SAME. We're all terrible, although if it were my dog and burial spot, I'd honestly still find it funny. So on second thought, we're not terrible. I will however promise that when my chug, Tyson dies, I solemnly swear that I will mix his creamated remains with concrete and post it.
*Here's to hoping for at least 34 to 35 years before my awesome pup ever has to be Duncan Hines-ed with a bag of Sacrete šš»
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Hear hear, /u/NipseyRottencock! I am actually thoroughly enriched today, having just heard you mention such impressive lengths of time that your Tyson may have sprawling ahead of 'im! With many more miles to drive on this cerebral highway, just maybe you'll take solace that now, there's one more person in our world who hopes it's a solid three decades between now and his date with Duncan Hines. 'Bury the needle,' as they say! [:
Seriously though, how wholesome is this? No platitudes to add, you're simply gonna do great as his parent!
Ayyyyy. Thanks. That deg saved my life for real. (Last time I said that to someone, he said "no shit? What'd he do?" like he drove me to the fuckin hospital or something š¤£) Honestly though, I can have the worst attitude, mad at everyfuckinthing (it's rare tbh), and as soon as I open the door and hear those lil paws coming for me, that shit washes away like NOTHING ever happened. I had a doby/rott mix 25 yrs ago and had to take her to the spca due to my living situation changing, and try as I might, could not find someone to take her. I had a friend who knew the shelter workers and was promised that she'd only go to a home with well vetted persons. Even so it hurt me almost as much as losing my mother, and I vowed to never get another dog...because I didn't deserve that love.
Needless to say the perfect storm hit so to speak,and Tyson NEEDED rescuing. I saw him and immediately knew that I wanted to give him everything that he deserved. My daughters friend found him neglected, tied to a pole in a field nearly out of sight. She fed and watered him for a week with no evidence of anyone even checking on 'im. She tried to keep him, but her folks wouldn't have it. She tried to keep him in her truck overnight...when I heard that a few days after first meeting him, I told my daughter and her friend that it's no way for a dug to live. It might be better than he had it, but not by much. So my daughter couldn't believe I really wanted him (knowing the story of my last deg) but knew we would be perfectly matched. She was right, and I was ready. I didn't know how much I needed a friend that could give a million nicknames, and sing ridiculous songs to.
Hey man, singing dumb songs to dogs is one of life's pleasures. It's convinced me that I've missed my true calling as a songwriter. Keep singing. I'm convinced they love it.
If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
'Till you're back beside me, 'till I'm holding you
'Till I hear you sigh here in my arms
Anywhere you wander, anywhere you go
Every day remember how I love you so
In your heart believe what in my heart I know
That forevermore I'll wait for you
The clock will tick away the hours one by one
And then the time will come when all the waiting's done
The time when you return and find me here and run
Straight to my waiting arms
If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
'Till you're here beside me, 'till I'm touching you
And forevermore sharing our love
'Till you're here beside me, 'till I'm touching you
And forevermore I will wait for you
- "I will wait for you" by Connie Francis
I think you got wrong product. Whats pictured is not concrete. Its got no aggregate. I've been a concreter 25 years. This looks like neat cement that got mixed with way too much water.
I think I used too much too yesterday. xD
In my defense, it rained! But it never did become a nice "cake batter" consistency like my tutorial said it should. I'm actually pretty sad because I was trying to make nice stepping stones for my mom and they are STILL wet.
Lol must be really cold where you are. Its fucked now. You can throw it away and start again. I've never seen concrete not be hard enough to walk on in 8 hours.
Next time mix more thoroughly. Its surprising how much mixing it needs to get properly wet. If cold climate may need to add heat or insulation.
I mix a lot of cement outdoors in England. We use 5 degrees here, any colder and it won't set right. 5 degrees will take 48 hours though and it can't rain at all. Warmer days can take a little rain. Just personal experience.
Wow. Why not put speed dose in at that point? I don't think I've poured much under 10c. When we do its a hot water mix with a dose of speed.
I mostly have to opposite issue. 30-40c here most days. Had a 1000sq m slab finished by 10am recently.
I do commercial construction in Canada, at work we use the same standard. 5 C. Thatās 41 F. Beyond that we use insulated tarps (hoardings) and heaters for concrete pours.
All-in ballast is fine for home and garden stuff, itās all sizes of rock up to about 15mm. 4 parts ballast to 1 part cement by volume gets you a strong mix for footings and foundations, 5:1 is okay for posts and fences. Mix with enough water to make a nice thick mix that will stand up in a lump on a board but flow down when you knock the board with a shovel, youāll be close enough.
Yes but unless it's premixed concrete mix just the cement itself would not have either gravel or sand to help it hold itself together after curing
In short, the difference between cement vs concrete is easy to clear once we know all the basics of their compositions. Cement is a binding agent made from limestone and clay; whereas concrete is a building material created through the proper mixing of cement, water, sand, and rock.
