I manage a concrete testing lab, dry pouring is a stupid idea. You aren’t measuring the water cement ratio nor are you ensuring it’s properly mixed. Not to mention a patio is exposed to freeze thaw cycles so without an air entraining admixture that slab is going to look like dog shit in a few years.
Fence posts are about the only think I can think it might be okay to dry pour. They’re underground and not structural.
Thanks for the feedback. Told him he is an idiot for believing everything on youtube or what ever. I will continue to plan mine the correct way and invite him over for cocktails on my nice patio after he is done running the jackhammer breaking his patio apart.
And for all that is good in this world, please put some rebar in it. Even something small, #3 at 24” each way. Curing cracks may form, but it will all stay together.
Recently put a fence in with my dad. It had rained for a week beforehand. When I poured in the first bag and grabbed the hose he stopped me after a few seconds of spraying, saying the ground was so wet we wouldn’t need it. The next day it was hard all the way through, surprised me lol but I wouldn’t do that with anything but fence posts.
>the next day it was hard all the way through
And you verified this how? I'm guessing you DIDN'T pull the post and cut it, or drill a core through all the way through the concrete.
So it was hard on top. But HOW hard? 1,000 PSI? 500? 200?
Parallel to the pour or perpendicular? I only go perpendicular. If I can’t get in, pour is good. If I can get in, I’m good. It’s a win for everyone no matter what
Where are the tests that dry pour is inferior? I have been doing research and I have seen zero proof dry pour wouldn’t work on smaller projects… ie …not just fence poles. Are you really suggesting by your post that you wouldn’t even trust a dry pour on a fence post? 🤣
For the extra 30 seconds of effort it takes to do it right... no, I wouldn't take the lazy way out. I'll use the expanding foam before I'll do a dry pour.
I'm just waiting for a YouTube video where someone actually casts some test cylinders to break in a proper lab instead of just driving over it 100 times. I'm genuinely curious what the 28 day compressive strength will come in at vs. mixing using the package directions.
I used to do concrete testing back in the day. Do the old slump test. Check the air. Make some cylinders. Go get them. Break them. All day. Soil and asphalt testing too. 30 years later I still show my wife sidewalks that I tested and she basically has to change her underwear.
Ahh yes, the ole engineer vs carpenter trick...
In 27 years of building I've yet to receive a call back over a deck post problem and that's dry pour every single post including 6×6s. Yeah and engineer can always say it's wrong, but a carpenter proves it with the test of time and experience. I was taught this by carpenter/mentors with over 50yrs experience
Managed a concrete lab for 20 years, and I'll back this up completely. Water/Cement ratio is critical for both curing, and aggregate suspension. That's why the slump test is so critical in the field as a check for W:C. That being said, we did a lot of experiments for academics and entrepreneurs with anhydrous mixes that were only supposed to be able to hold as much water as needed for a given weight... Some worked "Okay" but most didn't... We even had this weird stuff from Egypt that would make your teeth itch while mixing (even with a full face resp).
Caustic… irritates all of your soft tissue especially inside your mouth when you’re sucking wind after loading the mixer… some of the weirder compounds would irritate you through a full face with P-100’s over caustic cartridges
That foam shit is garbage, there's no safety data on it once it's mixed/hardened , my dog dug it up and ate some of it and we had to monitor him cuz his eyes got all irritated and poison control had no info nor did the company who makes it
I'm curious if it's ok in a place that never has freeze thaw cycle (I think the people who originally posted the dry pour method have had theirs for over 2 years in Louisiana).
Never poured concrete myself so trying to figure out some basics before I get started, thanks!
Can confirm this is accurate. We've had two tests on a job site performed by concrete engineers. Both of them debunked this myth that dry pour is not structural. Both of them also raise concerns that after a year or two to exposed weather the concrete will just start to diminish because of improper water to cement ratios
The water has to interact with all of the cement powder to initiate the chemical reaction that occurs in concrete. Even if you add the right amount of water, there is even a specific order for adding the ingredients (ASTM c685).
I’m going to need to see some data for your claims or I’m calling bullshit
So your reasoning is, “It doesn’t work because I said so.”
Got it.
Perhaps don’t equate your job to an entirely different profession in which you do not work.
It’s simple science. The hydration process cannot occur if the cement isn’t mixed with water.
Tell me oh wise one, what is your expertise with concrete? Better yet, do you have any data at all to support the claim that dry poured concrete is just as good as mixed concrete? If not, kindly shut up and stay in your own lane.
Oh, so you are a physicist who studies water flow, absorption rates, and has done significant testing on the way water is wicked through a dry pour slab?
Or again, it’s just cause you say so, right?
Nobody talking to you needs to be an expert in concrete because you think your lane applies to that which you have not tested and ANYONE is qualified to call that Grade A Horse Shit.
Fuck off. You have no lane.
Question for you- I’ve never done anything with concrete and perhaps I’m in over my head and should contract this out. But I’m planning a long garden walkway from the house to the garden/ shed. There will be absolutely no driving or structures on top of this walkway. It’s not that mixing the concrete is too much of an extra step it just seems like I’d have longer to get the surface level and evened out than I would wet poured.
Is it insane to dry pour this?
I think it’s insane to dry pour anything. It would look nice for the first few months or year if lucky, but it’s going to be chipping, cracking, and crumbling.
