Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Help figuring concrete yardage needed

This is topic Help figuring concrete yardage needed in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003285

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 06-12-2004, 08:18 PM:

Whats the formula for figuring how many yards of concrete to use?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-12-2004, 08:30 PM:

It's easy. First, convert everything to a common measurement (feet or yards). Then multiply length x width x thickness = volume. Then convert that to cubic yards.

You will want to add a little bit for fudging due to a potential variation in depth, of course.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 06-12-2004, 08:33 PM:

How big a yacht are you building, Sam? (Besides concrete boats another interesting use of concrete was on old time heavyweight railroad passenger cars where the floor sometimes contained a concrete layer.)

I don't know if there is some special industry practice involved but from a simple geometry standpoint a "yard" is a cubic yard which is 3 x 3 x 3 ft. That's 27 cubic feet per cubic yard. If you were pouring a slab 1' thick you'd get 27 square feet of slab for each cubic yard of concrete. Taking that down to inches if you were pouring only 1 inch thick you'd get 324 (12" x 27) square ft of coverage out of that yard (cubic yard). So how about this:

(Sq.Ft. / 324) x inches-of-thickness = yards

So if I pour a sidewalk 20' x 6' wide and 6" thick that would require 2.22 cubic yards of concrete.

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 06-12-2004, 08:48 PM:

Online concrete calculator:
Concrete slab calculator

Nice to see you still around, Sam. Gimme' a hollar sometime.

Ron Yost [Big Grin]

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 06-13-2004, 05:43 PM:

Ron!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought you were dead [Big Grin]

P.S. I know how to figure square footage but I was thinking there was something different about concrete but I guess the 3rd dimension was that.
DO you guys think that a 12 x 26 area will give me a good home cinema with some of it for the booth?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-13-2004, 06:37 PM:

It most certainly could, depending on how you seperate it and deal with the screen. Two questions...

1. What is your ceiling height?
2. How much space behind the screen do you need for your speakers?

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 06-14-2004, 07:16 AM:

I am hoping for a 10' ceiling height and a 2 foot area behind the screen.