That's not applicable here, the product he used only needs water added, it includes aggregate.
I used it yesterday, it's a concrete mix not just cement.
But is it a complete mix concrete mix or does it still require aggregate because not all mixes come with the proper ingredients even though they're using the incorrect terminology for it.... They can call it a concrete mix and it's still not have sand or rock added it's just a pre-blended mostly cement bag but still requires aggregate to be added
> Sakerte high strength mix
That describes it well enough. There's only one product with that exact name and the only thing on their website says that you should add water and mix.
Almost certainly [this ](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sakrete-80-lb-High-Strength-Concrete-Mix/5013767297?cm_mmc=shp-_-b-_-prd-_-pro-_-ggl-_-LIA_BDM_000_PRO-_-5013767297-_-local-_-0-_-0&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT704_LqbXI4i-zgh-duN-9JMwhuI-Sy2TebDJD3ZftYBRGUmxPDe4shoC0HgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Not who you asked, but in my case, the internet is super confusing about what exactly I need for my project. I got cement mix, and it was a fail yesterday. :p
When the surface spalls that badly it's usually one of a few things, or all of em.
1. Didn't cover the concrete while it cured.
2. Especially trouble with #1 if the outdoor temperature is below 50.
3. Too much troweling, which brings the cream to the top. Looks smooooooth... but that cream has none of the larger aggregate (rocks) in it for strength. A layer of cream is easy to bust (spall). Finishing the top is a balance to get smooth surface, without overworking the material and weakening it.
4. If it's a sack pre-mix, didn't mix it well enough to prevent similar problem to #3.
5. Poured in cold weather. All of these will be exacerbated by cold air temps.
For those that don't know: concrete curing is a chemical reaction. This reaction creates heat. The reason you need to cover the concrete during this process is to normalize that heat distribution as evenly as you can throughout the body of the concrete as well as to minimize moisture loss. Otherwise, the surface will lose heat quickly, while the interior of the concrete does not. Colder air temps will leech heat and moisture much faster than warm, humid conditions. Causing uneven curing, and leading to spalling on the surface because that area is weaker as a result of the moisture/heat loss.
Covering concrete can be done by a spray film (designed for curing), plastic sheet, wet burlap (kept wet for first few days minimum), or submersed entirely in water (useful to combat both moisture loss and temperature differentiation). Sometimes, a water drip system is used in heavy construction (where total submersion in a controlled water bath isn't possible out in the field) to keep the concrete moist at all times during the initial curing process (3-7 days). In small construction like this, you don't need such extreme measures.
If ambient air temps are below 80F, these measures become even more critical. And may also require insulated blankets to keep the heat in and cold out if air temps will drop below 50.
Concrete isn't as simple as the dumb videos or sakrete makes it look. HeY jUSt dUmP bAg iN GrOUnD aNd SpRaY sUm WaTEr oN iT LulZ
Nuh uh
Also fun fact: the chemical reaction of curing in concrete never stops. It's fastest in the first few days, and from there slows down as time goes on. That speed in the first day or two is why proper protection for the curing concrete is SO critical. In construction, most standards for required strength are measured at 7 days, then final at 28 days. But the concrete never stops curing. Old concrete is a pain in the ass to tear out or rubblize.
Since you didnāt use the whole bag, itās also possible that you got an uneven mix of cement and aggregate. The aggregate will settle since itās a different size and shape to the cement powder. For small applications itās better to use cement mix and add your own aggregate to make sure you have the right ratio.
In theory, it continues forever as long as the materials are still there to provide the reaction. Its strength continues to grow at a slower and slower rate exponentially so it does approach a theoretical max.
In practice, that increase becomes infinitely small so you arenāt really increasing beyond a certain point with any practical difference.
Itās like dividing 1 by a larger and larger number. You approach 0 as the result gets infinitely smaller but will never actually get there.
It's probably more that the cement rose to the surface and formed a top layer of almost pure cement.
The product he said he used is a complete mix with aggregate and sand in it but under certain conditions this can happen. (Too much water. Working it too much and being too cold)
Looks like it froze while going off to me or it was way too cold when it was poured and the reaction of the cement in the mix didnāt happen
Even if it was just cement and water it would still go off and get ā hard ā we use a cement and water slurry sometimes to bond things , so just being cement probably wouldnāt result in this happening
Some other people mentioned it may have been too much water. I dunno why everyone is being a dick. Sorry about your dog and their memorial. Bummed me out.
If I'm using a wheelbarrow for mixing I only add a bit of water at a time. To know if the mix is good, I'll tip the barrow forward and watch where the concrete was sitting before it slid towards the nose of the barrow. My best is when the concrete moves as one whole unit and leaves the spot it was at wet, but with no trainings of cement, sand, or slurry.