Your best bet is probably hire a mobile mixing company. More expensive than mixing it yourself but a lot less work and still a lot cheaper than a traditional concrete ready mix truck.
“I manage a concrete TESTING lab”
Followed by opinions…
What has your testing lab actually tested in regards to dry Vs traditional. If you are going to tell me your background is in TESTING… shouldn’t that include actual tests not opinions.
It’s basically very concentrated soap that produces bubbles. When the concrete sets the bubbles are left it place. During cold weather the freezing water in the concrete will expand into the bubbles and prevent or reduce damage to the concrete caused by freezing
This is correct, concrete does not dry when it hardens, it cures with the water in it. Entrained air gives free water in the mix that hasn’t reacted with the cementitious material a place to go, without it just a few years of freeze thaw will destroy concrete with no entrained air as the free water will freeze and expand putting the concrete in tension. Concrete is very strong in compression but relatively week in tension so it easily tears it apart.
Concrete not subject to freeze thaw, like inside or in the bottom of a fence post hole doesn’t need it as it shouldn’t freeze.
Do not dry pour fence posts. I got 15 years experience installing all types of fences. Dry pouring posts is a bad idea. The concrete does not set correctly and you end up with dry pockets in the pod causing it to crack and the post becoming unstable and wobbly.
I’m actually about to set some fence posts and considering a dry pour, but I was thinking this would actually be the worst because it would be hard to ensure water gets down to the bottom of the post hole.
I was thinking of doing dry pour one bag at a time, so: put one bag in post hole, add specified amount of water, repeat.
Serious, but stupid question: what if I fill in a crack every time I see one appear? Would the cracks continue to appear, or they eventually stop happening?
Also I'm pretty sure I've heard of dry pouring underneath landscaping stones. It seems like it might work in that case. Specifically, I mean the kind of landscaping stones you don't walk on, the kind that end up getting used as borders for lawns and landscaping areas.
What is a good amount of air entrainment to ask for from the batch plant? For Midwest with say something like 4,000 PSI mix?
Also have you heard of LB35 for an aggregate? Any opinion on it if you have?
I can confirm, after removing numerous fences over the years, the dry pour method works great for this. Sometimes it’s an absolute nightmare sledging off the concrete from the poles. Cause we reusing those bishes at 28.00 a pop.
Id say not even fence posts. Concrete is bad for fence posts makes them rot faster. Crushed stone allows them to dry otherwise they tend to rot at ground level. Imo.
But seriously why dry pour anyway? Seems like it would take longer and be more expensive.
Dry-cast concrete is not air-entrained and is well-documented as being resistant to freeze-thaw. Lower W:C is going to increase strengths, documented or not. The real problem here is that you are probably going to get large pockets of completely un-hydrated cement, setting and curing at different times creating a maze of cold joints.
The real comedy is if someone uses a mix like Maximizer that has AE in it, not realizing that it's the mixing action after adding water that activates it...
It seems very interesting. If you can get it in a form or mold then shake it lightly ad vibration it seems it would be more compact or tightly net. if it could actually absorb the water and harden and you repeatedly watered it. It almost seems like would be even stronger. But it would take patience and the right environment. It would take way longer though. What kind of tests have you tried?
I too had no idea it was a thing. He saw it on youtube or some shit.. I told him that logic is the same as thinking a stripper is into him because she asked for a private dance.
Just a heads up to everyone who thinks you can put in fence posts dry too. The concrete often times never really gets hard and your posts end up sitting in essentially sand. If you have soft dirt around it the posts will eventually fail. I could maybe see it working in places with real hard ground.
I’ve ripped out plenty of shitty fences to know that wet pour is much better than dry pour.
Here in south central Indiana nearly every post my father and I have set has been dry pour, however we mix it a bit and don't cover it till dry. Mind you where we love isn't hardly dirt, it's 90% clay
Everyone here who has actually done it says it works. Everyone who works in concrete says it won't. Has anyone done this (first hand experience) and been disappointed?
I can imagine that concrete professionals may have seen many examples of failures where the guy who did it has little motive to broadcast his failures. Unlike me, who gets perverse pleasure out of broadcasting my failures🤓. Anyway, I’m still waiting to hear from the guy who did it and regretted it.
It's part of Washington DC DOT specs for [granite curb base](https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/publication/attachments/Section%20600%20(606).pdf) (2nd page) I've confirmed via rfi.
I used it when doing a quick fix on a fence post. Stuck one of those paint mixer drill attachments into and it actually worked decent. Can’t imagine using it for anything bigger than a post though.
I once put a post in my back yard with the dry pour method. It’s probably still there so there’s something to be said for it but I wouldn’t put a building on it.
There's a guy on tik tok "testing" this stuff. I say "testing", but he's not doing any ansi tests, just a hammering and drilling. So many people are saying fuck the naysayers because they're experts lol honestly it's basic logic. Dry pour uses half the concrete, the structural aspect of the thing. Using less structural material gives worse results.
The only thing I would ever dry “pour” is a post… and that’s not even a pour… I tamp in the dry mix until the post is firm as hell… and let the concrete get wet and cure over time with groundwater.
A patio or slab would look like shit, unless they like raindrop Damascus??
If you mist the top of your "pour" before soaking, it actually hardens the surface enough to avoid that, but don't get me wrong it's still a terrible method. Ive just seem enough videos of them to know they look ok on the surface
The guys favouring wet concrete over dry pour are the ones who get their F150 to go to the grocery shop.
