Concrete in the US is ordered, batched and billed by the cubic yard, and crews shorten it to yards, as in 'send me 40 yards'. One yard covers 81 sq ft at 4 in thick or 54 sq ft at 6 in, and a standard truck carries around 10. Experienced estimators add 5 to 10 percent over the calculated volume for subgrade dips, form bulge and spillage.
Call it 46 yards for the slab plus the thickened edge, and hold the last truck at the plant until I call the cleanup.
Running half a yard short at the end of a slab costs far more than ordering an extra yard: the last truck becomes a short load and the joint becomes a cold joint.
Also heard as
- yd
- yds
- cubic yard
Related terms
Short load
A concrete delivery smaller than the plant's minimum, which brings an extra per-yard or flat fee.
Drum
The rotating mixing barrel on a ready-mix truck, turning one way to mix and the other to discharge.
Batch ticket
The delivery ticket that travels with every ready-mix truck, showing mix, quantity, time batched and water allowed.
Sack
A 94 lb bag of portland cement, used as shorthand for how much cement goes into each cubic yard.