Mixing by hand

To produce good concrete by hand you need to work carefully and methodically at a steady pace – a rushed job is likely to give disappointing results.

Tools: Mixing platform; two shovels; two heavy-duty polythene buckets of identical size – about 15 litres capacity (keep one for cement only); bucket or watering can.

Materials: Sharp sand and coarse aggregate; ordinary Portland cement; water (7–10 litres per 15-litre bucket of cement) – use mains water, if possible, as water from a dam or pond will contain organic substances that could affect the concrete.

STEP 1

Set up a mixing platform as near as possible to the laying area. A piece of scrap shutter board or hardboard, about a metre on each edge, makes a good platform; rinse it off afterwards and allow it to dry -  you might need it again.

STEP 2

Measure buckets of sand and coarse aggregate in the required proportions and tip them into a pile on the platform.

STEP 3

Use the cement shovel to fill the cement bucket to the top. To make sure the bucket is properly packed, knock it two or three times as you fill it, because the cement fluffs up as it is shovelled.

STEP 4

Make a crater in the top of the pile of aggregate and tip in the bucket of cement.