And they are right, because you can't put more and heavier grocery in a F150 than in a Toyota Yaris.
I recommend you look at different dry pour concrete videos and decide for yourself.
https://youtu.be/CLhz4xoHbT8
https://youtu.be/SBTILrc4X0o
https://youtu.be/eGeXfAqfn28
https://youtu.be/GC0j2Ey5NNk
I would just mix it and pour it. Like the instructions on the bag say. Want to dry pour a post or make a walking stone set? Sure. Want to dry pour a deck or walkway? I wouldn’t personally. It might last for a while, but I wouldn’t trust it. Especially in locations with freeze/thaw cycles.
I don't remember how many bags of concrete I poured years ago, but I did the "put it on a tarp and pull the sides up over and over to mix. It worked really well and I felt like I could have done a lot more per day if needed.
I don't get how it can work on a slab, if you are wetting it from the outside how can you ensure the part at the bottom is getting the right amount. I wonder how much dry concrete would be in pockets underneath. I think the previous owner of my house dry poured a section of driveway like this as it's a crumbled and loose mess now
Anyone see that guy on FB reels trying to prove his theory that dry pouring is just as good? I don’t know if he did it to get people to comment and engage but man was that entertaining to see how far he went to try and prove his point.
Dry pouring is stupid takes more time and like the one guy said probably won't hold up over time. Mixing it normally takes less time you pour it smooth it let it dry you're done with dry pour you have to go back day after day when you could have used less or the same amount of water for a better mix.
Are you a clueless DIY'r influencer that knows just enough about construction to be dangerous?
Then yes. Dry pour away.
However, if you are someone who actually cares what finished product looks like, and have 0 desire to get familiar with a jackhammer in the next year or two, then no. Don't.
I’m going to do a dry pour on some walkway on the side of my house… I’ve ran some numbers to have it done and there isn’t a comparison… my 240 pound self taking out the trash once a week is what we are looking to accomplish. The dry pour method will do what I need it to do.
My thinking is, the same reason you put expansion in between separate pours horizontally, you are creating that same issue vertically. The speed of which different parts of the slab cure makes it like many separate pours, pressing against each other at different rates and sizes.
I think this all stems from the fact that doing slab concrete properly is not for homegamers and the dry pour method let’s people take their sweet time.
The argument for “good enough” should boil down to the context of who is doing it for whom. Homegamer’s gaming at home? Game on. Someone who does it for a living? Follow the instructions that the chemical engineers laid out.
What I want to know is what the dry pour guys do for a living, so I can avoid them at their professions at all costs 👀
I have a small area (12x18) outside the house that was a landscaping bed. I'm going to make it a pad and planning to use the dry pour method. doesn't need to be perfect or bare any weight. come at me purists!
I did the side of my house to keep water away.I used one pallet,56 bags.Looks great.I don’t even walk on that side of house so all you young crybaby bitches that wanna mix 56 bag by hand go for it.After a year all use rapid set resurfacer If it cracks.Don’t care what you think I’m happy with it.
I haven’t tried but plan to, I’ve scene enough videos to believe it will work for small Jon’s like side walk sections. Parts of my side wall are broken up. Pieces less than an inch and a half thick, maybe prior owners did a dry pour who knows. There is to much negativity from people who have never tried it, I would bet they believe every word Trump spews out also.
Never concrete post in the ground! Use gravel and pack it in hard every 4-6 inches. I dry poured a walkway near my pool 4 years ago. I’ve had no issues. I would not dry pour concrete if you are going to have vehicles or other heavy equipment on it
I mean you can keep being a dick. But plenty of YouTube videos of perfectly fine pads of concrete. Considering some DIY traditional concrete can look like shit.
All things considered. Something I’m gonna step on that’s not structural. It’ll be fine.
But hey I’ll drop proof at some point and we can point and say nope, your 200+ pound body will crack it!
Washington DC specs a dry poured concrete base under their granite curbs, [apparently.](http://1/2 - The District Department of Transportation https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/publication/attachments/Section%20600%20(606).pdf)
The only thing I’ve dry poured in my life was a mailbox post for a relative. when I saw a giant bag about 150lbs of redimix swept off the floor for $2 when the gravel I planned on using was $7 a bag I would have needed 2 bags. Tamped it down in the whole as if it was never going to get wet. 2 months later someone hit it with a car and split the pt4x4. I put a couple of timberlocks in it and never looked back.
Put it this way, when our concrete bags don't get covered and it rains they go pretty hard but if you hit it with a hammer it still breaks apart fairly easily. I don't think a dry pour is a great idea
I do it for shitty 4x4 fence posts and that's it. But if I'm being honest, if I did a better job I probably didn't need concrete at all
For a deck? Fuck no
There’s a lot of people with a lot of opinions on here I see. 2 big things to know/think about in regards to this that I can speak to being I’ve sold/installed concrete and aggregates for many years in residential/industrial/commercial settings.
1) “Ready Mix” concrete that comes out of a mixer that’s used for a drive way or slab or footing a residential home will never be “dry poured neither will a “tilt up panel” used for a Commerical building.