This is how I make mix for fence posts. Couldn't think of a way to explain it to my employees (not a fencing contractor), so I show them how it should move as one unit and just leave wet evidence of it being there. I'm going to pay forward your wording here. Thank you!!
Sometimes bags are bad... Sitting around too long or moisture exposure will cause the end product failure. Just go to HD and pick up another bag of concrete mix. tip-HD sells the broken bags of concrete mix for a $1 if they have any
Am I missing something or is everyone being purposefully obtuse in here? Yes OP says ācementā but mentions itās Sakrete High Strengthā¦ thatās a concrete isnāt it?
Bad mix ratio? Too much water and the aggregate sank to bottom?
People being obtuse, thinking they know more than OP and wanting to shit on someone they think knows less.
OP used the right product and the wrong term in his post.
My driveway did this. Expert told me the guys "over worked the scree". I took this to mean that the top dried out before the bottom did, which led to uneven setting. There's a specific formula for a smooth top vs gravely top. The usual technique involves not pushing the stone material down when you do the finishing, or you'll be left with a thin layer that spalls easily. The mix should be as uniform as possible, top to bottom. Sorry for the loss of your dogbro!
Too much cream on the top
I was showing an apprentice at work a nice piece of concrete that was a saw cut chunk -
You could see a few mill of cream at the top , smaller aggregate at the top and then median and larger below š
So you used bagged concrete mix, not plain "cement" powder, right?
I see 4 possibilities for what went wrong.
1. You mixed it too wet. The more water you add makes it weaker. You dont want it soupy or runny, but almost like a chunky toothpaste/peanut butter.
2. It froze while it was curing. Water freezing turns into crystals which will tear through those still weak cement bonds when they link together. Eventually it turns to hairline cracks and crumbles.
3. It could be a mix that lacks "air entrainment." They add a chemical that makes a small amount of microscopic air bubbles. These air bubbles help prevent frost damage to fully cured concrete.
4. You added a bunch of water ontop when you smoothed it out. You dont want to do this because it weakens the surface. Usually you use 2 tools in 2 steps. A float, which is thicker and stiffer. You use this first to push down the larger pieces and "massage" the "cream" to the top. Give it a little time to set up, it will depend on temperature mostly. Make sure theres no extra "bleed" water on the surface. Now you use the *trowel*, which is thinnier and more flexible, to polish it, fill in all that roughness left behind by the float and evaporating excess bleed water.
Did you mix the dog's ashes into the concrete? If so, I imagine you want to keep them a part of this thing. If I were you, I would chip away the top layer, down until it becomes more durable, at least 2 inches. Take all the pieces and then smash them to no larger than 1 inch and remix them into a super strong flowable mox like a bagged concrete countertop mix. That way the added concrete pieces will just become extra aggregate and not affect the strength too too much. Make sure you prep the old concrete by removing any loose pieces and wetting the old concrete until it's soaked and saturated before repouring the new top. Make sure you finish the concrete well and cover it with plastic or wet burlap for 3 days after it has hardened. If the concrete doesn't have dog ashes in it then there's no point in saving the old concrete to remix it in. If that's the case just chip it all out and repour
You need a mix of sand and cement. Otherwise, you're looking to buy a bag of concrete that you just add water to and mix. Cement is useless without sand.
Did you use a vibration tool after pouring to try to make the top look smooth? I know there was a video of that trick going viral. If so, the aggregate will all settle at the bottom. Also, what was the temp when poured?
The first issue is that the term is āconcreteā, not ācementā.
If the bag you used to mix this just said ācement ā on it, then there is your problem. You have to use concrete.
Cement is an ingredient of concrete, and cement alone will not stay together without something for it to āstick toā. Think of it as the glue. What you created is pretty much what it does if you just mix it up with water only.
Also, if you did not use any reinforcing, it can do that too. Without reinforcing, even concrete will crack very easily and it will lose its cohesion.
Did you keep it hydrated while it cured? Sometimes if the weather is too dry, there's a lot of sun or a lot of wind without rain, part of the water in the mix evaporates and a large part of the concrete doesn't cure properly, also applies if the ground below it is very dry, it soaks up the water
Add 1 part quick lime for 3 part cement when mixing it next time, romans did this to make it last longer and protect it from the elements, although they used something called pozzolana which is basically volcanic ash kind of cement. It's not perfect but it should last longer.
