Small slab by hand mixing ?

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Hi guys. I’m looking to pour a slab as a base to build a shed on. The floor size is 8ft x 8ft, and I’m guessing 6 inches deep.
There’s already a small wall 2 bricks high making a natural frame…….
Can I get away with mixing batches by hand in a wheelbarrow ( to save the cost / time constraints of hiring a mixer ). ?
Depending the weather, I don’t mind doing it over a couple of weekends, so maybe “ split it “ in to 2 x 8x4 ?
 
It can be done by hand, although it's around 2 bulk bags of all in, so you might want to look at the cost of a weekend mixer hire.
Mixing in a wheelbarrow is a lot slower than mixing on a large banker board.
You could stick some hard-core in the bottom to reduce the amount of concrete needed. 6 inches is thicker than needed for a shed base.
 
Thanks for the info Stuart. As it happens I’m also gettting a couple of bags or Type 1 mot delivered for a path project I’m doing at the same time, so maybe I should get extra to ‘ in full’ the base ? What thickness of concrete do you think I can get away with ?
 
Half a meter is the minimum order for some barrow mix places. I would have struggled to buy the materials for what I paid for my last lot. Otherwise I'd definitely hire (or borrow) a mixer.
 
When I was younger and fitter I did a slab about the same size, by hand, on my lonesome, in 1 hit without killing myself or screwing up the job.

There's a bit of technique to making things easier:

1. Treat yourself to a decent shovel if you haven't got one
2. Mix on a concrete slab or an 8x4 of ply/osb. Hard work in a barrow
3. Start the mixing as you measure out: 6 shovels of ballast then 1 of cement, then another 6 of ballast on top and another cement so your heap is layered.
4. Slide your shovel along the base at the edge of the heap and then just roll the shovel over, away from the heap. You don't want to waste effort shifting the heap several feet over then back again. That first cut will leave a vertical edge to the heap which will fall down mixing the layers as it goes.
5. Repeat until the whole heap has moved and then do the same in reverse. The heap should be reasonably uniform in colour by now and you can add your water.
6. Flatten the heap and scrape out the middle to form a dam around, water in the middle and work around pulling a bit of naterial into the water. Little and often is the mantra as you don't want the concrete too wet and there comes a point when a little bit more water goes a long way.
7. Pre measure the water though as once you know you need 3 buckets say to this size mix, you can add 2.5 in 1 go.
8. Keep the concrete stiff: it's a wee bit more effort to spread and compact than if you adopt the slop beloved of many builders, but the concrete will be much stronger at the end, it's a whole lot lessmessy to move and you can work across the base to keep a fresh face of concrete where you're working. This way you can take several hours overt the pour without detriment to the concrete. Cover with polythene as soon as you can and water it for a few days after to help the cure.
 
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Thanks for the input guys. Having been a tiler for years and years I’m no stranger to the hard graft of mixing. As in turning 60 soon, and get Stevie 888’s ‘ younger and fitter’, I think I’m coming down on the side of hiring a mixer :(
 
Investigate the cost of one of those "mix as you go, pay for what you need" type ready mix outfits. As has been points out, the sheer quantity of aggregates they buy versus what you can buy the raw materials for means that they aren't necessarily much more expensive than mixing yourself.

My calcs are it's practically a cubic metre of concrete, about 2 tonbags of ballast (£50 each) and 14 bags of cement (£7 each).. £200 on materials; if your ready mix place is charging £300 a cube, i wouldn't bother hand mixing it..
 
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And take away the most fun part of the job? :D

This job is far too small for it, but most of the bigger pours with awkward access I've done the most appropriate approach has been to hire a small dump truck and fill that. Now that I have access to a forklift truck I'd probably look to get one of those "it'll tip out when full, reset it manually when empty" style front tipping buckets that go on the forks..
 

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