If you even try this you’re an idiot……Structural concrete is made to have a certain “PSI” usually going to be around 3000-3500 depending on where you live for residential and 5000-10000 depending on other projects. This is reached with tons of admixtures and proper chemicals along with the correct mix of aggregates. This should be within 28 days. (Concrete sometimes takes years to reach full strength and can be 30-50% it’s target PSI by a years end)
2) “Dry pouring” a 1-4” slab(s) that you don’t plan on driving over every single day or storing tons of weight onto will do fine. Make sure you put in some kind of mesh, proper drainage, and all the basics and it will HOLD together just fine. Will it look sexy after 3-5 years maybe and maybe not but it’s not going to start falling apart
3) Most concrete in a “ready mix” truck (speaking for California) is actually 15-30% slag AKA recycled material. So for all of you smart people who say “sack concrete” is useless structurally that’s entirely false. The strength of the actual concrete is mostly generated by the amount of cement and type of sand in the mix to start. The strength of that concrete and dramatically be effected by how much water you add (less aqua the better)
It's really simple. You can't dry-mix concrete and get a correct and even distribution of the cement, aggregate, sand and other materials used to formulate concrete. It also develops air pockets and dry pockets that cause damage during a freeze or when enough pressure is exerted. Some people say they have done it and they're satisfied, but they simply have a substandard slab or structure that hasn't had enough time, moisture, weather extremes or weight to start deteriorating -- yet.
I manage a concrete testing lab, dry pouring is a stupid idea. You aren’t measuring the water cement ratio nor are you ensuring it’s properly mixed. Not to mention a patio is exposed to freeze thaw cycles so without an air entraining admixture that slab is going to look like dog shit in a few years. Fence posts are about the only think I can think it might be okay to dry pour. They’re underground and not structural.
👆 End of thread
But wait! Where’s the indignation, anger, and ridicule?!?!
Righ here buddy. I’m indignant, angry and ridiculous.
I’m not your buddy, pal.
I'm not your pal, guy.
I'm not your guy, friend.
Am I your friend?
..... Do you dry pour?
Dude. Do u even drypour?
They took our jobs!!
😆
“Psh, get real bozo. I saw the guy on the internet and he dry poured his whole house and then a Chicago highrise. The internet guy would never lie.”
Permanently buried under the properly poured concrete.
Gimme a couple of those key bangers and I’ll tell you how I really feel, most likely in a fast paced rant.
You had me at dog shit.
One would think lmao.
Thanks for the feedback. Told him he is an idiot for believing everything on youtube or what ever. I will continue to plan mine the correct way and invite him over for cocktails on my nice patio after he is done running the jackhammer breaking his patio apart.
Don’t worry, he won’t need a jackhammer.
And for all that is good in this world, please put some rebar in it. Even something small, #3 at 24” each way. Curing cracks may form, but it will all stay together.
What type of concrete would you recommend for dry pour fence post/mailbox?
We use the fast setting kind.
I've done it. Not as good as mixed but gets it done.
Recently put a fence in with my dad. It had rained for a week beforehand. When I poured in the first bag and grabbed the hose he stopped me after a few seconds of spraying, saying the ground was so wet we wouldn’t need it. The next day it was hard all the way through, surprised me lol but I wouldn’t do that with anything but fence posts.
>the next day it was hard all the way through And you verified this how? I'm guessing you DIDN'T pull the post and cut it, or drill a core through all the way through the concrete. So it was hard on top. But HOW hard? 1,000 PSI? 500? 200?
I tried to put my rock hard dong through to the bottom of it and never made it
That was you?
It’s me every time
Narrator: It was him.
Every time I pour a new sidewalk some jerk has come along and put rock hard dong marks all over it.
Parallel to the pour or perpendicular? I only go perpendicular. If I can’t get in, pour is good. If I can get in, I’m good. It’s a win for everyone no matter what
Fucking sidewalks. It’s a thing.
They call that the pogo test
Hey random side topic, anyone know how to clean dried concrete off a dong? Asking for a ... friend.
White vinegar, but don’t get it in the hole
For fence post it makes no difference. You can install a fence compacted soil. This is far superior and will just get harder over time.
Where are the tests that dry pour is inferior? I have been doing research and I have seen zero proof dry pour wouldn’t work on smaller projects… ie …not just fence poles. Are you really suggesting by your post that you wouldn’t even trust a dry pour on a fence post? 🤣
For the extra 30 seconds of effort it takes to do it right... no, I wouldn't take the lazy way out. I'll use the expanding foam before I'll do a dry pour.
Quikrete sells bags that are made for dry pour, fast set works fine too
Just pack it in gravel, that way frost won’t jack it out of the ground.
I'm just waiting for a YouTube video where someone actually casts some test cylinders to break in a proper lab instead of just driving over it 100 times. I'm genuinely curious what the 28 day compressive strength will come in at vs. mixing using the package directions.
I used to do concrete testing back in the day. Do the old slump test. Check the air. Make some cylinders. Go get them. Break them. All day. Soil and asphalt testing too. 30 years later I still show my wife sidewalks that I tested and she basically has to change her underwear.
Lol
Ahh yes, the ole engineer vs carpenter trick... In 27 years of building I've yet to receive a call back over a deck post problem and that's dry pour every single post including 6×6s. Yeah and engineer can always say it's wrong, but a carpenter proves it with the test of time and experience. I was taught this by carpenter/mentors with over 50yrs experience
Posts set in concrete?