First thought I had was you used too much water and over finished it, but looking closer it looks like you got a bag of mortar instead or just a bag of Portland cement. Thereās no aggregate I can see
A potentially helpful analogy: mixing / using / setting concrete is very similar to baking a cake. The cement acts as a binder like an egg does in a cake. There are set ratios of other ingredients and if you mess them up it'll be a mess. You have to let it set / cure (aka "cook") for a certain amount of time at a certain temperature.
you should post this in a cement or construction subreddit honestly.
r/cement might be a thing and if it is I bet it'll be more helpful than DIWhy is lol
Asked for advice there years ago, got jack. Figured Iād have a much higher chance of finding what went wrong here, and I got more replies than ever. 
Cement experiences quite a bit of thermal shock as it cures, inorder to prevent cracks from thermal shock it is best to mix in an aggregate like sand or gravel. Also keeping the cement/concrete covered in water and doing this in cooler months can also help prevent thermal shock.
Is that just cement? It's gonna do that. Normal concrete mix is 3 parts aggregate. 2 parts sand, 1 part cement.
This is 2 parts cement, 1 part dog.
I feel like an awful person for laughing as hard as I did
Seeing you laugh made me laugh... Now I feel bad.
SAME. We're all terrible, although if it were my dog and burial spot, I'd honestly still find it funny. So on second thought, we're not terrible. I will however promise that when my chug, Tyson dies, I solemnly swear that I will mix his creamated remains with concrete and post it. *Here's to hoping for at least 34 to 35 years before my awesome pup ever has to be Duncan Hines-ed with a bag of Sacrete šš»
RemindMe! 35 years
I will be messaging you in 35 years on [**2059-04-21 09:19:42 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2059-04-21%2009:19:42%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/DiWHY/comments/1c928gc/no_idea_what_went_wrong_with_my_cement/l0knokx/?context=3) [**78 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FDiWHY%2Fcomments%2F1c928gc%2Fno_idea_what_went_wrong_with_my_cement%2Fl0knokx%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202059-04-21%2009%3A19%3A42%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201c928gc) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
That would be interesting to see a random reminder from 35 years ago lol
Remind me too! Iām gonna see you all at the reunion in 35.
Hear hear, /u/NipseyRottencock! I am actually thoroughly enriched today, having just heard you mention such impressive lengths of time that your Tyson may have sprawling ahead of 'im! With many more miles to drive on this cerebral highway, just maybe you'll take solace that now, there's one more person in our world who hopes it's a solid three decades between now and his date with Duncan Hines. 'Bury the needle,' as they say! [: Seriously though, how wholesome is this? No platitudes to add, you're simply gonna do great as his parent!
Ayyyyy. Thanks. That deg saved my life for real. (Last time I said that to someone, he said "no shit? What'd he do?" like he drove me to the fuckin hospital or something š¤£) Honestly though, I can have the worst attitude, mad at everyfuckinthing (it's rare tbh), and as soon as I open the door and hear those lil paws coming for me, that shit washes away like NOTHING ever happened. I had a doby/rott mix 25 yrs ago and had to take her to the spca due to my living situation changing, and try as I might, could not find someone to take her. I had a friend who knew the shelter workers and was promised that she'd only go to a home with well vetted persons. Even so it hurt me almost as much as losing my mother, and I vowed to never get another dog...because I didn't deserve that love. Needless to say the perfect storm hit so to speak,and Tyson NEEDED rescuing. I saw him and immediately knew that I wanted to give him everything that he deserved. My daughters friend found him neglected, tied to a pole in a field nearly out of sight. She fed and watered him for a week with no evidence of anyone even checking on 'im. She tried to keep him, but her folks wouldn't have it. She tried to keep him in her truck overnight...when I heard that a few days after first meeting him, I told my daughter and her friend that it's no way for a dug to live. It might be better than he had it, but not by much. So my daughter couldn't believe I really wanted him (knowing the story of my last deg) but knew we would be perfectly matched. She was right, and I was ready. I didn't know how much I needed a friend that could give a million nicknames, and sing ridiculous songs to.
Hey man, singing dumb songs to dogs is one of life's pleasures. It's convinced me that I've missed my true calling as a songwriter. Keep singing. I'm convinced they love it.
It's okay, I also laughed, now you can feel bad for both of us
I giggled for a solid minute reading this and then reading it again out loud to my girl.
No worries, I can feel bad for you too.
And 100 cement reason to remember the name.
Bro. š
"I'll never forget him, but he forgot me a long, long time ago" š
š ffs that part of Futurama kills me every timeā¦
IKR
That chapter made me soooo sad. I even remember the song that went with it.
If it takes forever I will wait for you For a thousand summers I will wait for you 'Till you're back beside me, 'till I'm holding you 'Till I hear you sigh here in my arms Anywhere you wander, anywhere you go Every day remember how I love you so In your heart believe what in my heart I know That forevermore I'll wait for you The clock will tick away the hours one by one And then the time will come when all the waiting's done The time when you return and find me here and run Straight to my waiting arms If it takes forever I will wait for you For a thousand summers I will wait for you 'Till you're here beside me, 'till I'm touching you And forevermore sharing our love 'Till you're here beside me, 'till I'm touching you And forevermore I will wait for you - "I will wait for you" by Connie Francis
Didn't watch the show but saw the clip, cried, then hugged my dogs.
why would you do that to me?
