Is a dry pour concrete slab as good as wet? Pt 2 #concrete #diy #howto

[whitenite]

I wish I could say I'm surprised that so many people are butthurt over this.

Yeah, fucking obviously follow the engineering plans if you're building a foundation or a structural pour.

If you're a DIY weekender, anything you're making is going to do JUST FINE with a dry pour.

[EdgyShooter]

Ha, from someone who's had a shed with an unknown leak, I can tell you what happens to the sealed bags 😅

[nickybutton]

"It's quicker to do dry pour, I just have to stop what I'm doing every 30 minutes for 3 hours and go back outside to spray it"

[darianzielinsky]

Mixed and poured will always be superior in strength and appearance

[gregspencer]

There’s a reason every major construction job on earth uses wet pour.

[bluestrapz]

Sealed bags tend to just turn solid but break apart easily and is kinda powdery when broken apart

[MustardseedMomma]

My husband is an architect. He said dry pouring may be quicker, but in the long run the wet pouring will hold up longer and be stronger.

[stickyfox]

I had six 80 lb bags under a tarp in the back yard for a few months and they all solidified fully through. They're stepping stones in my garden now.

[nealwright]

I'm just amazed at how many videos you can make about dry-pouring!

[andytucker]

This is fine just for a makeshift paving slab for walking on, however the wet mix adds strength, so for a driveway, you would want mesh reinforcing and a wet mix of 20+ MPA.

Its possibly the corners and edges will be more prone to chipping and wearing

[nvrnlumby]

I’m a civil engineer and can solve all of this for you. A “dry pour” is absolutely wrong and you should never do it. The water to cement ratio is critical for the strength of the mix. Also if you don’t wet and mix, you will have honeycombing in the pour and the aggregate will not be evenly distributed in the pour. You will have poor compaction of the mix and you will have voids. Just mix your mud. If I ever saw anyone doing this on my project, they wouldn’t be on the project any longer.

[brarautorepairs]

Water makes the concrete form crystals. I'm of the opinion that proper hydration of the concrete is important to its strength.

[Spoofff]

Remember kids, there's a reason we use wet mixed concrete, with a calculated water to concrete ratio, and don't let trucks sit past 90 minutes...

[QdMaster]

When you take the form off hammer test the corners and maybe flip the slab to see if you got full cure, I'd love to see if there is any difference in density and strength!

[maddoxinc]

Here's what some people fail to understand. Concrete is a chemical reaction and just like all chemicals, too much or too little WILL affect the results. Too much water and the concrete wont be strong. Too little and it'll be brittle. Follow the damn instructions and you'll do just fine.

[DanielKirbyJr-lwls]

As a tile guy. Wet or dry isnt good. Needs to be wet BUT too wet cracks too easy, too dry breaks apart like sand. Theres a reason why building a shower is done at the right consistency. Just enough water to activate the cement and grab the sand aggregate strong to last years and years.

[ThunderMuffinMan]

Let's ask demolition ranch to shoot dry pour vs wet pour.

[mouthwashlisterine]

Sealed bags of concrete don’t last long in storage. I had bought 50 bags of quikrete, in order to make a small slab in my backyard for grilling and a fire pit. I was planning on doing it that weekend, but had an emergency come up. I didn’t get to it for 3 weeks, and I stored the mix in my shed. I go out there bright and early Saturday morning and all the bags were rock hard. Turns out my shed sits at 99% humidity when the A/C isn’t running. I salvaged about 10 bags and the rest went into a dumpster.

It was a good lesson, although I don’t enjoy spending $500 on lessons.

[Peanut-Butter]

Dry pour is faster, but with wet pour as soon as it’s set and leveled, your done it just dries. It’s also stronger and wet concrete can be easier to transport because it’s already wet and ready in truck so you don’t need a concrete mixer which are usually small. Both are great options at home though and any project you do can probably be done by both, unless it’s a mold.

[cortneyfreeman]

With out being thoroughly mixed it greatly reduces not only the bond between the cement and the aggregate but also the fact that you cant ensure a proper mixture of the dry ingredients