Me and my 1,360 lbs.

Let me tell you about my experience with 1,360 lbs today. I went to Lowes today to purchase enough concrete mix to fill the hole I created in my basement floor. The math said we had 20 sq. feet that was 6 inches deep to fill. That meant we needed 17 bags of 80 lb. concrete mix (hence the 1,360 lbs).

So I grabbed one of those flatbed shopping carts and went to the concrete aisle. I loaded up 17 bags on the cart and then had to muster all my strength on slick floors with old tennis shoes just to push the cart up to the checker. After purchasing the mix, I pushed the cart out to the truck I’ve been borrowing for a week (thanks, Mark!) and loaded all 1,360 lbs. into the bed.

After arriving home, I carried 15 of the 17 bags down to the basement (that’s 1,200 lbs.). I was having a hunch that I overestimated the amount I’d need so I took the other two bags out of the truck but left them in the garage.

Jen’s Dad came over and we mixed 12 of the bags by hand in a wheelbarrow, poured it in the gaping hole in the floor, and were done. That meant I had 3 unused bags still in my basement and 2 in my garage. Dang it, math! Where did you go?? What good did AP Calculus do?? I erred in measuring the size needed to fill very liberally. I figured it was better to overestimate than under.

So, back up the stairs and into the back of the truck went the 3 unused bags. To that I added the other 2 bags I held in reserve in the garage. Back to Lowes. Back to the flat bed cart. Welcome back, $17 I overspent.

Overall, it was 4,880 lbs. I lugged around today. That doesn’t count actually lifting the bags into the wheelbarrow to mix them with water. No wonder I feel so old.

Some of the other fun I had today: installing two new ducts for heating vents in the basement. That was new for me. We ran about 22 feet of duct work. The basement is now warm.