I think I put too much water in the concrete :-(

[a]

shouldnt have been too tricky a job to concrete in a post for a washing line!

I got a bag of that ready mixed 'postcrete' - it said 'dig a hole, half fill with water then pour the mix in'. Well, I think the hole might have been a bit wide so when I poured the concrete mix in it disappeard below the water level. This was on sunday afternoon, and within half an hour or so it had gone firm but not hard. Right now, I can still stick my finger into it if I push hard enough. Will it eventually go off properly or have I buggered it up? There is enough room between the top of the concrete and the soil level to chuck another bag in (with less water!) if necessary - but I'd rather not try and hack out what I have already put in.

cheers

dave.

[Grunff]

It'll go off fine - give it a few days.

Just fill in the hole, it'll be fine.

[Michael McNeil]

I can't imagine how Grunf knows it will be fine as your message gave little in the way of times. The post reads PST as in keeping with Google's offices. (Posted Somewhere Terrestrial or Posts Show up evenTually?)

If your concrete has not hardened considerably in say 2 or 3 hours get it out now and dump it. Get some cement, some sand and some gravel and try again. The water should not have made any difference but it sounds to me like you have stirred it all up after you poured it in.

Naughty!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Pacific standard Tme. The default Home Of MicroSnot.

Bollox. Concrete will be finger soft up to 5-6 hours depending on temperature, at this time of year, and still soft after 24 hours or more in winter.

2-5 days it should be hard: Full strength a couple of weeks.

[chris French]

In message , Michael McNeil writes

Well yes, i think it is always good to put in the posting what time you mean by now, but it was posted Monday night apparently (I assume 'now' was referring to an earlier time unless the poster really was outside around midnight checking his ) He did it on Sunday afternoon, so we are talking of a good 24 hours.

This 'Postfix' type stuff is not I think ordinary concrete.

I used some recently to fix a couple of posts (and followed the instructions properly, all the water had gone) while mostly set in a few hours it was not 'hard' I could still poke my finger into it a bit if I wiggled it about.

When a I checked a gain a few days later it had set fine - I'd go with Grunff and just leave it for a bit longer.

BTW, IIRC the stuff I used said to put half in the hole, pour on water until it stopped soaking in, then add the rest and add more water until it stopped soaking in.

[Dave]

sorry, I wasnt thinking of people using google etc - and being a uk.* group I just assumed people would be in the same time zone :-)

it said it was a mix of cement, sand and aggregate?

thats about what I saw. It just said on the bag that it is supposed to go off in 15 minutes or so so you can for example put the fence panel in on the same day (if it were fence posts obviously!).

This stuff definately said fill the hole half full of water then pour the dry mix in - I thought at the time how do they know how big your hole is to get the quantities right, but I just went along with it :-) Oh well, I see what it is like when I get home tonight. It was only about UKP2.50 for the

20kg bag so its not really worth worrying about.

[chris French]

In message , Dave writes

A poor assumption - though not unreasonable - though most of us are (leastways those who post seem to be) there is at least one regular poster from Canada for one.

Oh I'm sure it's basically the same stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised to find there are other additives.

I probably could have fitted a fence panel If I had wanted to, though I wouldn't have wanted to do to much bashing about. The chap who recently did a panelled fence for me used this sort of stuff and it worked fine.

[Simon Avery]

Hello a

Nah, you're ok. Concrete will set underwater, it doesn't need to dry out. Just takes a little longer, but actually sets stronger the slower it cures.

If you didn't mix it properly though, then you're going to have a single section of hard and crumbly cement, a large pile of all-in, and your washing lying on the ground.