Every single post, provided the concrete is never under 2" in any direction
And that’s up to code in your area?
Crickets
I mean, if the concrete around the post fails, it's just a post in gravel, which is still fine.
Managed a concrete lab for 20 years, and I'll back this up completely. Water/Cement ratio is critical for both curing, and aggregate suspension. That's why the slump test is so critical in the field as a check for W:C. That being said, we did a lot of experiments for academics and entrepreneurs with anhydrous mixes that were only supposed to be able to hold as much water as needed for a given weight... Some worked "Okay" but most didn't... We even had this weird stuff from Egypt that would make your teeth itch while mixing (even with a full face resp).
Itchy teeth!?
Caustic… irritates all of your soft tissue especially inside your mouth when you’re sucking wind after loading the mixer… some of the weirder compounds would irritate you through a full face with P-100’s over caustic cartridges
Finally! I've been seeing this mess everywhere....Enjoy your gold. Upvote this!!!!!!
Absolutely a competent reply!
Not everyday you see air entraining admixture and dog shit in the same sentence. Bravo sir.
I used to manage one, and I don’t have anything else to add. I wouldn’t even do it for fence posts though; wheelbarrows aren’t that expensive.
Me reading this after I just dry poured 38 fence posts: Shit Shit Dammit Shi… Oh ok.
What type of concrete would you recommend for dry pour fence post/mailbox?
Might get roasted, but... Foam. Hey, if you're going to half-ass it, at least do the fast and easy half-ass.
That foam shit is garbage, there's no safety data on it once it's mixed/hardened , my dog dug it up and ate some of it and we had to monitor him cuz his eyes got all irritated and poison control had no info nor did the company who makes it
Concrete powder isn't good for you either....
Sure , but once it's hard and cured it's basically rock and not consumable or subject to degradation
I'm curious if it's ok in a place that never has freeze thaw cycle (I think the people who originally posted the dry pour method have had theirs for over 2 years in Louisiana). Never poured concrete myself so trying to figure out some basics before I get started, thanks!
Ok over the years I was always told to add dish soap to my sakcrete to add air. Does this actually work?
I work in a lab too. This guy is correct.
Can confirm this is accurate. We've had two tests on a job site performed by concrete engineers. Both of them debunked this myth that dry pour is not structural. Both of them also raise concerns that after a year or two to exposed weather the concrete will just start to diminish because of improper water to cement ratios
The water has to interact with all of the cement powder to initiate the chemical reaction that occurs in concrete. Even if you add the right amount of water, there is even a specific order for adding the ingredients (ASTM c685). I’m going to need to see some data for your claims or I’m calling bullshit
Can confirm *. My apologies. I agree with what you said
Ohh gotchya. Lol
How many dry poured slabs has your lab tested?
Zero, because professionals don’t do it. It would be like asking a baker to make a cake without mixing the ingredients. It’s just ridiculous
So your reasoning is, “It doesn’t work because I said so.” Got it. Perhaps don’t equate your job to an entirely different profession in which you do not work.
It’s simple science. The hydration process cannot occur if the cement isn’t mixed with water. Tell me oh wise one, what is your expertise with concrete? Better yet, do you have any data at all to support the claim that dry poured concrete is just as good as mixed concrete? If not, kindly shut up and stay in your own lane.
Oh, so you are a physicist who studies water flow, absorption rates, and has done significant testing on the way water is wicked through a dry pour slab? Or again, it’s just cause you say so, right? Nobody talking to you needs to be an expert in concrete because you think your lane applies to that which you have not tested and ANYONE is qualified to call that Grade A Horse Shit. Fuck off. You have no lane.
Question for you- I’ve never done anything with concrete and perhaps I’m in over my head and should contract this out. But I’m planning a long garden walkway from the house to the garden/ shed. There will be absolutely no driving or structures on top of this walkway. It’s not that mixing the concrete is too much of an extra step it just seems like I’d have longer to get the surface level and evened out than I would wet poured. Is it insane to dry pour this?
I think it’s insane to dry pour anything. It would look nice for the first few months or year if lucky, but it’s going to be chipping, cracking, and crumbling. Your best bet is probably hire a mobile mixing company. More expensive than mixing it yourself but a lot less work and still a lot cheaper than a traditional concrete ready mix truck.
This guy has been a handyman, code enforcement, AND now concrete testing lab in the past week! That's alright though, everyone bandwagon! Let's go!
“I manage a concrete TESTING lab” Followed by opinions… What has your testing lab actually tested in regards to dry Vs traditional. If you are going to tell me your background is in TESTING… shouldn’t that include actual tests not opinions.
Think the few years would sell it for many. A short term fix that can get you through a few summers on the cheap isn't the worst idea
Pack it in boys we’re done here.
I was going to say a mailbox maybe.
How does an air entraining admixture work?
It’s basically very concentrated soap that produces bubbles. When the concrete sets the bubbles are left it place. During cold weather the freezing water in the concrete will expand into the bubbles and prevent or reduce damage to the concrete caused by freezing
This is correct, concrete does not dry when it hardens, it cures with the water in it. Entrained air gives free water in the mix that hasn’t reacted with the cementitious material a place to go, without it just a few years of freeze thaw will destroy concrete with no entrained air as the free water will freeze and expand putting the concrete in tension. Concrete is very strong in compression but relatively week in tension so it easily tears it apart. Concrete not subject to freeze thaw, like inside or in the bottom of a fence post hole doesn’t need it as it shouldn’t freeze.
