What is a cubic metre?

[sunnybob]

I had this self same problem years ago. The builders yard declare that one scoop of the bucket loader is a ton.
Well yes, as long as the 1 ton bucket has been filled by shovel until it overflows the sides.
But a mechanical digger bucket scooped through sand/ rubble whatever, comes up with half a load.
Its a con by the builders yard, Stick out and get extra, or a good refund. I did. Even though they were extremely not happy with me calling their bluff..

 

[Garno]

I ordered 1 cubic meter of pea shingle and it came in two bags.

Pete

Probably had half a ton in each

(I only wrote that so I could try out "The Geek" smilie)

 

[Geoff_S]

Well, it's weird then Their website states cubic metre. I thought it was too good to be true as the price was about the same as everywhere else that sold by the ton.

Ho hum.

It's a bit like the skip that was meant to be here at 8:00am. My 8:00am is the hour in-between 7:00am and 9:00am. On planet builder they obviously use some other form of timekeeping that might mean Tuesday .... or Wednesday ..... or never .......

I don't want to do anymore .....

Apparently 8:00am GMT is 2:00pm builder’s time

 

[NikNak]

I had the same thing many many years ago with Jewsons.

I'd worked out how much i needed, A x B x C =

Rung up, ordered and paid for 1 cubic metre of sand to be delivered.

ONE builders bag arrived. And low and behold i was well short of what i needed.

'aving none of this..!!

In the car and off to Jewsons. Saw the manager and 'politely' explained that i was short sold materials.

His reply.? (you'll like this...) "well it all depends on what you're going to do with it sir..."

NO..!! i might want to put it in a glass case as a piece of one cubic metre modern art..!!

He gave me 12 'extra' bags of sand for free(?)

I was happy.... but the car boot wasn't

 

[MikeG.]

Bulk bags should never be described by weight or volume, because of everything people have said so far. A bulk bag of aggregate is a bulk bag of aggregate. It isn't a ton, or a cubic metre. Aggregates delivered loose (ie in the back of a tipper truck) are bought by weight, never volume, and the driver, if asked, should show you his weighbridge ticket. I have never heard of aggregates of any description being sold by volume (cubic metre etc). I think perhaps this is a case of the initial order being placed in the wrong units, and the guy who took the order assuming that the customer meant something else. In the same way as you would confuse a timber merchant by asking for X kgs of oak, asking for aggravates by the cubic metre is going to lead to confusion.

 

[treeturner123]

Of course, when you dig a cubic meter of soil out, it takes up more than a cubic meter of space in a skip!

Perhaps that's the answer, they sold you a cubic meter of loose soil not a cubic meter of compacted soil

Simples!!!!

Phil

 

[topchippyles]

Simple thing to do is look at any small print in the advert and if there is a discrepancy then contact the suppler and point out the issue.No joy as stated take it up with paypal/credit card company/bank.

 

[Lons]

In the car and off to Jewsons. Saw the manager and 'politely' explained that i was short sold materials.

His reply.? (you'll like this...) "well it all depends on what you're going to do with it sir..."

A facetious reply but in some ways he was correct.

Tip 12 buckets of building sand into a mixer, add nothing else and you'll get 12 back out if you fill the buckets again.
But if you add 2 buckets of cement and a bucket of water to the sand you would think that would result in 15 buckets of mortar, it doesn't. I haven't actually counted it out but mixed enough to know.
It's even more pronounced if mixing concrete because the sand fills all the voids between the gravel.

 

[MikeK]

A facetious reply but in some ways he was correct.

Tip 12 buckets of building sand into a mixer, add nothing else and you'll get 12 back out if you fill the buckets again.
But if you add 2 buckets of cement and a bucket of water to the sand you would think that would result in 15 buckets of mortar, it doesn't. I haven't actually counted it out but mixed enough to know.
It's even more pronounced if mixing concrete because the sand fills all the voids between the gravel.

This reminds me of those videos showing how to add rocks, pebbles, and sand to a container and making it all fit.

 

[Boringgeoff]

The concrete outfit I worked for delivered conc' by the cubic meter. We also supplied premix which was sold by weight, to comply with the capacity of the vehicle or trailer the customer was towing. They needed to buy about 1.7 tonnes of premix and about 300Kg of cement if they intended mixing 1 M3 of concrete. One of our loaders had a weighing device on it but most didn't, experienced operators knew pretty roughly what weight was in the bucket and usually erred on the side of generosity.
One small job I was involved in on an island based oil field (Thevenard) we barged the premix in 2 tonne bulka bags holding 1M3 and the cement in 40 kg paper bags on pallets.
Now that I'm retired I buy premix for home projects from our local earthmoving out fit which sells all its products by 1/3 M3 because that's what their bobcat bucket holds, if you ask for a meter they chuck 3 buckets on.

Cheers,
Geoff.