# estimating concrete yardage



## mason22 (Mar 25, 2008)

what is the formuala used to determine yardage ?


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

Length (in feet) X width (in feet) X depth (in feet) divided by 27 will give you cubic yards.


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## mason22 (Mar 25, 2008)

thank you alot now im doing a residential side walk possibly for the town i cgotta call the inspecter but do i place the asphalt exppansion joints in afte ri make the cut with the edger or before?


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

Before.

But you might want to get the assistance of someone who knows how to do this type of work.

Work for a municipality could get costly, if you make a mistake and have to re-do the work.

Not being judgemental, but you don't sound like you have ANY concrete experience.


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## mason22 (Mar 25, 2008)

well i did a sidewalk with somebody before but neve rdid one myself the only way by learning is doing


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## shazamyman (Feb 6, 2008)

only one way to learn to swim....either you will drown or you will take water up your nose...i would get as much info as possible...


plus i would recommend a spell check:whistling


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

mason22 said:


> well i did a sidewalk with somebody before but neve rdid one myself the only way by learning is doing


Well I won't hold that against you. 

There are guys on here that know a heck of a lot more about this than I do, but here is what I can give you.

If using 2X4's for forms, put enough support stakes so you can't make the form bow with pressure from your foot.

I cut control joints every 4', a control joint is done with the grooving tool.

I would put expansion joints at not more than 30' apart, an expansion joint is the asphalt/fiber strip you referred to earlier. 

Make sure you have a Bull Float, a hand float, an edger, a groover, and a broom.

Do short runs till you get the hang of what you're doing. By no means should you be ordering more than a few yards on your first pours. Unless you have experienced help

Quite honestly, I have been fooling with concrete for years and anything more than a 100 or 150 square feet, I hire a finisher. My back don't like to be down there for too long. :sad:

Maybe some of the "real concrete pros" will add to this and help you out.

By the way, where are you located?


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## raskolnikov (Mar 10, 2008)

I've been in this for 20 plus years and still avoid 'crete to this day. I sub most anything out 'cause I just don't want to know about it. I know you can make piles of money if you know what you're doing... NOT interested. I'm too busy with layout and layup!

D.


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

mason22 said:


> thank you alot now im doing a residential side walk possibly for the town i cgotta call the inspecter but do i place the asphalt exppansion joints in afte ri make the cut with the edger or before?


not trying to be a smart azz but..............common sense tells you that the expansion is placed before the concrete is poured.
i agree with tg,get ahold of someone who knows what they are doing to help you get started.if this is a high profile job(for your town),then you will NOT want to mess it up.from your other posts i have read you are young and just getting started.mess up for your hometown and you are toast.not only may the town council refuse to pay you,and you have one hella concrete bill to pay.the people of your hometown will see your work daily.if you messed it up i doubt you will have many calls to do concrete work.
on the other hand,if you find someone to help you get started,and show the correct way to do this work.you will find people calling you,telling you did a good job and need some work done.your town will remember your job the next time the need concrete poured and will call.
good luck


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## raskolnikov (Mar 10, 2008)

Stacker,
More to the point than my biased spin about my lack of love of concrete and all the side effects concerning spillout. M22, take heed and you'll garner much info here for sure!

D.


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## Joasis (Mar 28, 2006)

mason22 said:


> thank you alot now im doing a residential side walk possibly for the town i cgotta call the inspecter but do i place the asphalt exppansion joints in afte ri make the cut with the edger or before?


I would suggest you hook up with someone that works concrete, or find a retired guy to coach you. It looks really simple, but can be very expensive to tear it out and do it over when it isn't right.


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

Good advice given to you m22 by everyone here. I write this post to encourage you to try to learn concrete if that is what you want to do but understand it is a process.

3 years back I was just in your position and I decided to jump in and learn. I'm really really glad I did. To this day I amazed/fascinated by concrete it is also profitable which is a good thing. If you can learn to master concrete and masonry you will be ahead of the majority of masonry guys and also the majority of concrete guys. Trust me we still have lots and lots to learn but we are learning things on every job. Remember that most HO's prefer to hire 1 contractor for all of their hardscaping needs. 

This winter the masonry work dried up but concrete kept us up and running. We have spent the last 2 months working on a massive concrete job which has included: forming walls, putting in brick patios, and pouring driveways etc. Without concrete experience I would've been out of work this winter. 

Maybe later this weekend I'll type out some of the things I've learned but for now I'll just say in agreement with the others. Concrete can be deceptively difficult. Be careful of big visible jobs right off of the bat, you don't want to ruin your reputation before you even begin. Hire or subcontract someone to "work" for you. Qualify them by looking at their previous work, and then learn from them. Their seems to be lots of people out there who are good at concrete but suck at life if you know what I mean. I've learned alot about concrete from people I've had to fire.

This book was/is helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-C...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207364797&sr=8-1

Pictures of the job described above. 









Poured this wall last week. Shooting for the "bunker" look. Inset lights were fun to figure out.


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## shazamyman (Feb 6, 2008)

yeah man, concrete flat work is simple...if ya have a clue on how to do it ...it shouldnt "get away from ya"

a good little trick is to seperate the area that you are going to put expansion and control joints in with a 2x4 every four ft or so, nail your expansion onto the 2x4 just remeber to nail it high where you can easily remove it after you pour your crete, that way your expansion stays where it supposed to during your pour....just be careful after removing the nail and removing your 2x4....

hope that didnt confuse ya


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## shazamyman (Feb 6, 2008)

lukachuki said:


> Good advice given to you m22 by everyone here. I write this post to encourage you to try to learn concrete if that is what you want to do but understand it is a process.
> 
> 3 years back I was just in your position and I decided to jump in and learn. I'm really really glad I did. To this day I amazed/fascinated by concrete it is also profitable which is a good thing. If you can learn to master concrete and masonry you will be ahead of the majority of masonry guys and also the majority of concrete guys. Trust me we still have lots and lots to learn but we are learning things on every job. Remember that most HO's prefer to hire 1 contractor for all of their hardscaping needs.
> 
> ...


 






:thumbsup: awsome work


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## CR2 (Apr 5, 2007)

Hi ,22 all expansion joint material should extend for the entire thickness/length of the slab in order to work properly, but something more important for you to know(and I don't mean to offend or discourage you)is that high paying jobs are not the best jobs to learn,there's always too much at stake and they allow for no mistakes; if I was you, I subd it out, made less money and had less problems.
Good Luck!


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## A W Smith (Oct 14, 2007)

make sure you check with the town engineer first. mine had to be on site as i poured. and check out the mix strength. For a Sidewalk!!










I just gave a lady sticker shock for work involving the above specifications. for 6 of those 4 foot by 5 foot slabs and a 7 inch thick driveway apron 11 feet by 4 feet. I quoted her 4K, Its only about 164 sq feet. But i have to break it out and recycle it. then the town comes with a stump grinder and grinds all the roots out that pushed up the slabs in the first place. then i hafta get rid of that ground root and soil that washed under the slabs all those years. then 3 inches of bluestone. schedule both the pour and the engineer to be there at the same time. Hope some moron jogger with head phones on doesnt run right through it before its even set up for finishing and keep right on running like the last one I did in that town. Come back and strip my forms and finish grade. and hope no pedestrian gets hurt on my caution tape barricades during all of this. it aint worth it for me to do it for less. let THEM have it.


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## spackelman (Apr 6, 2008)

Lukachuki - Nice Work...
:thumbsup:


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