Viper98912
Well-known member
Hello everyone,
I recently rented the Mud Mixer to pour a small concrete pad (10' x 12') and thought I'd give a brief review since I think there's only a few threads on here regarding it.
To start, the Mud Mixer is basically a chute with an auger and two small water jets (fed by your garden hose). The auger helps stir the concrete mix with water while pushing it out of the chute. It's an ingenious concept that's actually fairly simple. It's easy to use, easy to load (since there's a bag-breaker piece of metal to help you open the bag without needing a blade), and it's easy to move around. Also, it fits in the back of a mid-size SUV if you lay it down sideways.
Overall, I definitely recommend this machine if you're doing a small job under 2 yards. I did a pad for a shed and it was exactly what I needed. The pad is in the back of my property and hiring professionally would've required them to use a cart to move concrete from the mixing truck from the road, IF you can even get a mixing truck to come with such a small load. Sure, there's other methods as well (the mini-mixer trucks, etc) but overall this was well worth my time and effort. If you're doing more than 2 yards, I do recommend to start thinking about other methods because that's a lot of bags that you're trying to beat the clock with.
The machine is not perfect though. Depending on your bag of mix, you can get it stuck at the bottom of the hopper where it stops feeding (it compacts/cakes up in the hopper). By the time you realize it, you notice that only water is coming out and no mix, so you have to stop and help give it a push. But by that time, you've got an auger chute full of water which means that now your restart will be the wrong consistency (all water). So then you need to dry dump some mix and hand mix it on the ground while you continue to pour. It's not a big deal and you can still keep moving fairly easily, it just isn't a "perfect" flow or design. There was once where it got so compacted that I needed to shovel out the entire hopper, slowing me down by about 20 minutes. That 20 minutes made a big deal on the front half of my pad that had started to harden and I wasn't able to float and trowel it fast enough. Mud Mixer designers, if you're reading this, you should really add a second auger/agitator/********/spinner that works in the hopper to keep it "moving" as gravity in the hopper itself doesn't work perfectly. Overall, the machine is great, but the constant too wet/too dry is a negative you need to constantly deal with.
When using the mixer, it's best to have two people (you + one helper) to help keep things moving. Doing this solo may possibly hinder you from completing everything you need to, which includes loading the bags, moving the concrete around in your form, remixing overly wet or dry spots, and moving the machine/chute. But is it better than using a drum mixer? ABSOLUTELY. I did about 80 bags or so, and this was completely worth it. If you're doing....10? Sure, a drum mixer works. Doing a lot more? Get this thing.
As for the price, ~$3,500 (at the time of this writing) is a little steep. I did find that one of my not-too-local Sunbelt's had this as a rental for $75 per day and $220 per week. At that price, it is a BARGAIN to rent. For less than $100/$300 with the fees and protection plan, you can't beat it. It was well worth the ~1 hour drive to go pick it up.
Overall, did my pad come out perfect? Absolutely not, but I'd say it's 80-90% of what I'd expect a professional to do. The front half of my pad definitely hardened a little faster than I wanted (remember the 20 minutes I lost struggling with the clogged chute) so the floating and troweling did not come out perfectly even. I also broom finished the surface, but the front half is lighter compared to the back half which is deeper/more broomed. At the end of the day, this is just a shed to hold the lawn mower and a few garden items, so the slightly imperfect surface will help provide grip and be mostly hidden with stuff anyway. In worst case scenario, I can always get a floor grinder and smooth it out, but at this point I'm satisfied with my work. If it was done professionally or if this was going to be a garage, much different story on my requirement for surface finish.
Hopefully this review helps provide some insights for all the DIY'ers on here
I recently rented the Mud Mixer to pour a small concrete pad (10' x 12') and thought I'd give a brief review since I think there's only a few threads on here regarding it.
To start, the Mud Mixer is basically a chute with an auger and two small water jets (fed by your garden hose). The auger helps stir the concrete mix with water while pushing it out of the chute. It's an ingenious concept that's actually fairly simple. It's easy to use, easy to load (since there's a bag-breaker piece of metal to help you open the bag without needing a blade), and it's easy to move around. Also, it fits in the back of a mid-size SUV if you lay it down sideways.
Overall, I definitely recommend this machine if you're doing a small job under 2 yards. I did a pad for a shed and it was exactly what I needed. The pad is in the back of my property and hiring professionally would've required them to use a cart to move concrete from the mixing truck from the road, IF you can even get a mixing truck to come with such a small load. Sure, there's other methods as well (the mini-mixer trucks, etc) but overall this was well worth my time and effort. If you're doing more than 2 yards, I do recommend to start thinking about other methods because that's a lot of bags that you're trying to beat the clock with.
The machine is not perfect though. Depending on your bag of mix, you can get it stuck at the bottom of the hopper where it stops feeding (it compacts/cakes up in the hopper). By the time you realize it, you notice that only water is coming out and no mix, so you have to stop and help give it a push. But by that time, you've got an auger chute full of water which means that now your restart will be the wrong consistency (all water). So then you need to dry dump some mix and hand mix it on the ground while you continue to pour. It's not a big deal and you can still keep moving fairly easily, it just isn't a "perfect" flow or design. There was once where it got so compacted that I needed to shovel out the entire hopper, slowing me down by about 20 minutes. That 20 minutes made a big deal on the front half of my pad that had started to harden and I wasn't able to float and trowel it fast enough. Mud Mixer designers, if you're reading this, you should really add a second auger/agitator/********/spinner that works in the hopper to keep it "moving" as gravity in the hopper itself doesn't work perfectly. Overall, the machine is great, but the constant too wet/too dry is a negative you need to constantly deal with.
When using the mixer, it's best to have two people (you + one helper) to help keep things moving. Doing this solo may possibly hinder you from completing everything you need to, which includes loading the bags, moving the concrete around in your form, remixing overly wet or dry spots, and moving the machine/chute. But is it better than using a drum mixer? ABSOLUTELY. I did about 80 bags or so, and this was completely worth it. If you're doing....10? Sure, a drum mixer works. Doing a lot more? Get this thing.
As for the price, ~$3,500 (at the time of this writing) is a little steep. I did find that one of my not-too-local Sunbelt's had this as a rental for $75 per day and $220 per week. At that price, it is a BARGAIN to rent. For less than $100/$300 with the fees and protection plan, you can't beat it. It was well worth the ~1 hour drive to go pick it up.
Overall, did my pad come out perfect? Absolutely not, but I'd say it's 80-90% of what I'd expect a professional to do. The front half of my pad definitely hardened a little faster than I wanted (remember the 20 minutes I lost struggling with the clogged chute) so the floating and troweling did not come out perfectly even. I also broom finished the surface, but the front half is lighter compared to the back half which is deeper/more broomed. At the end of the day, this is just a shed to hold the lawn mower and a few garden items, so the slightly imperfect surface will help provide grip and be mostly hidden with stuff anyway. In worst case scenario, I can always get a floor grinder and smooth it out, but at this point I'm satisfied with my work. If it was done professionally or if this was going to be a garage, much different story on my requirement for surface finish.
Hopefully this review helps provide some insights for all the DIY'ers on here
Last edited:
