The TRUTH About Dry Pour vs Wet Pour Concrete!! Strength Test - You WON'T Believe the results!!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มี.ค. 2024
- Dry Pour Concrete has been the craze lately on social media and testing has not been done to show its true strength compared to standard wet pour concrete. In this video we dive into everything you need to know about dry poured concrete and whether or not its stronger then traditional wet poured concrete.
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This video has proven to me that I need a shop press machine for my wife’s cornbread!
😂
Make sure she is properly controlling the hydration for optimal results !
I am getting ready to pour a slab, can she make a batch for 4,000 dozen. :-)
😂😂😂 sounds like her cornbread is stronger than the dry pour concrete. 😂😂😂
😂
Geotechnical engineer here, my last job was in airport pavements. We test both new and existing pavements when performing construction and evaluations. There are some less industrialized countries that will dry pour patches, I’ve cored and performed split tensile tests on tens of thousands of samples, the dry pours were always laughably poor quality.
brilliant comment thanks
Is it possible that the issue is that dry pours require watering throughout the curing process, and that the curing process is extended to a much longer period of time?
Just thinking out loud
I can’t wait until this silly dry pour fad passes. Imagine with all the structural and chemical engineers for hundreds of years busting their pencil points and and asses trying to develop the best methods to make concrete, that weekend warriors armed with a trunk full of Sakrete finally cracked the code. It must be a conspiracy by the shovel and hoe industry lying to the public all these years.😊
I think someone should experiment with the time and the misting process for it to cure properly. There is got to be a sweet spot where it can give better results. And when we reach that optimal result , we can decide if it worth it for certain applications
Glad I saw this, my forms are in place for a pad for a shed. I was going to dry pour, don't think so now.
I dry poured a spillway for a farm pod. I was a bit skeptical but it has worked well and looks good. It doesn’t carry a heavy load just provides a water channel and prevents erosion
The fact that it regularly has water running over it probably helped it to fully cure and be stronger
Thank you for this. I instinctively knew “dry pouring” wasn’t good but you have proved it without a doubt.
Nope. He only proved he did an incorrect test. It was wrong on so many levels.
I am a concrete engineer. No matter what, dry cure concrete will always be considerably weaker for many reasons; however, you can increase the strength by keeping the slab flooded with water and covered for at least a week. It would be better to flood and cover for thirty days. No matter what you do, it will not ever reach even half the strength of wet pour concrete!
I agree , The water in the mix is needed to start the hydration process, as long as moisture is present in the mix it will gain strength ( slowly) , If you only sprayed the dry mix sparingly the hydration process probably stopped as the slab dried out, The Myth that concrete dries is just that, a myth, Concrete hardens because of a chemical process known as hydration . Hydration is a reaction between the water and any ad mixtures added to the mix and the chemicals makeup of the cement powder. Typically more water is added to the mix than is needed for hydration but the excess is needed for workability ( handling/placing and finishing) Its also a good idea to tap on the forms or vibrate the mix to remove excess air voids . Next time do your dry slab by misting the surface and after it reaches an initial set ( maybe 24 hrs) move it into a tub of water or other location where moisture is sufficient to saturate the slab so it can have enough water to hydrate the cement in the mix, . Also after each time you mist it cover it with plastic to trap the moisture in the mix so it doesn't dry out. . Happy Easter :-) Ps cure your slabs 28 days for optimum curing time.
@@btpearce WOW! You must write for Bob Villa!
@@Carl_Jr No, But I take that as a complement. I worked for the Materials and Testing Division of NC DOT for 35 years, I use to teach the Concrete Certifications Classes . I had to know a lot of in-depth concrete information to be able to do my job.
Add three bags of calcium only on hot days
That's the problem with engineers. What you don't understand is that the point of dry pour is not strength. The point is the youtube algorithm.
In the 80's we would use drypour for building decks and fences, it saved time. Then in 86 I got a job in the local cement plant and at one point worked in the lab. Cement is made by cooking limestone/marble, iron, shale together into clinker. Clinker is then cooled somewhat and ground down into a powder finer than face powder, at that point it is called cement. When you mix cement with sand and aggregates(rocks) it is concrete mix, add water and it becomes hard and is concrete.
What happens when you add water is the cement powder crystalizes. This fills tiny spaces between rocks and sand and other crystals, bonding and putting pressure in all directions and during this phase change emits heat. Once the phase change(curing) has gone thru 3 days some 80% of the strength is there, some 3 weeks later and it is at 90%. It never stops curing. HTH
Your doing the dry pour incorrectly. Dry pour still requires water, it takes 28 days for concrete to cure. Concrete will set under water and actually will be stronger. You will get excellent results with your dry pour if you keep it wet. The water must completely soak the entire pour, take your steel trowel and run it over the concrete and water will be brought to the surface if it does not then you havent applied enough water.
Dry pour ? It's just not what I would do even for a fence post.
110% correct.
@@vidxs Which leaves everyone to question how tf is having to keep a dry pour wet less work and or time spent as opposed to following the gd instructions on the gd bag? Morons...
W/C ratio. Concrete requires a specified water/cement ratio. Hydration is the chemical reaction that occurs once water is added to the cement batch. Simply misting the top surface of the dry batch does not give enough water. If no water is present, hydration does not occur. To dry pour, I agree, you must add the required water in the forms and mix it it place.
There is no way I would allow a dry pour on any project of mine (civil).
Well Hoover Dam !!
I used dry pour on a post for a pergola several years ago and had to take it down for a bigger project and it was crumbly underneath so lesson learnt
Morning show DJ here for many years... keyboard warriors disappear when something is proven opposite of what they think it would be. Even I knew what the outcome would be. Great video!
pro concrete man here....
I'm a civil engineer. We learned 40 years ago that dry pour concrete will always be very weak compared to a cured wet pour concrete mix. The difference can be 10 times stronger for wet pour, and the dry pour will have many pockets of weakness, the wet pour will be uniformly strong. Not a surprising outcome.
Yep. But I feel like we learned this 2,040 years ago.
Then again, I don't know exactly what you meant by we.
We humans
We the people
We civil engineers (not me)
We jolly good few
We dastardly do-gooders (this is me!)
We-irdos (also me)
Love the spelling
Isn't civil engineering for all of the engineering student who couldn't do math?
@@yadda333 aren't comments like this from people who have an educational deficit?
Hmmm, I graduated from college 40 years ago. For some reason, I think those lowly civil engineers (I was in the mechanical eng program) knew the correct way to mix concrete then.
This is why the teaching of basic science is still so critical.
1 outta 6 American's believe the Earth may be flat. Sleep well.
This comment is true.
Science is exactly the answer.
I loved this video as a learning tool, and I agree that basing knowledge on science is critical, but he would have learned more, more quickly, and more reliably by researching the subject on line than testing it himself.
This is not basic science, its ongoing research.
wow thank you for taking the time to fill the internet with real information! priceless
This is exactly the test I have been telling people they need to do to see the real strength difference. Thanks.
Was really considering a dry pour for my shed build but after your video I'm sticking to the wet pour. Thank you it was a very educational video.
I wouldn’t chance that either
I was thinking the same thing just now
Look into the addition of basalt fibers in addition to rebar if you want to turbocharge crack resistance.
@actionanimations4879 Rebar doesn't prevent cracks, it adds strength. Concrete always cracks that's what control joints are for.
What time and labor do people think they are saving by dry pouring?
Awesome. Thank you.
Btw .. when you breathe in concrete dust it turns back into concrete, you're dry pouring your lungs and your sinus cavity. 🤣
Mask up, brother!
You breath in cement dust not concrete, so it turns into what is basically limestone in any body fluids.
Doesn’t work quite that way but appreciate the sentiment.
My uncle worked in concrete for years and didn't wear a mask. He ended up needing a lung transplant. Mask up is right.
Just look up Silicosis.
i was yelling during the clip of him cutting them and once all thr dust cleared you could see his bare face 😳
I'd never even heard of 'dry pour' concrete until a few weeks ago. I guess this video explains why in my 48 years in the UK I've never seen it done.
Thank you I’ve always wondered about those been interested in the results. Very informative thank you.
I’m in concrete many years and definitely knew the results even though I have never done what you did to test it, I have my definite instincts that it would be crumbly by what happens to a bag of concrete after it gets rained on. But you are the man! For making a video and doing the test. Bravo 👏
Dry pour fills the gap between dirt and concrete. It's great for fence and pole barn posts if not stressed for a week or 2 and you pour water in the holes.
@@Bob_Adkins hey Bob, I found putting concrete around wood or metal poles tends to rot, even treated, so I soak it in used motor oil first and it’s been keeping them solid.
@@Xrpurple Yep, done that, seems to work. Lately though, I put a handful of copper sulphate in each hole, it acts as a strong algicide/fungicide and also discourages roots and termites.
@@Bob_Adkins sure its great to have week posts.
@@Xrpurple 55 gallon drum half full of creosote does the trick. Let your posts soak for a week then dry for a week. They'll outlast you.
I'm glad to see the experiment completed, but can't see how anyone would have predicted a different outcome. The strength of the concrete comes from the cement and water being mixed in and helping everything stick together. There's a reason why you don't see manufacturers recommending it. Dry pour concrete is like baking a cake without mixing the ingredients together. You get similar undesirable results. Thanks for demonstrating what a bad idea this is.
Great analogy to baking a cake
There was some home improvement dude on youtube a few months ago that was insisting it's fine to dry pour for walkways and stuff, kept doubling down
My woman makes a "dump cake" that's made kinda like dry pour. It's genuinely delicious
like a traditional scone, yuck, unless you like to chew powder, un done bits.
I like scones that have been "ruined' with proper mixing then baking.
And yet, Hoover Dam was entirely done as dry pour. When the engineering is right, it works.
I have poured a few slabs in my 60 years and without any doubt wet cement is superiour to dry. Concrete was made to be poured wet.
I'm so glad you did this & showed it! I was thinking of doing this for a couple of projects, & now there's no way in hell I'd use a dry pour for anything important.
Thank you; very much appreciated!!👍
Great video! I watched a few of the dry pour videos and figured it was the easy way to do an inferior job. BTW, please wear a respirator while cutting concrete. The powder causes major problems to your lungs over time.
Yes, please! I was thinking the same thing as I watched the growing cloud of silica-bearing dust. Or better yet, wet saw it and still wear a respirator.
Thank you, even the holding your breath method doesn't work. And we are talking respirator too, not a useless dust mask.
Use a wet saw.
There's a reason no professional concrete finishers do dry pour, you wouldn't want mortar or grout that had moisture in it, if it cures at different times as in some parts were exposed to moisture in the bag and were lumpy while other parts were dry powder they would not bond right. You are essentially drying it in layers that will not bond together correctly and the first layer will somewhat properly cure while shielding the center section and bottom from getting enough water to properly cure.
I work in the cement manufacturing business. There is a lot of science and engineering that goes into the process from extraction at the mine all the way through to the finish cement product that is all based on the product being used in a wet pour. Concrete which is 17% cement is also designed specifically for a wet pour to maximize strength. Cement and concrete could be designed for a dry pour by changing its chemical composition and ingredients, but almost all big projects are easier to build using the wet pour/pumping process. Only small projects benefit from the dry process.
@@goofyjumperthat's an interesting take, if accurate; and, as I'm less than a layman, I have no foundation (cement joke) to argue counter. But, it does seem that if what you're saying about the benefit being only for "small" projects, then virtually all bags could be mixed for dry pours as they are almost certainly all used in "small" projects.
Maybe someone should market an additive to mix in with a standard concrete bag to adjust it for dry pour method
@@jurban7998or maybe you follow the manufacturer instructions and stop trying to cut corners 😂
@@jurban7998 The reduction in strength was HUGE, the dry pour doesn't have 1/4 the strength of the wet pour. If you mix the concrete more than the minimum, you will increase the strength even more due to evaporation of ( a slight) excess water, and more thorough distribution of the water and chemicals in the mix, causing a more complete setting of the mix.
Thank you for making this video. It's good that someone finally performed a thorough test to put to rest any idea of using this method for anything I'd be driving across or putting any kind of weight on.
I knew it was too good to be true. Thanks for pointing out the flaw before I poured a dry slab.
We used to sort of mix in place, pouring the concrete around poles, wetting it, then packing it in with a 2x4, then adding more concrete, wetting it, packing it, in lifts of about 2 inches. We'd finish to the top of the square form we used around the pole tops, then strike off, wet, and float. It looked good and we never had any failure issues, but I'm now the lab qualification manager for a state road department and I have learned a LOT more about concrete from out stuctures engineers, our lab managers and technicians, and I'm qualified for C39 which is the concrete compression test. It's fascinating how much strength varies with the % of water used in the mix and proper curing.
Done the same on setting fence post at the ranch. Hole, dry pour, wet, dry pour wet and set.
Gotta love data, it doesn’t lie! After watching this, I don’t know if I would ever do a dry pour for anything, not even a stepping stone. There is just not enough integrity ! Thanks for doing this test and sharing! Kinda like a myth-buster episode, without the explosions! 😮
I've seen other tests that would disagree. But the methodology and material differed.
That said, I wouldn't vouch that it's as strong as a wet pour.
Unless you are walking elephants on the stepping stones, dry pour would probably suffice.
Perhaps you were viewing fraudulent videos. @@TimGallant
Great video - thank you! I always wondered about this and always thought that there was no way the dry pour could be as good as a wet pour. The delivery of moisture to the curing compound is not consistent and uniform even if you mist it very uniformly. With wet pour you're mostly guaranteed to get everything wet and the chemical reaction will occur correctly. Great video!
Fantastic video! Thanks for the information 👍
Thanks for doing this. I've responded to some of these DIY dry pour videos. Concrete curing is a chemical reaction that is dependent on the proper ratios of concrete mix and water. The chemical reaction bonds the concrete particles and stones together by generating heat that is uniform throughout the slab (as long as the correct ratio of water is MIXED in) and is critical to the slab reaching its potential PSI rating. Dry pour, even under the best circumstances, will only ever reach a small fraction of the mixes rated PSI.
He used 4000psi mix and the test went over 2 tons. Sounds like they all exceeded their PSI ratings
@@trevorturk7473 yeah except the force was distributed over an area greater than 1 sq inch. It was distributed over the surface area of the ram. I am not sure what the ram diameter is on his press, but if it is 2" diameter ram, then it's area would be 4*pi, which is over 12 sq inches.
I’ve been waiting for a pressure test on dry pour. Thanks!
Came out exactly the way I figured it would, thanks for proving this😊
THANK YOU!! I was looking into doing some concrete work for a personal project. I had considered doing a dry pour. Now I know better.
Thank you for definitively proving for us what I had always suspected. Great video.
It looked to me like the dry pour did not get enough moisture in the initial wetting to cure cohesively. From what I've seen in the dry pour videos, they mist once or twice to bind the top layer, then begin flooding it several times to wet the entire slab at once for full curing. Perhaps it was so weak due to the method of wetting done during the dry pour. It certainly did look like the slab was not completely cured due to lack of wetting, hence the color and crumbliness of the mix.
Finally someone who realizes the error.
AlAmantea,
It seems that your are a dry pour apologist.
Excusing dry pour weakness because of inadequate "wetting" is nonscence. What exactly is adequate "wetting" of a dry pour? Are there some secret directions somewhere?
Face it, the dry pour process is clearly inferior--it will never have "adequate wetting" and is the reason dry pour will always be weaker than a wet pour. Somehow the dry pour advocates don't believe in the properties of concrete and fail to comprehend how the correct chemical process is essential to concrete strength.
How can you even call "dry pour" a "pour"; it is more like a dump and spread followed by an undetermined amount of "wetting". "Dry dump and pour will never obtain "adequate wetting"--it is clearly a feature of the dry process.
"Dry dump and pour" may be "easier" than wet pour in the first steps, but it then requires wetting every hour or so for days and days and days so it enables the chemical reaction and begins the curing cycle.
With wet pour there isn't any issues with curing as the concrete mixture obtains the necessary water prior to pouring it. Hence with the concrete correctly mixed with water and cures it is real concrete. The "Dry dump and spread" will never produce actual concrete, it will just be crumbly sand, rocks, and Portland cement.
And finally, the appearance of "Dry dump and spread" will never equal the finish of wet pour. The lazy "dry dump and spread" will always reflect pour workpersonship.
THANKS KOMAR! GREAT VID!
Back in the 70's, Popular Science had an article on what they called "stabilized dirt" where some places in California were dry mixing cement and a couple of inches of dirt together from the path they were working and spraying it. Seemed to work great for walking trails. I did the same to part of an alley easement where the trash bags were placed and it worked really good compared to the previous mud. Drove the truck over it by accident trying to get a long trailer in a skinny driveway and not unexpectedly, it cracked very badly. I have just started seeing people doing dry pour whatever recently and thought "not for me, thanks. been there, done that." Thank you for taking the time to prove it up, this should help some people make the right decision for the right application.
Of course you know, all of those who've done dry pours for slabs in a shop, garage or whatever will be losing sleep after seeing this video.
Good info.
LOL
And that there is why I've never dry poured concrete
Anyone who did a shop floor or garage slab with dry pour deserves to not sleep, this is just a ridiculous debate, I have been in construction all my life and never seen anyone use dry pour.
@@H43339 LOL me neither , probably became a thing due to people's laziness and impatience
@@H43339 Lmao. The only use I could see for it was if one needed a light-duty, temporary slab for whatever. It could be easily broken up at a later time.
I didn't have any plans to use dry pour, but thank you for providing me with armour against anyone trying to persuade me that it's a good idea.
So you gonna let one test persuade you? Do you even realize that not every brand of concrete reacts the same to the dry pour method? Of course you don't because you saw ONE TEST on one brand of concrete and think this is the definitive TEST.
@@rotaryperfection what about the comments from all the experts, and engineers in the thread who have done decades of testing.
@bigdaddy4691 You ever think of the possibility of them being AGAINST this due to them potentially loosing buisness? That's why you DIY to test yourself. Everyone keeps doing the dry pour the same way as the original creators. I did a compacted version and its strong and NOT brittle. I poured a 4x4 to mount a manuel tire changer and the anchor bolts haven't budged in the year since I've done that pad. That changer outs a HUGE load on those bolts while changing tires. I also didn't just sprinkle water on the surface the way everyone else is doing. I MEASURED the correct amount from all the bags I used to insure the correct ratio. Dry pour can be done in many ways so EXPERTS cant claim anything against it until all methods used to dry pour are exhausted.
@@rotaryperfection hahaha, yeah, it's a conspiracy....backed by science. Do you create a solution that will crystalize when you dry pour? No. Do you create a solution that will crystalize together when you wet pour? Yes. I have done both. I still use dry pour for fence posts or other things I know will eventually need to be replaced because the dry pour will be easier to break. You also used a method covered by a concrete engineer 2 comments below.
@bigdaddy4691 Do you know this concrete engineer PERSONALLY? Didn't think so. Are you the type to believe any anonomous poster on YT who isn't brave enough to show their face? Didn't see that coming did you? See, on YT, you can be whatever you want to be. I know what results I personally got, and my anchors are FULLY secured. Why aren't my anchors pulling out if the method is supposed to be so brittle? I find it funny how you 100% IGNORED my personal results to focus on conspiracy and some so called ENGINEER 2 post down. That could be a freaking YT post BOT for all we know.
THANKS FOR THE VIDEO!!
I had seven large steel fence posts to install on my property. The holes were large and deep, and I was tempted to dry pour. A couple of knowledgeable people told me to just mix all the concrete and do a wet pour. Glad I listened to them.
Awesome video and you got yourself a new subscriber! I was going to do a dry pour for my backyard slab due to all the TH-cam videos on dry pour. Thanks for saving me
I'll admit I've done dry pour many times around post (never nothing structural) but after watching this I'll never do another dry pour again, on anything.
Thanks for sharing the video, you answered one of the age old questions.👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you're doing it again with a completely cured bit of the dry built.
Thanks for doing this experiment!! I was seriously thinking about doing the dry pour method for a driveway!! You just saved me 1000s!!!!
As I saw it, you had no idea how much water was added to the dry pour, whereas my bet is you mixed the wet pour with water per mfg. recommendation.
Nice follow up from the original video, thx 😊
I worked as the QC in a precast concrete factory many years ago and later studied civil engineering. I literally had no idea anyone would 'dry pour' even a basic concrete slab due to the inherent weaknesses highlighted in this video. Thank you for the video.
I'm glad I watched this, thank you. I'll probably continue dry pour for fence posts, but mix for anything that "shows".
buddy~!! the aggregate in concrete is loaded with silica and you are liberating a ton of it. You gotta protect your lungs. In my business (law) There is an expression: "Silica; the next Asbestos." The stuff gets in the lings and doesn't come out so the damage is compounded with each dose.
So what you're saying is, keep breathing it in because it will be your future retirement plan when the class actions start?
@@johndorian4078 I don't think that's the correct take away
@@johndorian4078if you were to meet the requirement for a class action about silica dust, you won't be alive for it.
Yeah, what Raul wrote.
You got that backwards. Silica and silicosis was the main killer of people who worked with stone since ancient Egypt. It was only after silicosis was brought under control between the world wars that people realized that asbestos was also bad.
Glad to see the mixer i bought last fall won't go to waste
Definetly not.
Speaking of which, need a new friend? I can help you keep the lube dispersed in those bearings! Seriously, I don't mind at all...
I'm good at dispersing other lubes too! 😉
Thank you for this video.
Thk you, this is good & wil definitely help to change a few minds.
Great video, thanks for sharing some good data.
Great video! I have no idea why anyone was doing a dry pour in the first place. Pretty soon they'll probably be eating raw chicken because cooking it is too much work.
That is the raw foods diet and has been around for a while and yes it includes raw meat though many on it are vegetarians.
Why do anything hard? Tightening all the bolts on my car's wheels is too much work. I only finger tighten them. Look at all the time/effort I have saved. Who's the jammy bastard now?
We were served raw chicken in Osaka, Japan. We didn’t eat that course, but the locals did.
They are doing it because in most cases that's all the strength you need. and it's a lot cheaper. and easier to remove for temporary uses.
@@johndorian4078 it will fall apart a lot sooner so that's a huge disadvantage, I do agree about temporary uses but I have never heard of someone using concrete for a temporary purpose nor can I think of a situation where it would be used for one.
Thanks for the time you put in this no nonsense video. I was lucky enough to see your last video, forgot about the follow up and just stumbled upon it. There was never any doubt in my mind that taking the lazy way out would produce an inferior product and your test proved that. All these people cheerleading for a dry pour are the typical contractors that simply want to cut labor cost for their gains while they screw the customer. If you didnt add "enough" water and concrete never "stops" curing then set them both outside and we'll see the outcome prove itself again in 6-12 more months!
Thank you! That's pretty much exactly how I thought it would go in my head.
Great experiment. Thanks for the trouble you took and for the video you put up.
Finally somebody to verify what I have believed all along. I've seen so many videos proclaiming dry pour is just as good as wet pour they almost had me thinking maybe my thought process is not correct.
Ya I don't trust youtubers at all. Though I do pick up tricks from them. They crowd source people for the next hot trick, I crowd source youtubers, so my next hot tricks are curated. I use youtubers similar to a coffee filter!
There's tons of bad info out there though. As a professional in the industry, I can often spot issues.
One cool trick I've found recently is the superglue and activator trick. I use it for so much now! No more nailing cleats for my hardwood or using hot glue. I can glue tabs on transition pieces to keep the surface of floor transitions perfectly flush. Same for stair treds. Today I used it to temporarily glue a straight edge perfectly level setup at the height I want to make the perfect cut in the perimeter of a deck. (I'm changing the elevation/slope to meet code)
My newest tool is the stabila tech 196 dl digital level. $356. It's a dream to use. I was able to establish my perfect 2 degree slope, get my perimeter flushed to level, and set another slope off that slope @ 90 degrees to keep a staircase step level across the top. I'm going to install some venetian tile flush with the perimeter.
most us rednecks never claim its "just as good" we slap the "it will do" label on it, cause it was less work and will do what we wanted it to do.
Great video!
Thank you for clearing this up
I've been doing a hybrid of these two methods for decades, it's easy and it gives results that look and apparently perform like wet pour. I mix in place. Just fill the form with premix, wet it well with just about as much water that you would use for mixing and use a shovel in a vertical chopping motion for just a few minutes to mix then finish the top. Works great, is faster, a lot easier and has less cleanup than a wet pour. I have slabs that I have made with this method that I've driven fully loaded pickup trucks over and they've held up perfectly.
short cuts. . .
I think that the outcome will differ depending on how much water you use. With a wet mixture, there is more control.
Yes he should test your method
Yeppers! Not too much water though! Consolidation and even distribution! Smart! : ) Be Safe
Would you drive an 80,000 simi truck over it like a wet poured slab.
Thank you very much. I certainly won't be living in a high-rise apartment building that used dry pour.
Excellent public service announcement! Thank you.
I knew it! Thanks for proving it
Over the years I have done a few dry pours and it takes months if not years for them to fully cure. Dry pours also heavily rely on absorbing moisture from the ground. It will never be as strong but these are weaker then they should be.
So we should wait longer than 30 days for full strength? To me that seems a little excessive vs standard concrete. But everyone can do what they want.
@@brandonm9359there's a reason people usually only do dry pours with fence posts. I had no choice when I did the few pours I did.
@@revtoyotaI don't understand why anybody would think dry pour is as strong. If you ever seen concrete get wet in the bag and then harden would know.
@@roscoeshepard Check that same bag after 5 years outside.
It makes sense. There is no way for water to fully seep down into the bottom of the pour, so it doesn’t get wet enough.
Seems pretty definitive to me! Thanks!!!
The problem is the dry pour is just not getting enough water to complete the chemical transformation
Seems like top is curing and sealing off the center from proper amount of water, if doing a dry pour I would put an inch to 1.5 layer of Crete then add recommended amount of water then repeat till form is full, should be wet all the way thru slab and be almost same as a wet pour, only difference would be wet pour is getting particles moved around and mixed up, but 80 pound bags are mixed so they just need water all the way thru
You're doing the internet community of DIYers a great service!
I hope this gets in front of as many eyes as possible before they venture down the road of doing a dry pour. If you come across any of those hyped-up dry pour videos, it sure makes you think it’s viable. This proves in a way a layperson can understand, it’s not the way to go. Thank you!
I think the application matters. If you are building a pad for your AC unit like he did in the earlier videos the dry pour is more than strong enough. Similarly, if you are making a small concrete patio outside your home a dry pour (with some hogwire mesh) is again going to be plenty strong. Neither slab will ever experience a couple thousand pounds PSI of pressure.
@@RandomGuyDan yep, I dry poured a big slab to park my lawncare truck on so the city stopped screaming at me for parking in my grass/backyard. its held up well and I didnt give one lick if it looked good/pretty, it had one job, keep the city off my butt.
@@RandomGuyDan I wouldn’t. Any vibration from the AC later in its life (yes, it can happen) could soon cause crumbling in that sub-standard base.
The first couple of waterings should be light mist. After that, drench it with water. It needs to absorb about a gallon of water per bag used.
Yep, he didn't do this. not enough water.
I quit watching the video... he sounded to bias at the beginning of the video. I didn't see the pressure gauge on camera when he went to the dry pour, so I stopped watching..... thought there might be a reason he wasn't showing it. Maybe he did later, but I also don't think he did the dry pour method right, either.
@@blythdunlap8408 he said he did the misting too heavy... people having been doing dry pour for fence posts forever and making retaining walls out of bags forever... I left some mortar mix intended to be used for a shower pan in the bag, not even concrete, left out in the driveway for years and it's as hard as a rock and is now used to weight down our portable basketball hoop, never even watered it, it just got rained on during rainy season in socal... hard as stone
@@blythdunlap8408 I don't have a side in this ongoing debate but there certainly did seem to be a bias out of the gate and the test was anything but scientific when he admits to not using the correct amount of water at the start. What's the point of bothering to test if you didn't do it right in the first place?
YES, come back down the road !
THank you!!! this is a much needed video to prove to these people that are trying to build a house slab or driveway, that dry pour is weaker.
Curious if you only misted the dry pour or if you did the soaking that I've seen as required after the top surface has cured? It looks like not enough water was used. I'd expect the dry pour to be weaker than traditional concrete, but not as extreme as what your test showed, so trying to fully understand your dry pour process.