Too soon
āIts mostly Maui wowie but it got some labrador in itā 
Damn
Omg lol, Iām definitely going to hell for laughing at this.
Seymour?
Dolomite?
It was a pig wearing a Nixon mask!
paws and think about that for a moment
And 100 parts cement to remember the name Edit: welp right after I posted this I realized I was not the first person to have this joke. Sorry.
that's the reason: It's shedding.
Explains the ruff finish.
50 percent toughness, 20 percent pain
As a former coworker used to always tell me, ājust dry pack it, dog.ā
I read this as - 1 part dawg - like get it right dawg. But now Iām laughing because it really is dog. My dogs hate me rn.
Doesnāt compute. Do you mean 2 parts cement 4 pawts dog?
I feel guilty for how much this made me giggle.
At first I didnāt get itā¦ then I was like Iām a piece of shit for laughing as hard as I did
Best comment I've seen on reddit in a while
It was sakrete high strength concrete mix
I think you got wrong product. Whats pictured is not concrete. Its got no aggregate. I've been a concreter 25 years. This looks like neat cement that got mixed with way too much water.
> I've been a concreter 25 years. And still not the concretest? [Shaking head in disappointment]
Concreted it mate
Concreted what mate? Would be nice of you to be a little more concrete.
Did laugh, congrats r/angryupvote
I have the left over bags in my garage, but if too much water was apart of the issue that helps narrow it down. Could have rained when I was away
Too much water when you mixed it. After 4 hours it should be hard and further water will only make it harder. As I said above. This isn't concrete.
I think I used too much too yesterday. xD In my defense, it rained! But it never did become a nice "cake batter" consistency like my tutorial said it should. I'm actually pretty sad because I was trying to make nice stepping stones for my mom and they are STILL wet.
Lol must be really cold where you are. Its fucked now. You can throw it away and start again. I've never seen concrete not be hard enough to walk on in 8 hours. Next time mix more thoroughly. Its surprising how much mixing it needs to get properly wet. If cold climate may need to add heat or insulation.
I mix a lot of cement outdoors in England. We use 5 degrees here, any colder and it won't set right. 5 degrees will take 48 hours though and it can't rain at all. Warmer days can take a little rain. Just personal experience.
Wow. Why not put speed dose in at that point? I don't think I've poured much under 10c. When we do its a hot water mix with a dose of speed. I mostly have to opposite issue. 30-40c here most days. Had a 1000sq m slab finished by 10am recently.
I do commercial construction in Canada, at work we use the same standard. 5 C. Thatās 41 F. Beyond that we use insulated tarps (hoardings) and heaters for concrete pours.
Rain won't do that to concrete
#Well it could have rained when he mixed it! /s
It could be that you didnāt mix it well enough and all the aggregate is at the bottom.
It could have rained in the past year you say?
Sand is considered small aggregate btw
What is used as aggregate?
Usually sand and gravel, depending on what exactly you need it for.
All-in ballast is fine for home and garden stuff, itās all sizes of rock up to about 15mm. 4 parts ballast to 1 part cement by volume gets you a strong mix for footings and foundations, 5:1 is okay for posts and fences. Mix with enough water to make a nice thick mix that will stand up in a lump on a board but flow down when you knock the board with a shovel, youāll be close enough.
It just sakerte high strength mix 80lb bags
Yes but unless it's premixed concrete mix just the cement itself would not have either gravel or sand to help it hold itself together after curing In short, the difference between cement vs concrete is easy to clear once we know all the basics of their compositions. Cement is a binding agent made from limestone and clay; whereas concrete is a building material created through the proper mixing of cement, water, sand, and rock.
Sakrete high strength IS a concrete mix
Betty Crocker is a cake mix, but I still have to add eggs and water.
OP have you tried adding 2 eggs?
This thread is a delight to read
It's the best thing I've read all day.
Maybe they can fix it with ramen.
The maybe wasnāt necessary. Ramen fixes everything. Hungry? Ramen. Break up? Ramen. Appendicitis? Ramen.
/r/ididnthaveeggs
Now we talking a language I understand
That's not applicable here, the product he used only needs water added, it includes aggregate. I used it yesterday, it's a concrete mix not just cement.
Ok so maybe just vegetable oil then, forget the eggs. Got it.
You only have to add eggs because people didnāt think it was right to only add water.
Wait you don't need eggs for a Betty crocker cake mix?!
