Something to consider. While the concrete is strong in compression, the wire mesh is for giving strength in a tension mode. The force of the soil in the bed would be such that the outside surface of the panel would be in tension. The wire mesh, to be performing its' function, should really be pushed down in the form past the center depth, closer to the outside surface, where the panel is experiencing tension. If its position is in the inner half (soil side) it is in a compression zone and not really helping. Cracks form where there is tension. That is why the rebar in a "pre-stressed concrete beam" used in bridge building, is placed in the lower part of the beam (as it sits in position in a bridge) where the tension from the load overhead is experienced.
100% correct, the mesh will hold it together and may stop some cracks opening but the outside half is where the mesh needs to go. You may be better with more fiber (3%) and no mesh as the mesh needs to be where the insert is.
You know what I enjoy about your videos? - You're scientific approach to experimentation and testing. - Your detailed explanations of each step to make it easy for others to repeat your process. - Your soft-spoken, refined narration. That last one really gets me. So many tool and home-improvement and DIY channels are just boorish oafs cursing while they fumble their way through a project for entertainment value. You, on the other hand, provide a sophisticated alternative that is on-par with some of my favorites like DIY Perks and Clickspring.
hello friend, my name and Carlos and i live in Brazil, i have been following your videos and the stress tests on aircrete concrete, i want to congratulate you for sharing all your effort in transmitting all this experience, thank you very much, i have a suggestion if you are interested, you can do with two layers, a first thin layer of pure cement and a second one using foamed concrete, I believe that this would allow a piece with a more resistant front to the lawn mower and at the same time a light piece, thanks friend and congratulations.
I like your channel... I dont know if you have seen this guys channel yet but he has done so much testing with all types of aircrete that he started making alot of things with it too. its an addicting channel to see too. check it out. here is his channel: th-cam.com/channels/ApbVsMQ2oO0WlW3BHC1mVw.html and here is an example of his vids too.: th-cam.com/video/MXs-tqfCSX0/w-d-xo.html
I have been following your garden box videos as they are published. Thank you for taking the time to make the panels and publish the results, it should save a lot of people a lot of wasted time. The thing that I have been considering, since your first video, is to encase foam board in the cement panel. This would allow for a hard, more dense surface, and a lighter weight added in the interior where it would be less likely to affect the durability. From my research, it is suggested that the foam be perforated at several spots where the cement can connect through the foam and join both sides. I saw this in a counter top video where they used foam board as a core. If you are looking for another option, this is one I would like to see. Again, thanks for your time and diligence in making this information available.
You are so thorough, i didn't realize you did all these miniature series branching off into experimenting with different types and mixtures. But i never thought aircrete was worthy, knowing the only reason it is so light is because it lacks the thing that makes it concrete, meaning it is weak, and has no durability. But watching you do these different experiments confirms my suspicions, but at the same time open up the possibility that aircrete could be worthy given enough experimenting and mixing procedures.
My neighbor had a business making cement mix insulating and structural tongue and groove panels for exteriors of houses and small buildings when I was a kid. He used vermiculite (a heat puffed mica granular insulation) as an aggregate in a cement mix with reenforcing mesh, very similar to what you are doing. His panels were about 4" thick by 8' long by 16" wide, as I recall. One strong man could move (drag) or set upright a panel when building walls, although it was usually done with two guys. THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS FLOAT ABOUT 1/2 OF AN INCH OF REGULAR CEMENT INTO THE FORM, to form a harder, more impervious outer cement skin on what would be the exterior side of his panels. Then, when that had "gelled" a while, he set the reenforcing mesh on what would be the inside of this harder skin and poured in the (lighter than water when cured and dried!) vermiculite aggregate concrete mix until the form was full. I do not know if this insulating concrete mix was "air entrained" like yours, but suspect it was. We used to amaze our little friends by building toy concrete BOATS which would float from scraps of these panels (the light back sides after we cut or scraped off the hard concrete faces)...
@@bsimpson6204 Knowing what I know now, I'd have made those panels with a hard skin and a single layer of reenforcing mesh on BOTH sides of a central, lightweight, insulating, air entrained + lightweight aggregate concrete core. Kind of like an I beam or engineered floor joist...
