Replacing a concrete walkway

I have a concrete walkway in the front of the house that is all cracked and busted up, so I need to replace it. It won't take enough concrete to make it worth having it hauled in, so I'm planning on doing it with bags of Quikrete, which they sell at Lowes. The walk is 13' long, 42" wide (it's actually just under 3' wide now, but I want to make it a little wider), and I'm planning on going 4" deep = 15.2 cu ft. One 80lb bag of Quikrete contains 2/3 cu ft, so I figured I will need 23 80lb bags of Quikrete. I'm planning to get 24 bags to make sure I have enough.

What is the correct method for doing this? Can I mix one bag at a time in a wheelbarrow, pour it in, then mix the next bag and pour it in, etc until I'm done? Or, will the first bag start to cure before I get the last bag poured? How much water should I mix with each bag? Will I need to put expansion joints in and if so how far apart and how exactly is that done? I'd rather have it be one continuous piece if I can, so is there a way to do that? I'm willing to make it thicker if need be. This will be used for foot traffic only.

What is the best thing to use to mix the concrete in the wheelbarrow? In the past I've used a hoe for small jobs, but is there something better? I have a trowel, what else will I need?

I can only offer one piece of advice:

At least rent an electric or gas powered mixer! Mixing sakcrete in a wheelbarrow is tough stuff. I mixed four bags one at a time for a tractor counterweight and several times I thought the wheelbarrow was going to tip. Worked up a good sweat too!

I've mixed about 10 bags at one clip and it wasn't pleasant. You'll need at least one other helper so you can begin to work the concrete while another batch is mixing. A good sized rental mixer will handle 8-9 bags at a time. Somthing to think about, 80lb sacks get real heavy real fast. Make sure there's enough help around.
I'd either rent a mixer, or I'd look for a concrete company that has the special concrete trucks that mix right on site. The truck carries all the materials seperately and only makes exactly what is needed. They aren't available everywhere.

that's a fair amount of concrete to mix by hand ... and to do a good job with .... mixing the wrong strength will give you a sidewalk that'll deteriorate real fast.
Alternative (depending on where you are in relation to cement companies and current building) ... contact the cement companies and enguire if they're going to be coming in your direction anytime soon and see if they can drop off enough for you.
Alternative #2 ... check and see if any of the local cement comapnies have the small unit trailers .... they rent them to you to haul a couple of yards ... work great.
If that doesn't work ... definitely go the rented cement mixer route rather than hand mixing ... and then consider doing the bag/sand/gravel mix to create the proper slump!
Replacing a sidewalk and watching the new one come apart even faster is a not-good-thing!

Thanks. I guess I'll forget the idea of mixing it in a wheelbarrow. I'll check into renting a mixer and I'll check to see if any of the local cement companies have the small unit trailers to rent.

This sounds kinda familiar. Went through the same process about a month ago. Didn't have an old sidewalk though - couldn't have proved that when I set the rototiller down and we both went through the yard flying as we were still in the "drought" at that point and the ground was hard. I chose not to go w/ the Quikrete solution as I don't think it cures as nice as your normal Portland cement. My sidewalk was about 15' long and 48" wide. I used 5 94# bags of portland. I had also hauled 2 ton of sand gravel mixture for aggragate. I put down a base of sand. and then my plastic vapor barrier and then my rebar. It was three of us, me, my Dad, and my FIL. Kept 2 wheelbarrows going pretty good. Tooks us about 2 1/2 hours to do the mixing and the pour. First time I had ever done any concrete working other than pouring some in a hole for a pole. Dad hasn't done much and it has been years. FIL little to no experience. Only problem we had was when we went to cut the expansion joints we had waited just a little bit too long to make them. It was too wet when we stopped to eat and we came back and it was starting to cure. I'll include some of my defects [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] . But attached you'll see a picture of it.

A shot of one of my defects. The only problem w/ this job was there wasn't any tools that I "needed" to go buy though. But it has me thinking (probably foolishly) that I can buy a small, possibly used cement mixer, and pour our driveway in sections as I get $ till finished. Wifey just rolls her eyes.....

Another. I guess one of these days I talk to take some of what it looks like now with the forms (2X6) off and backfilled with a little bit of grass.

Here is another shot looking over the walk with my daughter Alex.

Form that walkway up and go get a buggy from a rental yard or concrete yard. Get 5-sack. It is stronger than what you need, but a little overkill won't hurt anything.

I worked a bit with a buddy who has done concrete for years. He had a very low opinion of the sack concrete for anything but fence posts. It just does not seem to be as strong as the mix you get from a truck or the machines at the rental yards.

You can get a truck delivery, whether by regular truck or the mix on site truck. The mix on site trucks work well. Then you only pay for what you need, and unless you are maxxing out thier truck, they have a little extra there if you underestimated your job.

Your job estimates out about 0.6 yards. Get 3/4 yard in a buggy. The mixer buggy/trailers work well, especially if you want to add color. And , at least with 3/4 yard, you won't come up short(bad thing). You can pour the extra into the bottoms of 5gal buckets to make a few concrete stepping stones.

For a 13' walk you should have a couple grooves in it. If you pour it without a groove or two, you would probably be looking at it stress cracking before too long.

Thanks for the info. Is a "buggy" the same as the "small unit trailer" mentioned earlier? If not, then what is a "buggy"?

jw...

This has been a good thread as I'm getting ready to do the same kind of project at my place. I've had "temporary" gravel paths to the front and back door since we built the house 4 years ago and my wife is "mentioning" them more and more. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

I can't recall the exact dimensions right now but it's about 60' x 24" each for the front and back. I came up with needing 250 60# sacks of quickcrete - or go the route of getting sand and gravel delivered and mixing my own from scratch. I can borrow a mixer from my neighbor.

My concern with getting redi-mix delivered or even using one of the carts is that I'll be working alone and I'm not sure I can place, screed and finish 60' of walkway before it sets up too much to work. Thoughts?

By the way, why did you use a vapor barrier? I nuderstand the importance in a building floor but have not seen them recommended for walkways before.

I won't even confess to being an expert or even a novice. This was my first attempt at finished concrete. I would think 60' would be too much to attempt in one shot. Since with that length you are going to want to have some expansion joints - not just cuts, but I some of the actual black stuff expansion joints anyway I would probably do 3 pours of 20 feet. Rather take me 3 days to it and have it turn out than try to rush and do it in 1 and have it not look as nice - plus you could save a few - I know very few - and reuse some of your forms.

As far as the vapor barrier goes, we were in the middle of a drought (or at least very dry for us), and the ground was dried and solid as a rock. And one of the things from reading here and TBN and talking to folks is don't let the concrete dry to quick. Therefore I didn't want the dry ground sucking the water out of my concrete. Incedently we got rain the night I poured. So far my walk still looks OK. I know it has only been down about 7 weeks and the ground hasn't frozen or anything yet so I'm still waiting. At least it is getting plenty of time to cure.

One more thought, do you think 24" is wide enough? I went 48" inches - suggested for wheelchairs - not that we are in one and hope to never have to be. I would consider going at least 36", espcially if these are the main entrance walks to the house.

Good points.

I was kind of thinking about doing it in multiple pours too but was fumbling in my mind about how to "break" between the pours. Hadn't thought about the expansion joint. That would be a good place. I'm planning to use one of those cobble-stone shaped forms to "stamp" some texture into the surface. This will create the relief cuts and texture instead of using a trowel and broom like you did. My walkways are going to kind of take a winding path rather than be straight. I'll be using 6" wide strips of 3/8" plywood as my forms instead of 2-by's.

Now I've got the picture on your vapor barrier. Good point - you wouldn't want bone dry earth to suck the moisture out of your pour any more than you'd want a hot sun to do it. Same concept as putting a plastic sheet over the top to slow down drying...

Main reason I was thinking 24" wide is because that's how wide the "temporary" gravel paths have been for the last four years. 36" would probably be a more comfortable walkway.

Yes, we called the small trailers "buggies". I do not know why though. I have heard a number of concrete guys refer to them that way.

I would try to get some help and pour it all at once. One truck delivery would make a lot of work for a day. But, then you have it done. Also, from batch to batch you may see some color difference.

You may want to think about troweling in some color where you stamp in the "cobbles" that would look really cool!

Your idea for the curve is great. It adds a nice touch. Be sure to use plenty of stakes though, and backfill your forms. That thin plywood will bulge out on you if it is not VERY secure.