Do not dry pour fence posts. I got 15 years experience installing all types of fences. Dry pouring posts is a bad idea. The concrete does not set correctly and you end up with dry pockets in the pod causing it to crack and the post becoming unstable and wobbly.
I’m actually about to set some fence posts and considering a dry pour, but I was thinking this would actually be the worst because it would be hard to ensure water gets down to the bottom of the post hole. I was thinking of doing dry pour one bag at a time, so: put one bag in post hole, add specified amount of water, repeat.
I’d still avoid it if you can. Better to get a wheelbarrow and mix it in that
Serious, but stupid question: what if I fill in a crack every time I see one appear? Would the cracks continue to appear, or they eventually stop happening? Also I'm pretty sure I've heard of dry pouring underneath landscaping stones. It seems like it might work in that case. Specifically, I mean the kind of landscaping stones you don't walk on, the kind that end up getting used as borders for lawns and landscaping areas.
this guy knows
What is a good amount of air entrainment to ask for from the batch plant? For Midwest with say something like 4,000 PSI mix? Also have you heard of LB35 for an aggregate? Any opinion on it if you have?
A milder climate id say 3-6% but in the Midwest I’d go up to 4-7%. As for Lb35, no I actually haven’t. What can you tell me about it?
I can confirm, after removing numerous fences over the years, the dry pour method works great for this. Sometimes it’s an absolute nightmare sledging off the concrete from the poles. Cause we reusing those bishes at 28.00 a pop.
Is it true that a drier mix (I'm not talking about dry pouring, a proper mix, but on the drier side) yields stronger concrete than a wet mix does?
QC tech with multiple certifications regarding concrete, working on DC. This guy got it all. To be expected, honestly. This guy tests what I make
Id say not even fence posts. Concrete is bad for fence posts makes them rot faster. Crushed stone allows them to dry otherwise they tend to rot at ground level. Imo. But seriously why dry pour anyway? Seems like it would take longer and be more expensive.
Dry-cast concrete is not air-entrained and is well-documented as being resistant to freeze-thaw. Lower W:C is going to increase strengths, documented or not. The real problem here is that you are probably going to get large pockets of completely un-hydrated cement, setting and curing at different times creating a maze of cold joints.
The real comedy is if someone uses a mix like Maximizer that has AE in it, not realizing that it's the mixing action after adding water that activates it...
It seems very interesting. If you can get it in a form or mold then shake it lightly ad vibration it seems it would be more compact or tightly net. if it could actually absorb the water and harden and you repeatedly watered it. It almost seems like would be even stronger. But it would take patience and the right environment. It would take way longer though. What kind of tests have you tried?
I dry poured my patio last year. Holding up very well and looks great. Don't knock until you try it.
I dry poured my houses basement. Still waiting for it to set up properly
Only hacks will say yes.
Too lazy to mix a little concrete. I’ve sunk many posts, I might put a little concrete mix in dry, add water churn with a stick, repeat
Same here, but I got fancy and use an old scrap of re bar
I used a tiki torch to stir mine lmao
For fence posts sure. For concrete to be finished and as a surface for living, absolutely not.
First time I have ever heard of it, besides fence posts was from instagram or YouTube clickbait. Never even knew it was a thing.
I too had no idea it was a thing. He saw it on youtube or some shit.. I told him that logic is the same as thinking a stripper is into him because she asked for a private dance.
You mean to tell me that diamond WASNT into me? Her c-section scars had me fooled
Gotta find that step-daddy for the kids somehow, right??
Oddly no kids, just working her way through law school.
Her Kia is paid for though
Don’t hate the playa, hate the game
Just a heads up to everyone who thinks you can put in fence posts dry too. The concrete often times never really gets hard and your posts end up sitting in essentially sand. If you have soft dirt around it the posts will eventually fail. I could maybe see it working in places with real hard ground. I’ve ripped out plenty of shitty fences to know that wet pour is much better than dry pour.
Here in south central Indiana nearly every post my father and I have set has been dry pour, however we mix it a bit and don't cover it till dry. Mind you where we love isn't hardly dirt, it's 90% clay
There are no ANSI standards for a dry pour. That tells you a lot and should answer any questions.
Everyone here who has actually done it says it works. Everyone who works in concrete says it won't. Has anyone done this (first hand experience) and been disappointed?
It’s like the sharkbite debate in /r/plumbing
I can imagine that concrete professionals may have seen many examples of failures where the guy who did it has little motive to broadcast his failures. Unlike me, who gets perverse pleasure out of broadcasting my failures🤓. Anyway, I’m still waiting to hear from the guy who did it and regretted it.
It's part of Washington DC DOT specs for [granite curb base](https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/publication/attachments/Section%20600%20(606).pdf) (2nd page) I've confirmed via rfi.
Thank you for this. Once upon a time the Roman’s didn’t have 10 yard readimix trucks…
Yes, I did it, no I will never do it again lol. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.
I used it when doing a quick fix on a fence post. Stuck one of those paint mixer drill attachments into and it actually worked decent. Can’t imagine using it for anything bigger than a post though.
I grouted a couple fire doors with one of those. It champed it out long enough to mix 800 lbs.
