36
Yes, there is a very good reason. If you add water to dry mix in the bottom of the container, you get a nearly impossible to incorporate glob of the dry mix at the bottom.
On the other hand, if you add it from the top, it's much easier to get it all incorporated.
This works with everything from pancake mix to drywall compound.
Try it each way and you'll see ...
14
From Chemistry: "Do like you oughtta: add acid to water" . Besides the "glop" problem mentioned in the answer, there is almost always released heat when dissolving something in water. If you start with lots of reagent and little water, the water may boil, leading to rather undesirable dispersal of hot reagent.
3
I'd just spread some siliconizer on the concrete and place the bracket on top. That will keep any water/moisture from accumulating under the brackets. In doing similar work, I've had great results using lag shields and stainless steel screws.
2
It might be too late, but I would try pressure washing the old concrete to see if it lightens up. Other than that, the repairs will always be a different color unless you use something to color it.
2
I ended up going with the first option since it was indeed the easiest, and when these need to be replaced, it'll be easier to break up than an entirely solid footing.
2
Install a drain at the low spot, or rent a concrete saw and cut drainage channels (run the saw on tapered shims so the channels slope correctly.)
By cutting channels you should be able to intercept and redirect much of the water before it reaches the low spot.
It might be possible to do that to the whole floor with a terrazzo grinder, but those seem to be a ...
2
Honeycombing is due to poor consolidation. Vibration helps the consolidation during the pour. I doubt that compacting is a substitute for vibrating.
2
One thing is for sure: It could have benefited from better consolidation. This is usually accomplished with vibration. Vibration causes the mix to liquefy, allowing trapped air to escape and allowing the fines in the mix to make a smooth uniform surface against the form.
Professionals often use a power tool that actually vibrates; they immerse it into the ...
2
The cheap way is to just go the local Big Box store and get a small bag of mortar for concrete. Mix it up apply to the bottom and in the crack. For mortar, setting times is in hours.
A better way, is to use a concrete epoxy like this. For the epoxy, the setting times may be as short as 15 minutes. The epoxy is also mixed, but time between mixing and ...
2
As you've seen, prices vary widely. That's why it's a good idea to shop around and ask for references. Some operations just don't want to bother with small jobs like yours, so they quote you a high number in the hope that you'll pick someone else. If you pick them, you pay for the "privilege". Some quote low-ball prices and I'd be wary of them. ...
2
The form ties are steel. So, a masonry ("carbide tipped concrete twist bit") drill is exactly the wrong thing to drill them with - that's what you use to make holes in concrete, which is not what you are trying to do (however absurd it may be to try that - I agree that this is a VERY strange and impractical thing to try doing.) That type of bit ...
2
"Pressure treated wood" isn't one thing. It's many things. Some is rated for ground contact or below grade use. Most isn't. You'd need lumber that is.
You won't keep it from getting wet underground, but you can keep it from being constantly saturated by giving the concrete sleeve a drain at the bottom. One strategy is to set the post on gravel and ...
1
Thin coatings placed on top of bad concrete, especially slabs that already have numerous significant cracks, and is outdoors will rarely, if ever, be successful. You will spend a lot of time and money to bandaid it up only to have it fail in the next series of climate changes.
Best suggestion for the mess showing in your pictures is to:
Rent a jack hammer ...
1
The slab you’re driving on is a slab on grade that does not rely on reinforcing to span voids.
If, as you say, the ground is compacted to 95%, (which is about the most aggregates can be compacted,) then the load will be transferred to the ground without the slab bending.
With 6 1/2 sack concrete, it’s compressive strength is probably between 4,000 psi and 5,...
1
The biggest problem with that approach is that the slightest lateral movement of the post is going to crack the concrete. It’s just too much leverage against a brittle substance.
Since you are bothering with a hole and concrete, I would suggest using anchors. Pretty easy, just fill the hole and insert the anchor. Let it fully set and build. This keeps the ...
1
In my last house, I built a very large deck and all the uprights were installed in concrete that were buried 3' minimum into the soil below. The deck was very solid and done to my perfection. 20 years later when I was selling that home, the treated 4X4's that were the uprights were soft and seemed rotted about 1/2" into the wood. I was told by a home ...
1
You could set up a form for your concrete as normal for concrete work. Set it a few inches from the edge of your asphalt so you have room to un-form after the concrete is set.
Once the concrete is set you could back fill the space between the concrete and the asphalt with asphalt patch and tamp it down.
1
I have used a segmented blade to cut asphalt with a worm drive skill saw. this was a long time back I don’t remember if it was carbide , diamond or possibly flame sprayed (I don’t know what that coating is).
when the blade got hot it smoked and I did not realize until later was filling the guard with hot tar, the blade had no problem making a similar length ...
1
Make sure that they are neither bone-dry nor dripping wet, either of which interferes with getting a proper bond. Damp is good. Recall (or learn) that mortar and concrete do not, as commonly misnomered, "dry" to set, they hydrate to cure, in a chemical reaction where crystals grow throughout the mass, and that needs water to work. A common problem ...
1
For wood in contact with masonry or concrete, the Code requires the use of an approved species and grade of wood such as decay resistant heartwood of Redwood, Black Locust, or Cedar or pressure treated in accordance with AWPA (See ICC R319.1) in areas subject to decay damage according to Table R301.2(1).
In the U.S., all but the very very most southern ...
1
You say "paint-like" texture. Are you sure it's paint?
If it's paint, any sort of chemical paint stripper should do the trick. There are quite a number of more "friendly" "citrus" or "orange" based paint strippers that don't have the smell and toxic concerns of paint strippers of the past.
I presume a patio is outdoors,...
1
I think your approach is right on target. Follow FreeMan's suggestion to embed bolts in the footings to attach your base plate for each post. It's unlikely that you'll have serious frost issues as long as you:
Make sure your support piers are below frostline - in my area it's 36".
Be certain to properly lay the patio base with a solid, self-draining ...
1
Boy, that sounds like the hard way to make a thermal mass, especially in light of the already present concrete. I’m also concerned with how you are not insulating the bottom of the “dirt thermal mass”.
Here’s a quick science question. You want the largest thermal mass possible in a given space. Your choices are a) depleted uranium (freakishly dense) or b)...
answered Jun 23 at 18:46
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1
Nearly impossible to do it that way. As close as you might find would be to use a ditch-witch or similar trenching tool, and few of those will go 5 feet deep, and if they do, odds are excellent that the trench will collapse before you can insert foam.
1
Unless you're in the perfect type of sand/clay soil, with no gravel or rock larger than say 1/4", this won't happen. You'll have to excavate to the width of a backhoe. In the case of a mini-excavator, this might be 12".
If you have ideal soil you might get a cable trencher to clean out a slot, but they're really designed to backfill as they go.
1
You may want to consider using an anchored post base like this:
Source: Home Depot. No endorsement of vendor or this particular product intended or implied
Drill holes in the concrete slab,
insert the threaded rod into the holes,
epoxy them in place.
Bear in mind isherwood's comment about your patio possibly not liking the added weight of the roof. You may ...
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