Thanks for an interesting video!
If you set concrete dry, and you soak it without then intermixing aggregate thoroughly, you will create a separation effect. Also, if you add to much water you create an integrity issue for same reason. You literally wash the aggregate away from each other. An easy test would be to put dry mux in mixing box pour water over it and let it sit. The end result will be aggregates separating from each other and not combining.
he did it wrong, he said so at the start, hence why he got a sandy darker appearance, happens when people make up their own system and not follow instructions that have worked for others
try them with a moisture meter - they look like their mositure retention is way different - setting on the mortar scale should work OK
Very informative & useful. I made decide for wet pour for my small DIY thanksa
Interesting...thanks for sharing
Really interesting and well thought out. I had always wondered, because dry pour would be so much easier! I look forward to you doing the other blocks and seeing if it just takes longer to cure. Thanks for doing this.
You validated my thoughts... Who has 6 months to wait for a slab to cure?
Concrete cures for years typically even wet pour is only at 75 to 80 percent of strength in 28 days that's why most concrete contractors tell you know heavy traffic for at least 30 days
Love your video! Great information. I would be very cautious in the future of cutting or drilling concrete dry or without dust containment or protection as Silicosis is a serious condition to deal with.
Always had my doubts anyhow about the dry stuff. Thanx for showing why.
Love your vids!!! But, please, buddy, wear a mask, your health man!!!! It's important!!
I dry pour for coops and such on the farm. I do soak it very well though. Mist the surface to get that set (maybe 3 or 4 times over a few hours) then flood every few hours for a few days. I’ll have to make my own test to compare the two (wet versus flooded dry). For my use, I’m not putting a 5 ton point load on the surface so the plate test is more representative of the usage. Fine for compression but may be weak on sheer. We’ll see.
Yes it's weaker. Dry pouring does not meet building code.
In commercial construction. Your concrete gets core sampled by a soil technician. This is your concrete inspection. If it doesn't pass, it gets demolished and replaced. You also get yelled at by the general contractor for holding up the entire jobsite.
I asked the general on a Costco job what's the fastest one has gone in. 92 days! WTF!
The soil tech is also in charge of testing soil compaction anywhere people dig. Sewer, water, gas tanks, storm water tanks, etc.
I'd really like to see your test results - I think most of these "dry pours" take the term dry too literally. I definitely think a flooding stage is necessary to even give these a chance.
@ronniekeates3349 I'm not a soil tech. I just get inspected by them for soil compaction, so I talk to them regularly.
I have seen him hauling off a box of core samples. I asked him what he was doing. He was taking the core samples to be tested.
The concrete came in on mixing trucks.
The fact is dry pouring is outside manufacturer recommended specifications in America because the specific concrete blends they create are made to be mixed wet to achieve the strength rating listed on the bag and called for by specification.
I talked with someone who works in the industry and he said dry pour concrete is done in 3rd world countries, but they blend a concrete made to do so and achieve the strength they are looking for.
@@brandonhoffman4712 Yup, at the building I worked at the shop floor was found to have major problems both due to poor soil compaction and then a bad concrete pour. Our next building on the site, the next contractor (years later) got feet held to the fire for both soil compaction (two to three re-do's to get the contract compaction number) and concrete strength. Fool me once.... How do I know? I was working in a trailer across the driveway waiting for the new building, so had to listen to the machinery going back and forth for the compaction, over and over for hours of backup beepers every day.... 😖
Awesome video! Now we know
Nicely done
I think there is a place for dry cured concrete but definitely not where you would normally place concrete.
I think using dry pour in areas prone to erosion might work.
The reason dry pour doesn't cure is inconsistent hydration and the inability to monitor the water to cement ratio.
ALL concrete has a maximum water to cement ratio that should not be exceeded. It would be almost impossible to control that with dry pour. Quantities matter.
Also, frequent misting of dry pour will expose the aggregate, which is very bad if you live in areas that freeze.
Really, for exterior concrete that resides in areas that freeze, you need air entrainment. There are no bagged concrete mixes that include air entrainment. You might be able to get some from you local Redi-mix supplier....maybe. But it is something that should be measured accurately.
My advise is that if you hope your concrete will last 50 years, you'd better get a Redi-mix truck to deliver it, especially if it's structural.
If your concrete is not that important and easily replaced, I say roll the dice and take a chance.
Personally, I use dry pour in fence post holes. I put in about 4 inches and mist the top..repeat until the hole is full.
I have also seen bags of quikcrete placed in front of bridge abutments to secure the soil...kind of a manmade riprap. After an amount of time, the bags solidify and form an erosion barrier. Works pretty well.
😊😊😊
Dude, wear a dust mask when cutting cancrete. Othe r than that, great video and instructive.
I have a 10 by 10 slab I made by dry pour 5 years ago for my tool shed. It's still going strong, looks good as new. I wouldn't build a house with it but you can do sidewalks, driveways, slabs for shed and deckings no problems. All the doubters just look at the hundreds of TH-cam videos out there.
