How to Mix Concrete in a Mixer

This article is about how to mix concrete in a mixer. In this tutorial I show you step by step (video included) how to prepare concrete quickly, without having to mix it by hand. The concrete mixer or cement mixer is a must have tool you need to have, if you have some large big concrete projects on the list. The mixer will help you make large amounts of concrete by mixing sand, gravel, cement and water in a rotating drum. The drum makes concrete that is optimally mixed and it keeps it usable for long periods of time, before it hardens.

Before buying or renting a mixer you should know they come in a few sizes. If you need one for a weekend project, I recommend you to go for a smaller mixer with a 36 gallon drum, for example. This will allow you to mix half a cement bag at once (approximately 2 wheelbarrows). You should also know that there are way larger mixers that can prepare 2 bags of cement at once, but that takes more people to load and unload the materials. See all my Premium Plans HERE.

Made from this plan

Materials

• gravel, sand
• cement
• water

Tools

• shovel
• concrete mixer
• wheelbarrow
• garden hose
• buckets

Time

• 1/2 hour

Mixing concrete – DIY Tutorial

How to Mix Concrete in a Mixer

Start by pouring half a bucket of water (aprox. 5l) into the concrete mixer. You will determine the right amount of water with time, because the concrete should have the right consistency. If there is too much water the concrete will be too thin and thus unmanageable. If you use too few water, the concrete, sand and gravel won’t mix properly.

Turn on the mixer and the proceed to the next step. If you are using the mixer in an area without access to electricity, then you can use a generator.

We generally use wheelbarrows to transport the sand / gravel to the concrete mixer. Use a shovel to load the wheelbarrow.

Next load a few shovels of sand to the concrete mixer’s drum.

We use a plastic basic to keep the cement bags. Open the bag with the shovel.

Pour a few shovels of cement in the mixer. Make sure you read the instructions on the bag to determine the propertions of sand, gravel, cement and water.

Having a few people load and unloading the concrete mixer will most certainly speed up the process. However, if you are not in a hurry, you can do the job by yourself.

Add more cement after a few minutes. The thing is you need to let the mixer do it job before adding more cement. The rotating drum will mix everything together and if you don’t pour everything at once, the mix will be homogeneous.

Add more water is necessary. The concrete should have the consistency of cream with no lumps.

The concrete is ready for use.

Unload the concrete in a wheelbarrow.

Using a wheelbarrow helps you move the concrete to any location on the job site.

Once you have emptied the drum, you need to pour water in the drum and let it rotate for a few minutes. In this manner, you will keep the inside of the drum clean, otherwise the concrete will harden and it will be difficult to remove next time you use the mixer. Now the inside of the drum is all clean, you can turn it off.

As you can see the cement mixer helps you save a lot of time and pour large quantities of concrete in a single day. Preparing the concrete by hand is old-fashioned because it won’t get you the same quality and time saving benefits. You can also buy the concrete already mix, but if you need smaller quantities it is just not economically wise to do that. Please take a look over the rest of my concrete projects and tutorials.

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