How much does a flagstone weigh?

There's loads of old flagstones in my back garden. A few at a time they are all going up to my dad's because I don't want them. Unfortunately, due to the bizarre layout of my house, there is no access to the back garden except through the house, so the flagstones are being dragged through.

We have one of those load carrier/trolley/barrow things (upright thing, not a wheel barrow), so its not really a case of carrying them, but the weight is phenomenal. I'm quite a strong lad, as is my dad, but these things weigh a ton.

So far, after moving 10 of them, I've managed to smash my front doorstep, and the wooden floor in the 'backwash' (the little utility room at the back of the house) is now sagging noticeably.

I looked on google and found claims that they weigh about 11 stone, but that was for the newer 3'x2' by 2" ones. The ones we've got are 'the old fashioned kind' (according to me dad), and are very slightly larger, and probably a full inch thicker. If they were 11 stone I'd be able to lift them as though they were nothing more than a mild inconvenience. These ones take literally all my strength to get them about an inch off the floor.

I should add, I'm not asking this so i can gloat about how much weight we've moved, its just that we're not sure that we're not overloading my dad's trailer when we load up, which is only rated to carry half a tonne.

 

Have you seen this calculator Dave ?

Stone Construction Calculator

Not one I normally use, I usually look at it & think, bloomin heavy, get Adam to shift it.

 

Assuming they are made of 'building stone', they should weigh close to a tenth of a ton, or about 13 stone according to that calc.

That being the case, my dad's concern that more than 5 stones in his half tonne rated trailer is probably justified.

 

Building stone is such a general term. The specific gravity of stone ranges from lighter than water (Pumice) to Basalt (heavier than the Earths Crust)

If in doubt, don't overload the trailer as pc plod doesn't usually have a Geology A level.

 

Very true. Although its not so much plod that my dad's worried about, its more the fear of the trailer giving up on one of the many hills between my house and my dad's.

Incidentally, I don't know what difference it makes, but my dad reckons a lot of the old concrete in our area is loaded with iron. I guess that makes sense, considering this whole area is built up around the iron (and then later the steel) industry. In fact the construction of my house, and indeed most of my suburb, was commission by the local iron founders.

 

Have you tried a set of bathroom scales?

I don't know why it is, but a solid object seems to weigh more than say a person of the same weight.

 

I don't have such an item. I figured years ago that they always lie. They kept telling me I weighed 14 and a half stone.

Very true. My dad calls it 'dead weight'. I've thrown fully grown blokes over my shoulder when larking about, but once I had to scoop up a petite woman who'd collapsed for no reason in a busy pub (the obvious conclusions are wrong - she'd had some kind of seizure) and she seemed to weigh a tonne while she was unconscious.

 

Assuming the flagstones are the concrete-gravel type, which they probably are if old ones.

3ft x 2ft x 2.1/2" thick would weigh 88kg and a 2ft x 2ft x 2.1/2" would be 58kg.

You can calculate the weight of other sizes easily, based on the mass of concrete at 2400 kg per cubic metre.

a-a