Guides
The questions that come before and after a quantity calculation — what suppliers charge, what goes wrong on site, and how to judge what arrived.
How Long a Ready-Mix Truck Can Sit Before It Has to DischargeASTM C94 dropped its 90-minute default in 2021, so the discharge window is set job by job. Who sets it, and when may water go in?#57, #8, #411 and Crusher Run: Which Are Size Numbers and Which Are Something ElseWhich gravel names are size numbers with a published sieve band, which is an Ohio contract item, and which is a material name that Virginia grades under its own size numbers.Checking Topsoil and Compost Before the Truck Tips ItThe properties a topsoil specification makes you measure, what a texture class name really claims, and the one failure mode you have to test for yourself.Reading the Delivery Ticket: Did You Get the Quantity You Paid For?Model weights and measures rules set what a bulk delivery ticket must list, how a typed-in weight is flagged, and how an inspector tests bagged soil for short measure.What Strength Concrete to Order, and What Else to Tell the PlantCode sets minimum psi by weathering exposure and air content separately; here is how to read both, and what ASTM C94 expects a ready-mix order to state.Why the Yard Split Your Order Into Two LoadsThe federal axle and gross weight limits, the bridge formula and the state spring thaw rules that decide whether your order arrives on one truck or two.
The calculators answer how much. These answer everything either side of that: what a supplier will actually send and charge, what fails on site and what it costs, and how to check what turned up on the truck.
Every figure in these guides names the document it came from, with its edition and section, the same as the calculators.