@@Bert2368 Thanks for the chiming in. Great reminders for me, as I'd heard of using a harder layer that will become the face, less dense layer for the core and I believe it was for a DIY stone veneer. (However, the concern of adequate adhesion between the two layers immediately come to mind, but perhaps it's baseless.) I had also heard about using vermiculate, but had forgoten about that technique as well! . Maybe Kent @man about tools will try a couple batches with your suggestions. I absolutely love how he keeps at refining the process/recipe while sharing his findings! If you're seeing this Kent, kudos good sir--your efforts and approach to updating your channel are certainly appreciated!
@@michaelz6870 I think you could use some wire reinforcing strips like Kent does, but bend them in a V or W shape and partially press them into the face layer with about half the wire sticking out. This should give a good tie between the two layers to keep the face from spalling off.
Thank you for all your clear concise explanations and your willingness to try viewer suggestions. This is an experiment I had wanted to see for a long time.
A neat trick if you ever make a panel that you want to have sunlight or other source come through is to have fiber optic glass lined up to be through the sides of the slab. You will need to clean the ends but you get light-through walls.
I think Aircrete Harry's experience with sand would bear out your suspicions. For him, it made the Aircrete brittle and crumbly. Thanks for the informative videos.
Just a thought. Try pouring regular concrete into your mold first in the area where you want increased durability. Then fill out the balance of the mold with the aircrete. You gain the strength where you need it and still get much or most of the weight reduction.
Thank you so much for going through all of these different permutations. I am going to be building my own raised garden this spring and I hope to give your concrete panels a try. I was thinking about ways to improve the durability of the aircrete after your third video showed that it wasn't going to stand up to the string trimmer. My thought is to pour a hard wear strip for just the lower outside part of each panel using a full strength mix. This should keep the panel lighter than if you had a full density layer over the entire front of the panel as other have recommended. I think this could be done with some temporary coffers between the raised centerboard and the short sides to hold the concrete in just the lower section of each panel. A strip of wire bent into V or W pressed partially into the wear strip with a portion of the wire exposed would tie the wear strip to the rest of the panel and keep it from spalling off after going through the freeze/thaw cycles of winter. Then when the mix is set enough to hold its shape, remove the coffers and fill the rest of the panel with aircrete. The surface finish will be different between the two sections, but with a clear separation of the two mixes that might look OK. Or add color to one of the mixes or different colors to each mix to make the difference surface texture to just be another part of a larger difference. I was thinking how to do the two week cure in water since I don't have an old bathtub. My thinking is that I could make a shallow 4'x4' basin in the place I am going to put the raised bed (since killing the grass in that place will be a feature rather than a bug) by forming earthen berms around the periphery and then line it with a 6'x6' tarp free of holes. The panels would lie flat in the bottom and I would fill the basin with lime water and cover with a second tarp. The trick of course will be getting a tarp for the bottom that doesn't leak.
I wonder if you lined the casts with a light fibreglass cloth, then poured the cement mix in whether that would allow you to really reduce the cement or CSA cement ratio to foam ratios and still survive the line trimmer test?
Just came across your channel. Great idea and well presented. Have you tried using 2 mixes. Adding small amount of more durable mix then topping up with lighter mix. Thanks for the inspirational videos. Will have to try this.
Thanks for doing these videos - they are very well presented and instructive. I think any erosion at all from the trimmer would be an issue in the medium to long term. Would it be possible to make some panels with a hard lower face of regular concrete to resist the trimmer and then a light areo mixture for the rest which would not be subject to the trimmer. You would then have durability just where it's needed on the lower outer face with the remaining 70-80% made of an even lighter mix. It would be like face hardened steel. I wonder if it would delaminate or warp.
To my knowledge, CSA cement shouldn’t require a long curing time nor an extended water bath. Look up CementAll instructions to verify. I can usually demold within an hour or two and it’s ready to use right away. I keep it wet until all the heat is gone and occasionally mist with water for the next few days but I don’t know if that’s necessary. Thanks for your videos, I’m really enjoying this series!
I tripped over this video when trying to find out about CSA curing th-cam.com/video/RcSoA-iC1GM/w-d-xo.html CSA is a different animal than Portland cement. I think you're right about not needing the extended water bath. If I understand correctly, the bath was probably the primary reason the outer layer was damaged by the weed trimmer. Whether that was primarily due to the length of time in the bath or the solution itself, the video leads one to believe it was detrimental. I'm still looking for information about spray on curing compounds for CSA. It needs something to seal the surface, protecting it from drying, for at least a couple of days. Beyond that, I suspect it would be better for it to dry in a cool shady location.
If you go back to Part 4 of this series, the straight RapidSet Mortar Mix panel was 40% lighter than standard concrete (~36lb for 3ft panel)....this CSA/Foam mix here is 52% lighter (~28.8 lbs, 7.2 lighter than Mortar Mix), but also seems to be much less durable and more work to create with the foam. Around here, the Cement All is about $6 more expensive than the Mortar Mix ($23.57), but you only use 15# in this lighter mix ($6.42 in Cement All vs $17.47 for a full bag of Mortar Mix)...so there is a cost-saving in the cement of around $1.84 per foot in this lighter foam mix. I will have to do the cement mix math on making multiples of 4ft panels because I have standardized my system with 4ft x 12 ft beds, so all my drip irrigation and weed barrier with precut plant holes are interchangeable across the garden. But I also mulch pathways around all my beds and don't weed whip much up against them.
This series has been really fun to follow! I noticed how light the panel was when you easily moved it with one hand at about the 8:57 mark. Such a smart design. It's like watching "behind the scenes" of product development. We are all eager for you to WIN this competition you challenged yourself with. Can't wait - in it to win it! :D
I havent got completely thru this series nit will offer a tip if you havent used it in further videos. When working in the bricklaying industry, we were the first in our area to use a round pumice stone mixed with Portland cement to surrond flu tiles made from the same pumice stone. This is a European method. It is very lite in comparison to brick, block and traditional portland fill around the flu tiles. A large bag of this pumice stone is very lite. It looks just like creek gravel, brown and rounded. You might try it if you can find it.
Please do a video on putting together a raised bed garden using these panels. I'd like to see them in use. If only you could purchase something similar to these at the local garden shop to do a raised bed with. Might have to break out the tools and make some! Thanks for sharing
Curing concrete underwater really produces a superior product. Concrete cured underwater for 7 days is 50% stronger than air-cured concrete. Curing concrete for 28 days underwater produces concrete that is 125% stronger than its air-cured counterpart. That's near 7000 PSI, my friends. Do you feel that the lightweight concrete is worth the extra trouble? Once my raised beds are in place I can't see moving them, certainly not often
@@MANaboutTOOLS - Publishing your results about foamed concrete is definitely appreciated. It's useful for this project and many others. Many thanks for what you have done. I want to make both 8-foot and 4-foot versions of these planks. If the large plank is too heavy, I can make a dolly to cart them around. But I do want to make sure if I hit one with a tiller, it won't make a serious gouge in an otherwise beautiful plank. Your string trimmer test is great for the exterior side and typical for the harsh conditions the exterior is expected to see.
Great video thanks.Will be purchasing your plans. Hemp and aircrete is a possibility . Lime and flyash PFA cement with hemp or jute fiber???....add iron oxide ...(lawn moss remover) for a "Copperas" lime wash finish...solves colouring issues......copperas is a traditional Victorian ochre lime wash which gives a fresco effect that is neat..........jute fabric and epoxy make a very tough material......try lashing two boards together with it and then try breaking them apart.....the boards will break before the joint gives way......line moulds with this ...or make moulds with it in lay ups..??
I'm thinking that the original concrete recipe in the newest thinner forms would be strong AND lighter than the originals without having to use more costly materials and complicated process. Have you come up with a way to join two or more three-sided boxes. I'm thinking about flower beds with the house as the fourth side.
Another well done exercise on the "Panel Project". I'm kind of surprised you did not make one with perlite however with the sand n the mix it would appear to be pointless at first glance.
have you thought about tryin to pour 1' of you light weight perlite mix into each frame and then finish them off with the air create you might get a stronger surface for the face but still get the light weight frames
I built some of your perlite panels over a year ago but I've been interested in aircrete for many years. I had a thought about how you could potentially strengthen the panels from trimmer damage. Why not pour a thin layer of sand, portland, and fiberglass mix say around 1/4 to 1/2" thick then pour CSA aircrete on top to fill the molds to capacity? That way you get some durabilty where needed and keep the weight and cost down with aircrete.