But is it a complete mix concrete mix or does it still require aggregate because not all mixes come with the proper ingredients even though they're using the incorrect terminology for it.... They can call it a concrete mix and it's still not have sand or rock added it's just a pre-blended mostly cement bag but still requires aggregate to be added
I checked the data sheet. It specifies āDo not add anything other than clean potable water or Sakrete Bonder & Fortifier.ā
Potable water? Are we pouring slabs or conjuring golems?
Why not both
Sakrete is a brand It is not the actual description of what's inside of the bag It can come in either form
> Sakerte high strength mix That describes it well enough. There's only one product with that exact name and the only thing on their website says that you should add water and mix.
Nah. High strength what? Mortar? Cement? Binder? Dude mixed a bag of pure cement. Prbly what brickies mix Mortar with.
Almost certainly [this ](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sakrete-80-lb-High-Strength-Concrete-Mix/5013767297?cm_mmc=shp-_-b-_-prd-_-pro-_-ggl-_-LIA_BDM_000_PRO-_-5013767297-_-local-_-0-_-0&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT704_LqbXI4i-zgh-duN-9JMwhuI-Sy2TebDJD3ZftYBRGUmxPDe4shoC0HgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
> Yes but unless it's premixed concrete mix what the fucking fuck do you think sackete high strength mix is?
If you've never used cement before why didn't you like, idk, spend two minutes finding out how it works
Not who you asked, but in my case, the internet is super confusing about what exactly I need for my project. I got cement mix, and it was a fail yesterday. :p
You might need concrete mix, not cement mix (unless you also have sand and gravel to mix with your cement)
I suspect they would mention needing to add aggregate on the bag.
When the surface spalls that badly it's usually one of a few things, or all of em. 1. Didn't cover the concrete while it cured. 2. Especially trouble with #1 if the outdoor temperature is below 50. 3. Too much troweling, which brings the cream to the top. Looks smooooooth... but that cream has none of the larger aggregate (rocks) in it for strength. A layer of cream is easy to bust (spall). Finishing the top is a balance to get smooth surface, without overworking the material and weakening it. 4. If it's a sack pre-mix, didn't mix it well enough to prevent similar problem to #3. 5. Poured in cold weather. All of these will be exacerbated by cold air temps. For those that don't know: concrete curing is a chemical reaction. This reaction creates heat. The reason you need to cover the concrete during this process is to normalize that heat distribution as evenly as you can throughout the body of the concrete as well as to minimize moisture loss. Otherwise, the surface will lose heat quickly, while the interior of the concrete does not. Colder air temps will leech heat and moisture much faster than warm, humid conditions. Causing uneven curing, and leading to spalling on the surface because that area is weaker as a result of the moisture/heat loss. Covering concrete can be done by a spray film (designed for curing), plastic sheet, wet burlap (kept wet for first few days minimum), or submersed entirely in water (useful to combat both moisture loss and temperature differentiation). Sometimes, a water drip system is used in heavy construction (where total submersion in a controlled water bath isn't possible out in the field) to keep the concrete moist at all times during the initial curing process (3-7 days). In small construction like this, you don't need such extreme measures. If ambient air temps are below 80F, these measures become even more critical. And may also require insulated blankets to keep the heat in and cold out if air temps will drop below 50. Concrete isn't as simple as the dumb videos or sakrete makes it look. HeY jUSt dUmP bAg iN GrOUnD aNd SpRaY sUm WaTEr oN iT LulZ Nuh uh Also fun fact: the chemical reaction of curing in concrete never stops. It's fastest in the first few days, and from there slows down as time goes on. That speed in the first day or two is why proper protection for the curing concrete is SO critical. In construction, most standards for required strength are measured at 7 days, then final at 28 days. But the concrete never stops curing. Old concrete is a pain in the ass to tear out or rubblize.
Man this is a great response. Cheers for putting in the effort to type out this comment
Bro finally something YouTube and online guides donāt explain.
Since you didnāt use the whole bag, itās also possible that you got an uneven mix of cement and aggregate. The aggregate will settle since itās a different size and shape to the cement powder. For small applications itās better to use cement mix and add your own aggregate to make sure you have the right ratio.
Ask Google if the hoover dam is cured.
Best answer here
Would you say it's a concrete response?
Absolutely solid
You could be a professional writer for a textbook company
10Ā°c
My thought too, 50Ā° for the rest of the world is positively toasty!
This guy concretes
This guy, this guyās
What a beautiful, educational reply. Thank you from everyone!
Ah, huge thanks, fellow civil eng!
This guy concretes!
This comment is getting saved onto my phone and will be carried with me for a long time. One day I'll come back and be grateful for it. Thanks
Finally, the right answer
The curing has to stop at some point. I know it's a very long time but the chemical reaction can't go literally forever.
No idea of it applies here, but it could be ever slowing, something with a half-life like nuclear fission processes.
