The number of bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast can vary depending on the mix ratio you’re using. Typically, a common mix for concrete is 1 part cement to 5 parts ballast. If you have a standard 25 kg bag of cement, you would typically need around 6 bags of cement to go with 1 bulk bag of ballast (which is typically around 850 kg).
Ballast is a dense mixture of sand and gravel crushed small rock stone that’s form rough coarse aggregate used in extensive range of Construction application, primary it is used for heavy duty work and making concrete.
Typically, the weight of ballast is about 1.75 tons per cubic meter or 1750 kg/ m3. It is available in a small bag of 25kg and large bag known as bulk bag, or jumbo bag which weighs about 850 to 875 kilograms and yields volume about 0.5m3.
A bag of cement available in small bag of 25kg which yields volume about 0.017m3, because density of Portland cement is about 1504 kg/m3. So, volume of a 25kg bag of cement = 25/1504 = 0.017 cubic meters.
How many bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast
The number of bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast can vary depending on the mix ratio you’re using. A common mix is 1 part cement to 4 parts ballast, or 1 part cement to 5 parts ballast. So, you would typically need 6 to 8 25 kg bags of cement to go with 1 bulk bag of ballast (which is typically around 850 to 875 kg).
Taking 4 parts ballast to 1 parts cement as 1:4 mix, 1 parts of a 25kg bag of cement volume is 0.017m3 that will require 0.068m3 of ballast, it means every bag of 25kg cement will require 0.068m3 of ballast, so for 0.5m3 bulk bag of ballast, you will need 7.35 bags, round up as 8 bags. So, you need approximately 8 bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast.
Taking 5 parts ballast to 1 part cement as 1:5 mix, 1 parts of a 25kg bag of cement volume is 0.017m3 that will require 0.085m3 of ballast, it means every bag of 25kg cement will require 0.085m3 of ballast, so for 0.5m3 bulk bag of ballast, you will need 5.88 bags, round up as 6 bags. So, you need approximately 6 bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast.
How many bags of cement per bulk bag of ballast?
As a general rule, If you are working with a ratio of 5 parts ballast to 1 part cement, you will need about 6 x 25 kg bags of cement per bulk bag of ballast, while with 1:4 mix ratio, you will need about 8 x 25 kg bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast.
Similarly, with 1:6 mix ratio, you will need about 5 x 25 kg bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast, while with 1:8 mix ratio, you will need about 4 x 25 kg bags of cement per bulk bag of ballast. In addition, with 1:3 mix ratio, you will need about 10 x 25 kg bags of cement to a bulk bag of ballast.
Here’s are the table for the number of 25kg bags of cement required to a bulk bag of ballast:-
| SL.no | Cement to Ballast mix ratio | No. of 25kg cement bags to a bulk bag of ballast |
| 1 | 1:3 mix | 10 x 25 kg bags |
| 2 | 1:4 mix | 8 x 25 kg bags |
| 3 | 1:5 mix | 6 x 25 kg bags |
| 4 | 1:6 mix | 5 x 25 kg bags |
| 5 | 1:8 mix | 4 x 25 kg bags |
Conclusions:
The amount of cement needed depends on the ratio of cement to ballast in your mix. A common mix is 1 part cement to 4 parts ballast. So, for a bulk bag of ballast, you might need approximately 8 bags of cement.