Seems I missed the boat on this one. Shame. I like a few ppl here have been thinking about a multi-layered approach. My thoughts would be to create a hard 'exoskeleton' of super dense and strong (very hard arrogate compound ) mixed with CSA Cement, which is reinforced. This would surround an almost hollow middle. The advantages depend on how you want to use your new garden 'wall'. My original though was to use White Concrete, some hydrated lime, quartz flower & quartz arrogate with a dash of Titanium Dioxide Pigment. Combine this with a bit of glass fibre and some steel reinforcement. Put this into the mould first, then add aerocreat on top, this will give your the hard outer face to protect against strimmer's and other garden related things. However, if we took away the well loved large mould insert, replaced it with much smaller ones (maybe using beading along the 'face' to create a effectively Ran out of space it seemed and deleted the rest of my post (1/2 or more of it :( )
Thanks for the additional testing. Are you putting all of the panels you have made to use in the garden? It would be great to see them again in a year.
Nice presentation as always. I will be pursuing tests with rammed earth pavers. My early tests with wall miniatures have shown to be weather resistant. I may increase cement from 10% for the walls to 20% for the pavers. Garden pavers would look nice around your raised bed sections.
Your videos are very easy to hear and understand unlike a lot of TH-camrs. Wanted to know, after taking them out of the two week soak in water and putting them in your shop was any more water used in the second two weeks of drying? As in spray or wet rags etc. Thx Bill
great experiment. have you thought about first pouring a thin regulat concrete mix with fibre glass mixed in , to get about half inch of strong surface before pouring the aircrete mix which would then form the bulk?
This 3.7 video seems to be the last test. What was the conclusion on the best and most durable lightweight version. Portland Aircrete vs Portland with Vermiculite etc??
Thanks! I so appreciate the support. Making these videos can be intimidating as you are putting yourself out there for all to judge. It is so fantastic to receive positive feedback. Cheers! Kent
I subscribed because of your clear, concise informative videos. Thank you for your efforts! I have a question about your perlite concrete mix. Would it be possible to do a Perlite/Aircrete mix? I am asking not for garden boxes but a pizza oven I am thinking about making. There are tons of videos on the ovens but not on mediums. The refractory nature of Perlite combined with the weight savings of Aircrete are intriguing. Any advice?
I wonder what would happen if you used a layer of pea gravel at the bottom of the forms? Would it give it a layer of protection from the string trimmer or would the trimmer just knock out the stones? You might want to make a 12" x 6" form so that you can easily test different versions of reinforcement. Is subway tile string trimmer resistant?
I just added wood pulp, in the form of cypress mulch, to one of my mobile home skirts. I want to see if it adds strength. I have been adding sand at a 1 to 1 ration. But think I'll stop. No savings with sand as it cost about the same as Portland cement.
Superb video A bit of info: the wire mesh & the fibermesh act in the same, supporting the strength of the concrete. Using both gives no added benefit. When using just fibermesh, you fold it into your slurry mix. No power drill used, with a large stick, gently folding in trying not to break the fiberglass strands. A handful of fiber should be enough for this project. Suggestion, next sample might be with plastic cement. This has plastsizer & lime in the mix. Other suggestion; try using bleach & peroxide. A chemical foaming reaction, in stead of soap foam.
Mansard Manor ..... when do you apply the foaming chemicals ? it seems as though fiber mesh ( or bamboo ) would be less likely to corrode than metal mesh
Might it be possible to use the Portland / aircrete to approximate a 2’x4’ piece of T1-11? I have some siding that is rotting out on the bottom and wondered if a sheet good could be made out of aircrete or better just to buy fiberboard
Hi, great channel, new sub with a suggestion, add a split dowel along the trimming edge of the mold, should leave a nice trim space to avoid having to hit the box walls.
Do you spray with mould oil before casting your cement . And see if you can make a vibrating bench . I used to make fencing posts panels when I was young .
Based on a concrete countertops episode of this old house on TH-cam, I was wondering if you had considered starting with a spray on layer of regular cement followed by filling the remainder with aircrete.