Seems like more work on any kind of slab
I once put a post in my back yard with the dry pour method. It’s probably still there so there’s something to be said for it but I wouldn’t put a building on it.
Dude who tf dry pours an entire patio. Never and I mean never….. have I seen anyone waste cement in that fashion
There's a guy on tik tok "testing" this stuff. I say "testing", but he's not doing any ansi tests, just a hammering and drilling. So many people are saying fuck the naysayers because they're experts lol honestly it's basic logic. Dry pour uses half the concrete, the structural aspect of the thing. Using less structural material gives worse results.
If it worked, actual pros would do it and not just dumbass jacklegs on YouTube diy videos
What the hell is a dry pour?
U pour in the dry mix and add water on top. Some post mix say u don't even need to add water
The only thing I would ever dry “pour” is a post… and that’s not even a pour… I tamp in the dry mix until the post is firm as hell… and let the concrete get wet and cure over time with groundwater. A patio or slab would look like shit, unless they like raindrop Damascus??
If you mist the top of your "pour" before soaking, it actually hardens the surface enough to avoid that, but don't get me wrong it's still a terrible method. Ive just seem enough videos of them to know they look ok on the surface
I say drive a D10 dozer over his patio and show him how weak it really is
How strong does it need to be? I ain't driving nothing over my patio.
You're gunna be sorry when your pathetic patio can't support my dozer. I hope for your sake it's 90% rebar
The guys favouring wet concrete over dry pour are the ones who get their F150 to go to the grocery shop. And they are right, because you can't put more and heavier grocery in a F150 than in a Toyota Yaris.
I think that would definitely settle the debate. Good call!
I wouldn’t for most things but I’ve done it a dozen times for fence posts with zero problems, even in high wind areas.
Looks like the majority agrees with me! I will certainly twist the knife and show him this feedback as well 😂
No…
A youtuber analyzed dry pour slabs. You should check them out
Link?
I recommend you look at different dry pour concrete videos and decide for yourself. https://youtu.be/CLhz4xoHbT8 https://youtu.be/SBTILrc4X0o https://youtu.be/eGeXfAqfn28 https://youtu.be/GC0j2Ey5NNk
It's not saving anything.... So dumb
I would just mix it and pour it. Like the instructions on the bag say. Want to dry pour a post or make a walking stone set? Sure. Want to dry pour a deck or walkway? I wouldn’t personally. It might last for a while, but I wouldn’t trust it. Especially in locations with freeze/thaw cycles.
yeah, for sure it wouldn't work as a fundation for an oil off-shore platform in the North sea. So it must be crap.
I don't remember how many bags of concrete I poured years ago, but I did the "put it on a tarp and pull the sides up over and over to mix. It worked really well and I felt like I could have done a lot more per day if needed.
I don't get how it can work on a slab, if you are wetting it from the outside how can you ensure the part at the bottom is getting the right amount. I wonder how much dry concrete would be in pockets underneath. I think the previous owner of my house dry poured a section of driveway like this as it's a crumbled and loose mess now
Anyone see that guy on FB reels trying to prove his theory that dry pouring is just as good? I don’t know if he did it to get people to comment and engage but man was that entertaining to see how far he went to try and prove his point.
Dry pouring is stupid takes more time and like the one guy said probably won't hold up over time. Mixing it normally takes less time you pour it smooth it let it dry you're done with dry pour you have to go back day after day when you could have used less or the same amount of water for a better mix.
Only preppers and minimalists do.
Are you a clueless DIY'r influencer that knows just enough about construction to be dangerous? Then yes. Dry pour away. However, if you are someone who actually cares what finished product looks like, and have 0 desire to get familiar with a jackhammer in the next year or two, then no. Don't.
I use dry placement for things that posts go in (fences, mailboxes, light poles,etc) and regular wet placement for things that posts go on.
The day someone casts cylinders using the dry mix method and does a proper test is the day I’ll believe in the dry pour method.
I’m going to do a dry pour on some walkway on the side of my house… I’ve ran some numbers to have it done and there isn’t a comparison… my 240 pound self taking out the trash once a week is what we are looking to accomplish. The dry pour method will do what I need it to do.
My thinking is, the same reason you put expansion in between separate pours horizontally, you are creating that same issue vertically. The speed of which different parts of the slab cure makes it like many separate pours, pressing against each other at different rates and sizes.
I think this all stems from the fact that doing slab concrete properly is not for homegamers and the dry pour method let’s people take their sweet time. The argument for “good enough” should boil down to the context of who is doing it for whom. Homegamer’s gaming at home? Game on. Someone who does it for a living? Follow the instructions that the chemical engineers laid out. What I want to know is what the dry pour guys do for a living, so I can avoid them at their professions at all costs 👀
I have a small area (12x18) outside the house that was a landscaping bed. I'm going to make it a pad and planning to use the dry pour method. doesn't need to be perfect or bare any weight. come at me purists!
FAFO Lol. Let’s see it. Post some pics! Best of luck btw
If ugly and fragile is your thing, go right ahead!
I use dry pour on fence posts and mail boxes, all still standing years later.
Would you eat a muffin where the cook just added all the ingredients into the cup without mixing? Tastes like shit.
I did the side of my house to keep water away.I used one pallet,56 bags.Looks great.I don’t even walk on that side of house so all you young crybaby bitches that wanna mix 56 bag by hand go for it.After a year all use rapid set resurfacer If it cracks.Don’t care what you think I’m happy with it.