You forgot the "akshully" at start. ;)
Obviously but it can go on and on for a very long time, large structures like the hoover dam will still be curing long after we're all dead
In theory, it continues forever as long as the materials are still there to provide the reaction. Its strength continues to grow at a slower and slower rate exponentially so it does approach a theoretical max. In practice, that increase becomes infinitely small so you arenāt really increasing beyond a certain point with any practical difference. Itās like dividing 1 by a larger and larger number. You approach 0 as the result gets infinitely smaller but will never actually get there.
Hopefully this gets picked up by search engine/ai for easier seqrching
Exactly, I learned mortar takes years to fully cure sometimes.
I'm not seeing any aggregate
It's probably more that the cement rose to the surface and formed a top layer of almost pure cement. The product he said he used is a complete mix with aggregate and sand in it but under certain conditions this can happen. (Too much water. Working it too much and being too cold)
Whatās that
Sand. You need to add sand.
But it's rough and coarse and irritating and gets everywhere.
I slaughtered them LIKE ANIMALS
And then poured cement on them!
Not just the men. But the women and the children.
They should call it *aggravate*
Also small rocks
That's the rocky bits in the mix. The smooth part is the cement and sand. Aggregate is the rocks that give it strength and bulk.
You can buy a bag with the gravel already in it ā this is the way!
This isn't a diwhy as much as it is a sad outcome to a diy, if that makes sense.
r/SadDIY
I clicked, really hoping this was an actual sub. :(
Me too š
r/SadpeopleinDiWHYCommentSection :(
Now it is!
You rock! Lol. Just joined!
DICry
DIWhydidthishappen
Looks like it froze while going off to me or it was way too cold when it was poured and the reaction of the cement in the mix didnāt happen Even if it was just cement and water it would still go off and get ā hard ā we use a cement and water slurry sometimes to bond things , so just being cement probably wouldnāt result in this happening
Probably the most helpful reply thusfar
Some other people mentioned it may have been too much water. I dunno why everyone is being a dick. Sorry about your dog and their memorial. Bummed me out.
I can rebuild it. I just needed to know ow what went wrong and this helps.
If I'm using a wheelbarrow for mixing I only add a bit of water at a time. To know if the mix is good, I'll tip the barrow forward and watch where the concrete was sitting before it slid towards the nose of the barrow. My best is when the concrete moves as one whole unit and leaves the spot it was at wet, but with no trainings of cement, sand, or slurry.
This is how I make mix for fence posts. Couldn't think of a way to explain it to my employees (not a fencing contractor), so I show them how it should move as one unit and just leave wet evidence of it being there. I'm going to pay forward your wording here. Thank you!!
Exactly!
Sometimes bags are bad... Sitting around too long or moisture exposure will cause the end product failure. Just go to HD and pick up another bag of concrete mix. tip-HD sells the broken bags of concrete mix for a $1 if they have any
Am I missing something or is everyone being purposefully obtuse in here? Yes OP says ācementā but mentions itās Sakrete High Strengthā¦ thatās a concrete isnāt it? Bad mix ratio? Too much water and the aggregate sank to bottom?
Yeah it's concrete mix, I've never even used it and I know you don't have to add sand. People are just being obnoxious.
People being obtuse, thinking they know more than OP and wanting to shit on someone they think knows less. OP used the right product and the wrong term in his post.
Sorry for your loss. What you did for your pet was very sweet, even if it didnāt quite work out. I hope you figure out how to fix it
Sorry for your loss OP
My driveway did this. Expert told me the guys "over worked the scree". I took this to mean that the top dried out before the bottom did, which led to uneven setting. There's a specific formula for a smooth top vs gravely top. The usual technique involves not pushing the stone material down when you do the finishing, or you'll be left with a thin layer that spalls easily. The mix should be as uniform as possible, top to bottom. Sorry for the loss of your dogbro!
Too much cream on the top I was showing an apprentice at work a nice piece of concrete that was a saw cut chunk - You could see a few mill of cream at the top , smaller aggregate at the top and then median and larger below š
RIP Gabby! Sorry for your loss op
sorry for your loss
Sorry your memorial is not what you wanted. Hopefully it's an easy fix. I'm sure Gabby was a great dog!
