driveway made of wet concrete bags (2023 Update)

[jason]

Please tell me why I should not try the following:

I have this idea of soaking concrete bags (wrapper and all) and laying them out our a drive way dig out to make paver like driveway.

Some time ago I left a few bags out in the rain and a week later was impressed at how hard that concrete was. With the right positioning, stain and possibly a tecture even - I think I can make it look like coral blocks. I think it will be hard enough to widthstand auto weight and traffic and I wont worry about cracking at the seams as the seams will be just that.

I think it will be easier and cheaper than mixing or getting a concrete truck and home depot will deliver right to the front.

What do you think??

[Tom J]

That mixture in the bag still needs to be mixed into concrete to be durable, so if you want it to last, you would still need to empty the contents of each bag into a mixing tub, mix, and then pour back in the bag and place where you want it. If placed down dry and the whole thing just wet down, the resulting hard concrete looking globs will flake and flake until nothing is left.

IMHO - novel but bad idea

[Joseph Meehan]

Interesting idea, but you would still need a foundation if you expected it to be stable, and I doubt if you will get the even wetting of the contents of the bag to allow the kind of strength it would need for the first delivery truck, which even if the bag would support it, would flip when a wheel hit an edge.

Of course you also have the problem of the expense. Delivered concrete in the quality needed for a drive is cheaper than bagged concrete.

[mark Ranusley]

i think you should do it. right after your term at the state looney bin is up.

[mark Ranusley]

The kids must be out of school for the summer.

[jim]

they do this when piling the bags of concrete next to a levee to stop the erosion of the levee bank... after they put the concrete bags down they just put the hose on them and let them stay there..... probably rock hard... but no one is going to drive a car over them..... i would hate to think of what your driveway would look like when it sets up... bet you would then have to pull this mess up and start over again... no one cares what the levee work looks like as long as it works and no it does not look like textured coral blocks........ it looks like old bags of concrete that need to be cleaned up.....

[Robert A. Barr]

I think you should consult with Jeff Foxworthy.

[Muff]

Depending on what the trailer house looks like might be an improvement. Muff

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on 26 Jul 2003 07:36:16 -0700 [e-mail] posted:

They seem to think it won't work.

But I thought you'd be interested in the steel mill I used to work at. When they had to add 50 or 100 pounds of magnesium or something to a heat of molten steel, they would just throw the whole bag in. I think everyone reacts to that the first time they see it.

Meirman

If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter.

Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

[Doug Miller]

It won't. The reasons have already been pointed out by others. I won't bother repeating them.

And this is relevant to concrete exactly how?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Save the baby humans - stop partial-birth abortion NOW

[Trent©]

It would probably work.

Two things to consider, though...

1. The bags are round at the sides. You'll have quite an open space on each side of the bags.

1. The paper itself will soon deteriorate over time.

2. It'll look like crap!

P.S. There are 3 kinds of people in the world...those who can count...and those who can't.

Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

[ameijers]

I've seen canal embankments and hill stabilization done that way down south. They don't use paper bags, though- they put the drymix in bags made of the black poly or nylon fabric stuff used for tree balls and such. Paper can blow out as the water is being applied, and usually has some waterproofing layers that would prevent even watering of the mix.

aem sends...

[dennis]

Ive been thinking the same thing recently, for a driveway in the mountains.....did you do it and did it work?

[invalid unparseable]

Concrete must be mixed with appropriate amount of water to set properly. If you hose down a bag of unopened dry concrete, the bag of dry concrete will be waterlogged and the concrete inside the bag will cure in many separate portions over different time period. Those separately cured concrete portions inside the bag will not bond to each other. You will end up with a bag of crumbly concrete.

Cement curing is a chemical process. Separately cured concrete blocks will not bond to each other. That's why when building a hydro dam or a grain silo, the concrete must be properly mixed with water and then continuously poured into the form over many, many days. If the latest layer of concrete is allowed to cure completely before the next layer is poured, then there will be a permanent crack in that part of the concrete because the cured cement in the concrete mix will not form chemical bonds with the cement in the next layer of concrete.

Here is the basic concept:

Continuous poured, continuously formed, or slipform construction

[invalid unparseable]

Concrete must be mixed with appropriate amount of water to set properly. If you hose down a bag of unopened dry concrete, the bag of dry concrete will be [airlocked] and the concrete inside the bag will cure in many separate portions over different time period. Those separately cured concrete portions inside the bag will not bond to each other. You will end up with a bag of crumbly concrete.

Cement curing is a chemical process. Separately cured concrete blocks will not bond to each other. That's why when building a hydro dam or a grain silo, the concrete must be properly mixed with water and then continuously poured into the form over many, many days. If the latest layer of concrete is allowed to cure completely before the next layer is poured, then there will be a permanent crack in that part of the concrete because the cured cement in the concrete mix will not form chemical bonds with the cement in the next layer of concrete.

Here is the basic concept:

Continuous poured, continuously formed, or slipform construction

[auks]

Or maybe the dry pour technique?

[invalid unparseable]

Fast forward to 18:15 (the crack test) and you can see you are wasting your money on your concrete if you use the dry pour technique.

DRY POUR CONCRETE (YES OR NO)? Part 1 (Mike Haduck)

Part 2 (how to mix concrete properly)

[Capt'n Butler]

It's actually *cement* that needs to be mixed with sand, aggregate and water which then cures into concrete.

Many folks use the terms cement and concrete interchangeably out of ignorance

[invalid unparseable]

Concrete is "cement + sand + gravel". Concrete is still called concrete when it is dry and premixed in the bag. That's what you buy in Home Depot. It's called concrete.

Cement is the glue in the concrete mix, which uses a chemical process to bind the sand and gravel together in the presence of water. The water disappears after the concrete has cured. It is still "cement + sand + gravel" inside the cured concrete, just like it was before mixing with water.