Upper Peninsula) and we only got about 100" inches a year with a record of 180", but it was the "pretty fluff" and they never plowed for 4" in town since most would be blown away or transpirated by noon. along Lake Huron, it was not unusual to leave in the morning with a cloudless sky and have fluff falling for an hour or two. - Not real snow.

Every place has different types of snow and inches do not measure the traction requirements.

Dick


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

Scuba_Dave said:


> Just for traction in the snow?
> What kind of truck ?
> I have a Ford F150 4wd
> I dunno how our winters are compared to yours
> But I haven't had any problem yet & we had a lot of snow last year


dick pretty much hit it. We tend to get heavy wet snow that is slippery. The truck is only a 2 wheel drive and the light rear end is horrible for traction.

a couple years ago I put in 6 1/2 feet of I beam. Did ok so last year I figured why not put another 6 1/2 feet in. Did a lot better so rather that stuffing the I beam in the bed, I figured a purpose made weight would be easier to handle and wouldn't take up so much room. I only have a 6' bed so I had to angle the steel across the bed. Didn't leave much room for anything else.


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

Strap six bags of concrete gravel mix on a pallet. Let it get wet and set up and your done. Now you can remove it with the tracker and do not have to pour anything. (next spring return the cement to Lowes)


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## pls8xx (May 2, 2009)

*safety first*

I’m going to think long and hard before I ride around all winter with a 1000 lb weight in the back of my truck. Accidents do happen. I think I can survive a 40 mph front crash. The momentum is absorbed as the front crumples, the air bags deploy, and the seat belts cushion my body deceleration. Now all I have to worry about is that 1000 lb weight coming at me at 30-40 mph with nothing between me and it but some sheet metal. A solid concentrated item in the back of a truck does not act like unconsolidated material in an accident.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

pls8xx said:


> I’m going to think long and hard before I ride around all winter with a 1000 lb weight in the back of my truck. Accidents do happen. I think I can survive a 40 mph front crash. The momentum is absorbed as the front crumples, the air bags deploy, and the seat belts cushion my body deceleration. Now all I have to worry about is that 1000 lb weight coming at me at 30-40 mph with nothing between me and it but some sheet metal. A solid concentrated item in the back of a truck does not act like unconsolidated material in an accident.


hey, I've been riding around for several years with a 500+ lb I beam pointed right at my back up until now. I think the concrete would be less of a pointedly direct hazard to me than the steel:yes:

the larger area of the concrete chunk as well as my intention to build it around the wheel wells, I think it will not only stay in place better but due to the width of the thing, it would have to crush the entire cab rather that shish-ka-bobbing me in the back like the steel would.

the problem is; the truck is literally nearly undriveable without weight in the bed. Heck, it's a little 4.2 V6 and on wet pavement, I can spin the tires through 3rd gear until I hit 4th if I want to. (5 speed manual)

It's a lot of fun when I want it to be but when I need the traction and don't have it, it gets scary loose in the rear end.


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

> That way the block would not move much plus with tie downs, I could secure it as well if needed.


You could set a long piece of heavy chain through the cement before it has a chance to harden. Tie it down to the truck bed with both ends of the chain that are sticking out the sides. You could even set another piece of chain in the cement so that it comes out facing the back of the truck and attach it to the trailer hitch. That might keep it from sliding if you had to stop fast like Pls8xx is saying.

A woman I used to carpool with had a headstone in the trunk of her car. A guy she knew owned a business that sold engraved headstones. That one had a flaw in it, so he let her use it.


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## 47_47 (Sep 11, 2007)

4 wheel drive is not a cure all. Where I live 25 miles in the hills south of Buffalo, NY, I need weight in the back of my F250 to go down the hills, in wet heavy snow conditions.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Sounds like your winters & snow are much worse then ours
I remember we had a Pinto station wagon that we used to put a cement birdbath in the back & some other weight for traction
I'm on a dead end road which is off a main road, so the roads get plowed pretty good


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

Scuba_Dave said:


> Sounds like your winters & snow are much worse then ours
> I remember we had a Pinto station wagon that we used to put a cement birdbath in the back & some other weight for traction
> I'm on a dead end road which is off a main road, so the roads get plowed pretty good


we have what is called "lake effect snow" where the winds come from the west and come across Lake Michigan, a huge amount of moisture gets picked up and dropped as snow in a band about 50 miles wide from the lake.


They can get a couple inches on the west side of the lake and we can get a foot plus on our side from the same storm. Lot's of fun to go to sleep with little or nothing on the ground and get up and not be able to drive on the roads because the plows haven't been out yet. or better yet, you are the "maker of tracks" down the snow covered road that everybody follows. Just don't ignorantly follow those tracks; sometimes they do go off the road:whistling2:


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

Yeah, when we get 18" of snow over night, the weather man lets us know that it wasn't a snow storm. "It's just lake effect snow". 

As if we're supposed to feel better about that. Someone needs to tell the weather man that 18" of lake effect snow isn't any nicer to drive in or shovel than 18" from a snow storm. 

And I don't think the tow truck drivers ever say, "Lucky for you this is lake effect snow, so there's no charge for pulling you out of the ditch today". lol

47_47, you guys get lake effect snow over there in Buffalo too, don't you?


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