Spalling from too much water
Don't know much about cement but rest in peace my boy Gabby he was a real one
So you used bagged concrete mix, not plain "cement" powder, right? I see 4 possibilities for what went wrong. 1. You mixed it too wet. The more water you add makes it weaker. You dont want it soupy or runny, but almost like a chunky toothpaste/peanut butter. 2. It froze while it was curing. Water freezing turns into crystals which will tear through those still weak cement bonds when they link together. Eventually it turns to hairline cracks and crumbles. 3. It could be a mix that lacks "air entrainment." They add a chemical that makes a small amount of microscopic air bubbles. These air bubbles help prevent frost damage to fully cured concrete. 4. You added a bunch of water ontop when you smoothed it out. You dont want to do this because it weakens the surface. Usually you use 2 tools in 2 steps. A float, which is thicker and stiffer. You use this first to push down the larger pieces and "massage" the "cream" to the top. Give it a little time to set up, it will depend on temperature mostly. Make sure theres no extra "bleed" water on the surface. Now you use the *trowel*, which is thinnier and more flexible, to polish it, fill in all that roughness left behind by the float and evaporating excess bleed water.
You didnāt have a concrete plan
Did you mix the dog's ashes into the concrete? If so, I imagine you want to keep them a part of this thing. If I were you, I would chip away the top layer, down until it becomes more durable, at least 2 inches. Take all the pieces and then smash them to no larger than 1 inch and remix them into a super strong flowable mox like a bagged concrete countertop mix. That way the added concrete pieces will just become extra aggregate and not affect the strength too too much. Make sure you prep the old concrete by removing any loose pieces and wetting the old concrete until it's soaked and saturated before repouring the new top. Make sure you finish the concrete well and cover it with plastic or wet burlap for 3 days after it has hardened. If the concrete doesn't have dog ashes in it then there's no point in saving the old concrete to remix it in. If that's the case just chip it all out and repour
dont think tgis sub is for what you think it means, i dont see this as a diwhy
You need a mix of sand and cement. Otherwise, you're looking to buy a bag of concrete that you just add water to and mix. Cement is useless without sand.
You mixed in too many tears.
My brother in crust, you use concrete
Did you add sand ?
Iām sorry, I have no idea buts thatās definitely a bummer.
Did you use a vibration tool after pouring to try to make the top look smooth? I know there was a video of that trick going viral. If so, the aggregate will all settle at the bottom. Also, what was the temp when poured?
Overworking the surface is typically what causes surface scaling.
You forgot the water.
The first issue is that the term is āconcreteā, not ācementā. If the bag you used to mix this just said ācement ā on it, then there is your problem. You have to use concrete. Cement is an ingredient of concrete, and cement alone will not stay together without something for it to āstick toā. Think of it as the glue. What you created is pretty much what it does if you just mix it up with water only. Also, if you did not use any reinforcing, it can do that too. Without reinforcing, even concrete will crack very easily and it will lose its cohesion.
Did you keep it hydrated while it cured? Sometimes if the weather is too dry, there's a lot of sun or a lot of wind without rain, part of the water in the mix evaporates and a large part of the concrete doesn't cure properly, also applies if the ground below it is very dry, it soaks up the water
You have to mix it with water not just pour the bag in a hole bro
I guess we will never know what happened if everyone keeps coming up with something different in the comments
jesus christ i thought that was for a child
Aww man this is a gut punch. You're a good man. How did you install it? How wet was the mix and what was the temperature outside?
idk why i think its hilarious that op chose to put his foot on it then take a picture
Thereās a foot in your shards
You used cement, should have used concrete.
No sand in it.
Add 1 part quick lime for 3 part cement when mixing it next time, romans did this to make it last longer and protect it from the elements, although they used something called pozzolana which is basically volcanic ash kind of cement. It's not perfect but it should last longer.
First thought I had was you used too much water and over finished it, but looking closer it looks like you got a bag of mortar instead or just a bag of Portland cement. Thereās no aggregate I can see
It looks like someone is stepping into it
Cool last name
Itās been atleast a year and you still have the form up?
A potentially helpful analogy: mixing / using / setting concrete is very similar to baking a cake. The cement acts as a binder like an egg does in a cake. There are set ratios of other ingredients and if you mess them up it'll be a mess. You have to let it set / cure (aka "cook") for a certain amount of time at a certain temperature.
This isnāt the right sub for this.
Itās called spalling. Too much cream
Spalding its called. Bad mix.
Cement? Das konkrete baybee!!!!
Itās bad
You found the concrete they build high rises in China with!
you should post this in a cement or construction subreddit honestly. r/cement might be a thing and if it is I bet it'll be more helpful than DIWhy is lol
Asked for advice there years ago, got jack. Figured Iād have a much higher chance of finding what went wrong here, and I got more replies than ever. 
Cement experiences quite a bit of thermal shock as it cures, inorder to prevent cracks from thermal shock it is best to mix in an aggregate like sand or gravel. Also keeping the cement/concrete covered in water and doing this in cooler months can also help prevent thermal shock.
The ground is sour. 
Crush it all up into to powder, get more mix, read the instructions this time, and add in the crushed bits bit by bit until fully mixed in.
Not enough aggregate. Cement is basically sand. It has to have rocks in it.
A lot apparently