1st-ly, I love this video comparison! 2nd, I think that I will use dry pour for all small jobs: the shed base, AC base, water pump room, anything small. I feel that the money, time, and ease of use out weigh the cons with small jobs. Now any foundational slabs for a garage, workshop, and home let go wet. Thanks for the video. PS, there are a lot of videos on dry pour and the different manufacturers don't give a whole lot of instructions. But, if you compile the instruction to make your own master list of what to do and how to work with DP, you get a winning combination. ty
I like the look of the dry pour myself.
Dry pours seem like a bad idea. By spraying the outside surface, you create a shell that resists absorption for any additional sprays.
Concrete is hygroscopic. Water wicks right through it.
Thank you for this very educational and informative video. Now I know what.
The thing that amazes me is the fact that you still see people doing the dry pour method.
The biggest reason the wet pour is stronger is the mixing that’s involved, it is ensuring that all of the concrete mix has the correct amount of water on every tiny particulate matter in it. This is the same as making a cake, you wouldn’t skip mixing the dry ingredients with the wet ones.
The only way a dry pour is going to have a chance at being strong is to have an additional form above to hold water and let it slowly drip down into the mix. It is very clear that the dry isn’t meeting the ratio required for the concrete mix.
Once concrete begins interlocking its crystal structure, it will shed more water than it will allow through.
Simply dripping water on top is not enough. Maybe if you had a system of sloped baffles, similar to those self mixing epoxy tips. And sprayed a heavy dose of water as you dropped concrete in there it might do something.
But I bet it still wouldn't pass a soil techs core sampling and testing procedures.
The dry pour would need to be wetted daily for a few days then left to cure. The process of crystal growth comes with repeated exposure to moisture. The longer its wet the stronger it gets.
Thank you. You just answered my own question about which method to use for my sidewalk.
I’m glad to see other engineers commenting and those with concrete/masonry experience. The dried placed slab is just a TH-cam/social media fad. It’s weak because of the mix segregation (you mentioned knocking stones off when screeding the dry mix) and dry cement pockets that likely will not chemically react as needed to actually cure and strengthen the concrete mix. This doesn’t even take into account the lack of air entrainment in the mix which helps prevent cracking during freeze/thaw cycles. The oxygen in water helps provide some small measure of air into the mix which helps with this. I suppose if you were constantly wetting the dry placed mix you may be able to get it close to strength, but it will still likely be very segregated and result in poor strength performance and brittleness. Thanks for the video to help the doubters out!
I've always wet-poured slabs, and pilings and post holes. And because I do, I've been ridiculed by some of my buddies who swear by the dry-pour method.... I can't wait to forward your video to them. I think a big issue with the dry pour is that the ingredients are not properly mixed as well, and that the proper amount of water doesn't get where it needs to go for the proper chemical reaction.
Well, for post holes, they're still correct. You don't need 2 tons of structure for a fence post. The ground will give before the concrete, whatever the method, and nobody will care if the edges get a little crumbly.
Depends on the soil conditions. It's not about 2 tons of structure; it's about lateral sway/weakness. In our soft, zero-rock, weak, sandy and/or muck soil, when using the weak dry-pour you can manually push the post (4X4's, 4X6's, 6X6'x 8X83s side-to-side, breaking the concrete, months after the cement is 'cured'. It requires large diameter, and deep holes for any type of post/piling. I will still use wet-pour.@@TheBrothergreen
got news for ya... it's not the water getting to where it's needed, it's the fine powdered cement and the larger particles of sand / gravel separating into layers during shipping. If everything is not evenly distributed, then it becomes weaker.
In my soil a 4in post will snap off before the dry pour breaks. Not really an intentional test, but just saying. I use a 36in deep hole 6in auger. Fairly rocky soil. A dry pour slab should be considered temporary though.
Yer on to something bud!!! On the "wet" ... you mentioned "mix" and proper amount of "water" and "chemical reaction". There's a lot going on with what you say!!! Dry-pours can be made if conditions allow and dependent on application but not favorable. Most dry-pours are incorrectly done but suffice due to application (think buried with little or no-load or sheer) and containment; regardless, some sort of mixing should happen (rodding), working out any large air-pockets and consolidation (*for even distribution). Soil types play a big role in containment, think hard-packed (density) and ability to retain moisture. Stop the chemical reaction (hydration) in any part, it's done - it won't restart! 2thumbs up! : )
Nice follow up
I am glad someone did Science on this. I’m also glad concrete engineers are commenting that dry pours are weak compared to wet pour. I have a couple slabs to do and I’m doing wet pour.
Good your showing what anyone who knows anything about concrete already knows. Dry poor will never have anywhere near the strength of properly placed concrete. Truthfully I would have bet on it crumbling. I am actually shocked it was as strong as it was.