Go for no-fuss concrete

Jagvir Goyal

The use of Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) has so far remained limited to infrastructure projects, multi-storeyed buildings and structures that require hundreds of cubic meters of concrete. In the present era of love for ready-to-use roti and kapda, RMC is now catching up with makaan also. There are many advantages attached to use of RMC for your house. Let’s have a look at all plus and minus points of using RMC in housing: 

What is RMC? As the name suggests, RMC is ready mixed concrete that can be poured directly from the mixer into the forms for beams, columns, slabs and walls. Once the shuttering has been fixed in position, secured well and steel reinforcement has been laid on it, RMC can be called to site and poured into the forms. 

Place right order: RMC producers generally look for a minimum quantity of concrete before accepting an order. They are reluctant to accept orders for supply of less than 15 cubic meters of concrete. If you insist for supply of smaller quantity of concrete, rate per cubic meter may go up due to increase in the cost of transportation and pumping of concrete. Therefore, RCC walls and floor of basement, columns and beams of a framed structure, RCC slabs & beams may be constructed by using RMC. For plinth beams, door lintels & projections, it may not be feasible to use RMC. In nutshell, if requirement of concrete to be poured in one go is worked out as more than 15 cubic meters, then order for supply and pouring of RMC can be placed.

Method: A house builder estimates the day of pouring of concrete in the slab and connected beams or any other component of his house. Then he determines the grade of concrete to be used. Mostly M25 grade or M20 grade concrete is used in house construction. Next, the quantity of concrete to be poured is determined. It can be easily worked out in an accurate manner. Then he locates a good and reputed RMC plant near the site. Most major cities have RMC plants near them. Tri-city has more than 10 RMC plants. Normally, an RMC supplier will want at least three to four days’ advance notice for the supply of RMC. As the predictions of met department are quite accurate these days, it’s better if the house owner checks the weather prediction for the date of laying of concrete in his house to avoid cancellation or postponement of RMC supply order at the last moment.

Ensure correct proportion: Once a house owner has finalised the grade of concrete for his house, he may ask his architect or engineer to determine the proportions of cement, sand, coarse aggregate, water and plasticiser in it. Otherwise, he may simply tell the required grade of concrete to RMC supplier who has pre-determined mix designs of concrete with him. RMC supplier may supply concrete as per proportions given by the house builder also as the proportioning of ingredients in RMC plant is computer controlled and can be easily altered.

Arrangements by house builder: In case you are using RMC for house construction, then it is necessary to have a mason and some workers on the top of slab along with a vibrator for proper compaction and finishing of concrete laid through the concrete pump of  supplier. Pouring of concrete is started from the far end and as it proceeds, the pipe line pieces of the concrete pump are removed gradually to shorten its length till it reaches the closer end. The job gets accomplished in a fast manner as all  concrete is pre-mixed and gets laid mechanically.

Cost factor

The cost varies with the grade of concrete. The higher the grade of concrete, higher is its cost. The cost also depends on the distance to which the RMC has to be transported. To have an idea of cost, one cubic meter of M25 grade of concrete when supplied at a lead of about 15 km costs around Rs 4,200 if the quantity of concrete to be supplied is more than 15 cubic meters. This cost includes the cost of cement and all components of concrete, its production, supply to site in transit mixer and then its laying in place by using a concrete pump. When the quantity of concrete is less, the cost of pumping of concrete increases and rate may not remain viable for the house builder. For a slab of 1500 sq ft area with beams at required locations, quantity of concrete required should be about 25 cubic meters which will cost about Rs 1 lakh if RMC is used.