Slab

Concrete for a 10×10 ft slab, 6 in thick

A 10 × 10 ft slab covers 100 sq ft, a size used for a pad, a step or a small patio. At 6 in thick it holds 50 cubic feet, or 1.85 cubic yards: 84 bags of 80 lb premix or 112 bags of 60 lb, before any waste.

Concrete needed

1.85cubic yards· 1.416 m³· 50 ft³
Bags of premix needed for concrete for a 10×10 ft slab, 6 in thick, by bag size.
Bag sizeBags needed
40 lb167
60 lb112
80 lb84
25 kg121
30 kg101
Planning estimate, with no waste allowance included. Add 5-10% for spillage and over-excavation, and check the yield printed on your bag. Structural work must follow your local building code and an engineer's specification.
Bagged or ready-mix?
Either - check the short-load fee
1.85 yd³ clears the usual one-yard minimum but sits in the short-load band, where most suppliers add a surcharge for anything under about 3-4 yd³. That fee is what decides it: get it quoted, add it to the yard price, and compare against the bag count above at your own bag price.

Same job, other sizes

10 × 10 ft slab

Volume for each size. The order columns add 10%, the top of the 5-10% waste allowance, and round bags up.
Sizeft³yd³yd³ to order (+10%)80 lb bags (+10%)60 lb bags (+10%)
4 in33.331.231.366282
5 in41.671.541.777102
6 in (this page)501.852.0492123

At this size

What changes on a 10×10 ft slab, 6 in thick

What 6 in is for

6 in on a 100 ft² footprint is a heavy-duty pad rather than a floor - a hot-tub or generator base, an equipment pad, anything with a point load. The extra depth over 4 in is for the load, not the span; here it costs 28 more 80 lb bags than the same pad at 4 in. Reinforcement is worth having at 6 in, and the sub-base needs to be as good as the slab.

Control joints for this size

At 10 × 10 ft this slab is small enough to pour as a single panel. Control joints go in at roughly 12-18 ft for a 6 in slab (24-36 times the thickness), and both dimensions here are inside that, so no intermediate joint is needed - just isolation material where the slab meets a wall, a step or a post.

Placing 100 ft²

The short side is 10 ft, so a straightedge resting on both forms strikes this off in one pass - a 12 ft screed board gives you the overhang you need at each end. Work back along the 10 ft direction and the whole 100 ft² is within reach of two people without stepping in it.

Mixing or ordering it

84 × 80 lb bags is 1.85 yd³ and roughly 42 mixer batches. This is the crossover point: bagging it is a full day with a mixer and at least two people, and the concrete has to keep arriving faster than the placed edge stiffens. Price 1.85 yd³ of ready-mix, short-load surcharge included, against 84 bags at your own bag price before you commit to a day of mixing.

How it is worked out

A slab is a simple rectangular prism: multiply length × width × thickness. Enter the thickness in inches (it is usually the smallest dimension) and the plan size in feet. Four inches suits patios and walkways; drives and garage floors are usually five to six.

That volume - 50 ft³ - is divided by 27 to give 1.85 cubic yards, and by each bag's yield to give the bag count. An 80 lb bag of premix yields about 0.60 cubic feet, so this job takes 84 of them; bag counts always round up, because you cannot buy part of a bag.

Ordering ready-mix instead? Suppliers sell by the cubic yard (or cubic metre) and usually have a minimum load and a short-load surcharge - worth a call before you choose between bags and a truck.

Formwork

What is being measured

lengththicknesswidth runs into the pageSLAB · L × W × T

Nearby

Similar sizes