Volumemetric concrete aka barrow mix

[GB_Groundworks]

Just driven past the arcon factory and reminded me about this

The morning after England got knocked out of euros I had 6m on order for slab for slate patio for a builder, so barrow mix turn up and the young labourer starts ohh and arring and talking like we are diy'ers. Who's measured this we haven't got enough etc etc

So this lads whining away, I say mate we put 200+ m3 of concrete a year in if you don't want to I'll get Cemex here in an hour, we always use ready mix but builder wanted us to use barrow mix then


Starts trying to tell me a cube of concrete is 1.2 tons I said it isn't mate the specific gravity of a cube of c30 is 2.2-2.4 depending on slump. He wouldn't have it, so they start barrowing


So get half in still telling me it's 10m3 + so after another attempt to tell me it's 1.2 ton a cube ice had enough of his arsey wrongness. He gets his driver and fellow barrower who was a nice chap to google it a d he comes out with 2.345 tons a cube. This shuts labourer up, so we get talking about the wagons... He says we aren't meant to carry water with us as its says non potable water on the tank. I said that means its not drinkable, he won't have this either do driver googles it again and again he's quiet.

So back to the point last time they got pulled by vosa they were 13000 kg over on total weight they were 42 tons on an 8 wheeler

They were saying they have to use the backway to the yard to avoid vosa stations. Oh and 6.4m3 killed the job...

So a week later we had another 6cum from our local ready mix plant driver there who was helping us shovel the Crete and running the power tamp told us they run the vokumetrics as plant and run them on red diesel and argue that they are allowed max recommended by scania etc not by law.

I won't be using barrow mix again if I can help it



Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1341829069

[seanandruby]

'' young labourer.'' no other explanation needed, he will hopefully grow out of it after a few years of looking stupid :laugh:

[Carberry]

Had a young labourer out with me once, he pointed to a cement mixer and was asking what it was called, insisting that he knew and it was on the tip of his tongue and that he learnt what it was called in whatever the name of the construction class is in high school.


As useless as tits on a fish but kept him around because he made us laugh :laugh:

[dig dug dan]

I won't be using barrow mix again if I can help it

i use a small local firm, been around for years, but if i want concrete and not sure of amount, or need different mixes and different water content on the same site, then i use a guy who has one of those trucks (in fact he owns the name mixamate ltd!)
very handy lorries, but the mixamate crews are all big heads.

[lutonlagerlout]

we used to use mixamate when the drivers had to knock it up
they were hard lads,knocking up maybe 30 cube a day
but apart from 1 driver "chris" who was a diamond the rest looked like they had eaten a lot of porridge
we went back to readymix but when they centralised their depots to rugby it all went tits up
orders were late or didnt show

been using custom concrete for 3 years now,not sure but think their lorries can hold about 12 cube
they carry gravel ,cement and sharp sand so the mix is consistent
they turn up exactly when they say they will and are flexible
on thursday our oversite was passed at 1.30 so i rang the driver craig and asked could he swing by and do us 2 cubes
3 o'clock he was there

the only think I find frustrating with them is if the sand and gravel has been on the lorry over night then the water sinks to the bottom ,so as the pour progresses it can become wetter
on footings and oversites it doesnt matter but on finished stuff it is a nightmare
cheers LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

my point was more they are running rd 12 tons over loaded and running them as Plant so less tax, licenses, and overoaded

concrete was small aggregate was ok but prefer our local minimix or cemex for big pours, this was the actual barrowmix that bought aardvark out

there were 4 trucks lined up outside armcon today inc the tarmac one from hillhead

[Dave_L]

Yes these volumetric wagons are classed as "Mobile plant" the same as cranes and concrete pumps etc so they are allowed to run on rebated fuel, no tachograph and are allowed to run to design GVM by the OEM.

They always look top heavy when full of sand and agg.

[GB_Groundworks]

yeah thats what our readymix driver was saying but he was saying you dont haul 2000 tons of stone with your crusher or the concrete with the pump etc think we will see this clamped down on in the future.

[lutonlagerlout]

be careful what you wish for giles :;):
tractors hauling waste might be next
custom were doing plenty of pours from jct 11-14 on the m1 so they must be doing something right
the biggest issue we have with readmix is the drivers
they fell out of the ignorant tree and hit every branch on the way down
LLL

[mickg]

I was told aardvark had gone bang Giles and the plant etc sold off, I used a clown outfit for 4 m3 about 6 weeks ago who's name I wont mention and their wagon was the old aardvark colours with a new name on it

I have used Barrowmix quite a lot in the last 2 months for small amounts for laying setts foundations etc and the service they offer is excellent compared to all of the other barrow service companies in and around the north west, they are always on time and not that far out on what i order

the Barrowmix lads are very obliging especially the 3 man team wagon and I don't have an issue with them at all as I tell them what slump I want and yeah the odd barrow can be a little wetter than the previous but they change the controls and get it sorted straight away

we poured 8m3 last week and the last thing I want to start doing is pushing a wheel barrow full of concrete down a 900mm path from the pavement to the rear of the property for a couple of hours while the concrete is going hard on the road when the happy go lucky concrete driver gets impatient and tips the lot

Barrowmix turned up at 8.30 on the dot and was gone in just under an hour later with no mess at the front of the house what so ever

Mixamate, yeah them were the days Tony

the wagon had a large mixer on the back and the lads usd to load it by hand and then push the wheel barrows, that was a hard days graft

[lutonlagerlout]

the london mixamate mob never pushed any barrows,but they had to bang it all in by hand
we did 16m3 one saturday morning and he had another 2 after that
think the drivers were on £7per metre and we were paying about £56 a metre
do this barrowmix mob actually push it in for you?
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

Yeah they push it, mickg barrow mix bought out aardvark


We had a two man team and they were saying the drivers got arthritis in his wrists and he thought they were trying to force him out getting all the big pours with the two man team.

It is damn sure easier letting them push it if there is no dumper access or pump justification

[Carberry]

Prefer pushing the barrows myself. Get those glutes working :laugh: