Sheryl, Bags of pre-mixed concrete come in 40, 60 or 80 pound bags. You just add water, mix, and pour. However, saying it is approximately 10000 times easier than doing it.
Firstly, an 80 pound bag of mix feels as if it weighs more like 160 pounds as you try and move it around. Secondly, mixing the water into the mix is back breaking labor unless you rent a small cement mixer which can easily be rolled around by a person, and can handle two 80 pound bags. Lastly, you will be horrified to find out just how little cement is in an 80 pound bag, and you will weep to find out that a 40 pound bag is that much less. A 40 pound bag of mix is approximately one quarter of a cubic foot of cement. meaning that if you have a single stepping stone of two feet by two feet by 3 inches thick, that is one cubic foot, or 4 40 pound bags of cement. yes, each of your 2X2 stepping stones will weigh 160 pounds or more, and require a full mixer to do each one. A 40 pound bag of mix was something like $1.50, maybe a bit more. So each 2X2 stone would cost about 6 bucks. Although, being in Hawaii, your costs might be a lot higher. 80 pound bags are proportionally cheaper. You can get these at any big box store like Lowes or Home Depot. I would highly recommend pre-cast stepping stones for the number of stones you are talking about. and, even though I am a big proponent of do it yourself at nearly any cost, I would at least talk to a contractor to get a couple of price quotes. They can bring in a large truck cement mixer and pour the entire walk-way in probably half a day. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081
