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Hit 200 bags of concrete mixing station this weekend and my back is mad | Backyard Builds - Guest Forum

Hit 200 bags of concrete mixing station this weekend and my back is mad

Been building a retaining wall in my side yard off and on for about 3 weeks now. It's not huge, maybe 30 feet long and 3 feet tall at the highest point. But I kept having to mix bags by hand in a wheelbarrow for the footer and caps. Last Saturday I looked at my pile of empty bags and counted 204. I started counting because my wife joked I was going to buy a new truck for the amount I spent. She wasn't far off, I think I dumped like $500 just on concrete. The funny thing is I never thought about the total until I saw all those bags stacked up. Made me wonder if anyone else has hit a weird milestone like that which made them step back and go "whoa". How many bags did your big project end up using?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire9582mo ago

maybe 30 feet long and 3 feet tall" - I gotta push back on this a little. 30x3 is only like 90 square feet of wall face. So 200 bags seems like a lot unless you were pouring a swimming pool foundation or something. I did a 20x4 retaining wall last summer with those big 80lb bags and I think I used maybe 80 total for the footer and cap. Maybe you're overmixing or your footer is way too wide? Don't get me wrong, I respect the hustle, but your back pain might be from wasting money and time. $500 on concrete for a 30 foot wall feels like a lot.

gray_perez522mo ago

Dang man, that's a lot of bags. I think the other commenter is missing something though. You said you were mixing them by hand in a wheelbarrow. With hand mixing you always end up using more concrete because you can't get it as tight and you gotta make sure you got enough. Plus if you had any waste or spills or leftover mix that set up in the wheelbarrow that all adds up fast. I bet if you had a little mixer you woulda used way less bags and saved some back pain too. Still 200 bags is a solid weird milestone to hit.