# Largest concrete area pouring with HF mixer? 1-1/4 vs 3.5 cu ft



## dtbingle (Jul 19, 2017)

How much cu ft is reasonable for one person to mix/pour/screed/finish by hand using the 1-1/4 cu ft harbor freight mixer?

Likewise, how much more volume do you think could be done with the 3-1/2 cu ft HF mixer?

What is the breaking point where it's just too much to do by hand and need to call a truck?



Hand mixed about 8 80lb bags today with a shovel and basically trying to decide if the small 1-1/4 cu ft mixer is enough for around the house and what size single pour I'd be limited to with it vs the 3.5 cu ft.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Do the math. 

use the length X the width X the thickness, to get your volume of the desired pour. 

Say a 4 X4 x 4 inch thick slab will equal 4X4 x1/3 = 5.28 cu ft. 

Now just insert your dimensions in the formula for a total size of the mixer. 

ED


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## dtbingle (Jul 19, 2017)

I get those volume calculations, but that doesn’t factor in mixing times. How long does the 1-1/4 cu ft mixer take to mix a 60lb bag vs a 3-1/2 cu ft mixer with 2x 80 lb bag in it?

Then I guess it would be down to working time of the concrete, which would be heavily based on sun/shade, temp, humidity. I think today it was 90, humid, and sunny and had about 60-80 min of working time.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I have the larger HF electric mixer. It works great for sidewalks and small pads. It could be used for something larger but you'd want help so the mixer could constantly be running. A truck is easier/quicker but whether or not to go that route depends on how big the job is and where it's located.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

The rental stores fill the gap between hand mixing and owning. They also offer some experience to help decide on the size.

One factor is how much you can load into a wheel barrow? If working alone a small mixer could be dumped into the wb and the mixer refilled to do its job while you dump that load. Of course a larger mixer doesn't have to have a full load every time.

Bud


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## dtbingle (Jul 19, 2017)

How large of a pour have you done with the large HF one and how many people did you have helping?

And that’s a good idea Bud about the wheelbarrow. Starting to think I should just rent the few times I need one instead of getting the small mixer and then likely not being big enough and have to rent anyway haha.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I think the biggest slab I've poured [by myself] using my HF mixer was an 8'x12' I loaned it to my BiL 15 yrs ago and he and his son poured a 1/2 basement floor in an old house he had bought. I've used it more for laying block than pouring concrete.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

A mixer is a strange tool, but needing to own one depends on how much work you can line up. I have a few specialty big tools and when I need them I often have to ask around to see who has it. Somewhere out there I own a bull float. By trim bender is currently home but someone has my rear mower deck , .

One thing about renting a mixer is, the jobs rarely stretch into weeks, cement waits for no one.

Bud


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

A small mixer like the 1.25 cu ft might be fine for mortar mixing, but I don’t see it as a concrete mixer. I’d recommend getting the 3.5. If your doing enough to justify the cost of the mixer, you are doing enough to have the bigger one.

Another option is U cart or U haul concrete trailers. My batch plant has them. You pay a rental fee, buy the concrete, and haul it home in a 1 to 1.5 Cu yard trailer. The better trailers have turning drums to keep the mix from separating on you. Trailer hauling avoids having to store a mixer over long periods between uses. (It also avoids lifting all those 80lb bags about 3 times apiece.)

Truck delivery is usually a big job, not for a solo DIYer. You better have a number of people to help place, screed, and finish it. Otherwise you will find it setting up on you. (You are also only allowed a certain amount of time to get it out of the truck based on the quantity. Take too much time and they start charging you extra)


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

I do this as a career, so my answer is certainly biased, as I'm doing it for profit, and you aren't. ANything approaching 1/2 yard is cheaper to order a truck out for us, vs. buying pre-mix bags. The ready-mix concrete will always be a better, more consistent product as well.

That said, we have 2 4 cubic foot little electric mixers that we'll pour floor patches with occasionally, mostly because accessibility to get a concrete truck near isn't feasible. We won't use pre-mix bags, but torpedo sand, stone, Portland cement, accelerant, air-entrainment, etc... individually. Materials are cheaper this way, but labor is far more intensive.

I'd buy this (we've had one for 2 or 3 years, and use it ALOT) long before I considered buying that 1.25 cu. foot mixer. It's far more reliable and useful IMO:

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...3qFnYmdJv_dDj7OCZMihFh1DBQTuehe0aAtvXEALw_wcB


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## dtbingle (Jul 19, 2017)

That looks like a neat tool. Actually tried using a lighter duty mud/mortar mixer in a 5 gal bucket, but the mixer couldn’t keep up.

When you use that double spindle mixer, what container do you mix in to make sure it gets consistently mixed?


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