concrete

[Fortner]

Does it matter what type of concrete you use for your pillars?  Is quick set okay to use?  I have heard some mixed reviews...   

Thanks,
Natasha

[PEG688]

Does it matter what type of concrete you use for your pillars? 

Is quick set okay to use?


  I have heard some mixed reviews...   

Thanks,
Natasha

What type "pillars" are you talking about?

Pier pads under a precast post base with saddle preinstalled? 

What "exactly" is in your mind "quick set" ??

Pre bagged Redi mix is a different animal then "Quick set" concrete.

  So what are you really talking about? Google concrete / or Home despots web site and cut and paste a product description of what your calling Quick set.

So in short It Depends     Breakum out Glenn

[Fortner]

"Piers" for the pier and post foundation.  sorry, new at this...   What type of concrete would work best?  We heard that redi mix crumbles after a few years.  Is this true?

[PEG688]

Most folks use Pressure treated wood post that sit on a poured pier pad. Look at    these posts.

 

[MountainDon]

  We heard that redi mix crumbles after a few years.  Is this true?

There is nothing inherently wrong with redi mix concrete, if what you mean by that is something like Quikrete.



Any concrete, from the bagged dry pre-mix variety like Quikrete to concrete from the largest commercial concrete batch plant can turn out "bad" and not have strength IF it the sand-gravel-cement-water is not in the proper proportions. The biggest cause of poor home mixed Quikrete types of concrete is using too much water. Many folks mix it too wet. Too much water = weak concrete. Too little can also cause problems.

[PEG688]

So as I was saying before supper was ready, it depends on what your doing. Some folks have indeed poured full height concrete piers and posts. The issue you'll have IF you do full height pier out of concrete will be the amount of bags you'll need to batch out to make a pour.

Redi mix from a batch plant gives you instant volume as in yards of mud "Ready mixed" so no cold joints , no miss mixed (as Mtn. D said) mud.

The full height concrete pier needs rebar steel in it as well , just concrete alone is NOT a good idea.     

[glenn kangiser]

Standard bagged redi-mix rather than fence post mix should be fine.

Posts set in gravel on a pad are detailed in Johns plans also.

Posted from a cow pasture on my new phone

[PEG688]

Posted from a cow pasture on my new phone

What kinda new phone you sportin there Glenn? Do the cows know your talking about them? 

[glenn kangiser]

I got a Blackberry Curve with full internet service and GPS.  The authorities can trace me to within 10 feet now.  Note that you don't have to pay the $10 per month for map service - Telenav. -- Google maps is free and comes in standard and ( satellite flavors switchable on the phone-- better resolution than my laptop I think.

One steer was a bit upset about it but he finally tired of trying to shut me up.

I was even able to log in which is what I was checking out.  Had to post.

[Redoverfarm]

Fortner there are a lot of reason that concrete fails. Some others have mentioned several but I think the major failure of concrete is inconsistant ratios. Too much sand or not enough cement will make it brittle. Too much stone or not enough sand will not allow sufficent adhesion. That is what Quickcrete did was to make the mix consistant with the exception of the water.  Remember you can always add more but never be able to take it out.  A little at a time until it's right. 

In regards to which type to use. The Quickrete #1101 is a 4,000 PSI mix and is probably the series I would use.  The fast set should not IMO be used in this application. It was more geared toward being able to stand post in the ground that would not normally have any significant load bearing weight. Just to hold plumb.

Depending ( DEPENDS as Pegg would say?) on how much, how available, how convienent, how far I feel that redi-mix plants offer the best solution.  I normally even mix small batches of concrete using regular portland or Roanoke cement, sand and gravel rather then use the quickcrete because of the expense involved for medium pours.  But everyone tells me I like to do things the hard way.  

[n74tg]

Wherever I could, I used ready-mix.  But, where I couldn't use ready-mix, in the beginning, I used a lot of Quikcrete bags on my project because I would have to store my raw materials a good ways away from the construction site (150'-200').  Then, one day I did a cost estimate on Quikcrete bags versus raw materials; Quikcrete bags ($160 per yard), raw materials ($75 dollars a yard).  All of a sudden that 200' to have to push the wheelbarrow with a load of sand or gravel didn't seem so far anymore.

Of course, it helped tremendously that I had a cement mixer onsite.  Having to mix bags or raw materials by hand would be a nightmare.   

[Redoverfarm]

Yes mixing concrete with out a mixer is a PIA.  I had borrowed one which was old as the hills and halfway through the pour it died. Electric motor burnt up.  I ended up finishing with three mortar boxes of hand mix.  You can bet the next day I found another one.  I have been mixing mortar in a mixing pan for the last 4 months.  I wouldn't mix any more at a time than I figured I could use to keep it fresh (only one re-watering per mix).  A 80# bag of mortar would mix about 10 pans full.  I have went through approximately 25 bags of mortar.  I don't even want to think of hoeing a garden now. 

[n74tg]

My cement mixer was a second-hand one from Harbor Freight; I think about $139 when new (according to original owner).  It's at least 10 years old now, but still runs strong.  I think the new ones are maybe $169 now; still a good price, if they are built as good as mine was. 

It only took mixing maybe 6 or 8 wheelbarrow full sized loads before I decided to find a mixer.

[BiggKidd]

When you guys mix from raw materials what are good mix ratios? Does it matter what type sand or rock? Does it matter?

Larry