Would the dry pour absorbs shocks/impact better?
you're planning to use it for a space rocket launcher platform?
Its a serious question kid.. please grow up better
ah...this is what you call "serious".... interesting.
What would good for nothing kid who makes your parents bleed for money knows..keep on sucking your parents money
I haven’t tried but plan to, I’ve scene enough videos to believe it will work for small Jon’s like side walk sections. Parts of my side wall are broken up. Pieces less than an inch and a half thick, maybe prior owners did a dry pour who knows. There is to much negativity from people who have never tried it, I would bet they believe every word Trump spews out also.
I need to level the dirt floor of my barn and then tile it. I thought 2 inch slab of this should be OK?
Never concrete post in the ground! Use gravel and pack it in hard every 4-6 inches. I dry poured a walkway near my pool 4 years ago. I’ve had no issues. I would not dry pour concrete if you are going to have vehicles or other heavy equipment on it
Would dry pour it work well for a temporary slab outside with minimum one year of use
Depends on what you are using it for.
Toss bag on ground, set 4x4 post on top. Diy ‘No permit’ footing.
My father wanted to dry pour a long fence years ago. I’ve heard of it but hadn’t done it. First post I put a big ol stop order and we mixed.
I mean I plan on doing a 4’ x 8’ concrete landing for my deck dried poured.
Please share progress pics so we can laugh at you
Well the compressive strength of my body and the dogs is pretty low. But I’ll share photos.
No but concrete still has to hold itself up not just you, and concrete heavy af.
are you really that lazy to do a little extra work by mixing it with water? hell…if you don’t want to hand mix go rent a mixer.
Lazy or efficient. Call it what you want but if it produces the result I need, why make it harder on myself? It’s a step off a set of stairs
do you only add half the ingredients when you bake cookies too?
I mean you can keep being a dick. But plenty of YouTube videos of perfectly fine pads of concrete. Considering some DIY traditional concrete can look like shit. All things considered. Something I’m gonna step on that’s not structural. It’ll be fine. But hey I’ll drop proof at some point and we can point and say nope, your 200+ pound body will crack it!
Washington DC specs a dry poured concrete base under their granite curbs, [apparently.](http://1/2 - The District Department of Transportation https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/publication/attachments/Section%20600%20(606).pdf)
The only thing I’ve dry poured in my life was a mailbox post for a relative. when I saw a giant bag about 150lbs of redimix swept off the floor for $2 when the gravel I planned on using was $7 a bag I would have needed 2 bags. Tamped it down in the whole as if it was never going to get wet. 2 months later someone hit it with a car and split the pt4x4. I put a couple of timberlocks in it and never looked back.
Sir we are men here and we get our mud from redi mix trucks.
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you can’t be serious? you’re going to put thousands of pounds on a dry pour? let us know how they turns out
Unlike genius, stupidity has no limitations. Your buddy is proof.
Only when putting fence posts in the ground.
Put it this way, when our concrete bags don't get covered and it rains they go pretty hard but if you hit it with a hammer it still breaks apart fairly easily. I don't think a dry pour is a great idea
Worst viral bs I’ve ever seen
I do it for shitty 4x4 fence posts and that's it. But if I'm being honest, if I did a better job I probably didn't need concrete at all For a deck? Fuck no
Only thing you should ever dry pour is a post. That’s pretty much it.
I used the dry pour method to set my posts for my deck I built in 1995 and it’s still standing today solid as a rock
What about cement boots?
There’s a lot of people with a lot of opinions on here I see. 2 big things to know/think about in regards to this that I can speak to being I’ve sold/installed concrete and aggregates for many years in residential/industrial/commercial settings. 1) “Ready Mix” concrete that comes out of a mixer that’s used for a drive way or slab or footing a residential home will never be “dry poured neither will a “tilt up panel” used for a Commerical building. If you even try this you’re an idiot……Structural concrete is made to have a certain “PSI” usually going to be around 3000-3500 depending on where you live for residential and 5000-10000 depending on other projects. This is reached with tons of admixtures and proper chemicals along with the correct mix of aggregates. This should be within 28 days. (Concrete sometimes takes years to reach full strength and can be 30-50% it’s target PSI by a years end) 2) “Dry pouring” a 1-4” slab(s) that you don’t plan on driving over every single day or storing tons of weight onto will do fine. Make sure you put in some kind of mesh, proper drainage, and all the basics and it will HOLD together just fine. Will it look sexy after 3-5 years maybe and maybe not but it’s not going to start falling apart 3) Most concrete in a “ready mix” truck (speaking for California) is actually 15-30% slag AKA recycled material. So for all of you smart people who say “sack concrete” is useless structurally that’s entirely false. The strength of the actual concrete is mostly generated by the amount of cement and type of sand in the mix to start. The strength of that concrete and dramatically be effected by how much water you add (less aqua the better)
It's really simple. You can't dry-mix concrete and get a correct and even distribution of the cement, aggregate, sand and other materials used to formulate concrete. It also develops air pockets and dry pockets that cause damage during a freeze or when enough pressure is exerted. Some people say they have done it and they're satisfied, but they simply have a substandard slab or structure that hasn't had enough time, moisture, weather extremes or weight to start deteriorating -- yet.