Carmix pouring concrete at commercial truck parking and repair shop

We have recently completed a small, but interesting project around the Fort Lauderdale airport area.

A customer contacted us asking to help out with on-site concrete production for a new commercial truck service area at his truck parking and repair shop.

Most of the concrete industry professionals came across a problem of adequate price and delivery time of concrete during this recent year.

Miami area is no exception. Most batching plant`s ask to book concrete delivery at least 2 weeks in advance and the price is also above $200 per cubic yard excluding delivery charges.

It might sound crazy, but this is the reality of the concrete market in the US and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Carmix is a new and quite interesting concept of overcoming these difficulties.

We will describe the whole process based on the experience of our customer and his recent pour and placement of around 25 cubic yards of concrete.

We have first started our work by coming out to the potential jobsite and examining the future pouring area and what is more important, discussing the most efficient way to organize concrete production.

For a start we have suggested using 275 gallons. Intermediate Bulk Container instead of a regular 3/4 inches. Industrial Water Hose.

Timing is crucial when producing concrete with Carmix and we always aim at ensuring quick and optimal operation.

Carmix is equipped with 2 interconnected water tanks with a total capacity of around 220 gallons and a high output hydraulically driven water pump (around 50 gallons a minute).

With the help of a specially designed water suction hose Carmix fills on board tanks in a matter of minutes and the first concrete component is loaded!

Secondly we identified where sand and gravel can be stored for easy access and loading into the mixing drum.

Since the total volume of concrete needed was not that much, the piles of gravel and sand in turn are quite small as well. The customer ordered just over 10 tonnes of each material.

To help Carmix work effectively and load aggregates as quickly as possible we suggested constructing some kind of retaining wall behind each pile, so aggregates don`t get too spread out while loading takes place.

Cement was purchased in 94lb bags. This was the easiest, quickest and most dustless way to load this material.

With the help of a bag cutting blade that is installed inside Carmix loading bucket two people can easily unload cement into the loading shovel.

After all the aspects of future job were coordinated with a client we were waiting for good, rainless weather to do the pour.

Meanwhile the client prepared the pouring surface and installed rebars and concrete remesh.

On the day of the job, we came to the jobsite a little earlier to check Carmix and the project area once more.

Since the future poured surface will have to withstand heavy loads of commercial trucks, we decided to use a 3000psi mix design with no chemical additives.

We were producing concrete in 4 cubic yards batches every 30-40 minutes so that concrete finishers will have enough time to complete their part of the job.

Overall it took one full day for the whole process and the per cubic yard price, including aggregates and rental fee for Carmix was around $100.

This is almost half of what the customer would have paid if ordering concrete from a batching plant.

This job demonstrates well the benefits of using Carmix as your concrete source!

• Flexibility in terms of grade of concrete (Carmix can produce as little as 1 cubic yard of concrete of any needed grade and can quickly switch between different mix designs and volumes)
• Convenient pour with no necessity to use additional equipment such as concrete pumps (Carmix is compact and very maneuverable which allows it to drive right up to the pouring site and discharge concrete exactly where needed.)
• Concrete at actual cost, without any profit margins of batching plants
• No concrete delivery fees
• Produce and place concrete when you want it and not when the batching plant will deliver it with all possible delays.

If you want to use Carmix for your job, contact one of our experienced concrete specialists and see how your project can benefit from a self loading concrete mixer!