What would be the cost of making a 8x4 concrete raised bed box? I want to compare it to the price of lumber making the same sized box. Also I wonder how brick would stand up to the line trimmer test compared to concrete.. if the brick is stronger then perhaps it would be better to use bricks with the holes in them at the bottom of the mold and to make the mold the exact width of the bricks so the brick is completely exposed at the bottom and the holes in the bricks will lock the brick into the concrete panel. So basically the box will have 1-2 layers of a brick foundation.
Thanks! The 3rd panel was 52% lighter than regular concrete and weighed 23.9 lbs. The 36" panel is 50 lbs when I make it from bagged concrete mix. So: 1 - (23.9/50) = 1 - 0.478 = 52% lighter
How would a panel made of a lower (front) layer of CSA with gravel, etc, real concrete with the majority of the panel being made of the aircrete version. Would they dry and cure as one piece? So the facade is weed trimmer safe but the panel is much lighter.
Would you ever mix CSA with Portland? How much lime would you add? What are the physical characteristics of the various cementitious materials? Would Portland with lighter weight mortar be a good mix?
"mortar" is just cement mixed with sand, so that doesn't say much. Portland already has some lime in it, more lime makes it stickier and easier to apply but also weaker. Concrete often has Pozzolan added to remove the lime. You could mix cement types, but there generally is no reason to. CSA is the best cement we now, stronger and faster than others. The only downsides are higher cost and sometimes too short work time.
Sir, I had thought while watching your video: cut fiberglass strips just under length of mold. Slowly pour mix into mold until bottom filled/ lay in a full length of fiberglass mat. Then add more mix/smooth/another lay of fiberglass mat, add more mix/smooth/lay in another fiberglass Matt until your final fill cap of mix! Don't use any rebar/ just fiberglass in as many layers as you wish for what your building! Lighter, stronger, no rust, more internal unified layered strength! Instead of a pinch of chopped fiberglass, use a lot! (I would have 2 man team, one pour, then just hold momentarily, 2nd hand lay in fiberglass mat, more pour, another mat lay, more pour, another fiberglass layer, until a rhyme an rhythm so a pour fast easy painless clean)
Aircrete doesn't seem to like forst very well. Sure it does not rot, but it appears to decompose by frost. Do you use yours in a climate with frost in winters?
The aircrete panels from Part 3.6 have been out in our garden all winter. Been through many many freeze thaw cycles. They don't appear to have suffered at all from it.
Perhaps adding some type of hardening agent to this mix, might yield a more durable finished project? I've been watching your series and was wondering whether CSA would be a good medium for making aircrete. I'm betting that it has great potential, if the mix design is just right.
@@MANaboutTOOLS I will have to make sure that I have seen the entire series. I saw a couple of those segments about a year ago, and just discovered that you had posted several new ones, since then. Your techniques turn out a very nice, consistent product that could pass for having been produced commercially. While watching these last few segments, I wondered if you have ever tried cutting your fencing wire one segment longer at the top and bottom, so that it would extend out into the joints? It seems like the corners might benefit from being reinforced, too? Just a thought. Thanks for the good content. 🙂👍🏼
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
I now have molds ready-to-go here: manabouttools.com/store-plastic-concrete-molds/
Something to consider. While the concrete is strong in compression, the wire mesh is for giving strength in a tension mode. The force of the soil in the bed would be such that the outside surface of the panel would be in tension. The wire mesh, to be performing its' function, should really be pushed down in the form past the center depth, closer to the outside surface, where the panel is experiencing tension. If its position is in the inner half (soil side) it is in a compression zone and not really helping. Cracks form where there is tension. That is why the rebar in a "pre-stressed concrete beam" used in bridge building, is placed in the lower part of the beam (as it sits in position in a bridge) where the tension from the load overhead is experienced.
100% correct, the mesh will hold it together and may stop some cracks opening but the outside half is where the mesh needs to go. You may be better with more fiber (3%) and no mesh as the mesh needs to be where the insert is.
You know what I enjoy about your videos?
- You're scientific approach to experimentation and testing.
- Your detailed explanations of each step to make it easy for others to repeat your process.
- Your soft-spoken, refined narration.
That last one really gets me. So many tool and home-improvement and DIY channels are just boorish oafs cursing while they fumble their way through a project for entertainment value. You, on the other hand, provide a sophisticated alternative that is on-par with some of my favorites like DIY Perks and Clickspring.
I scrolled down to write a comment, but @S1m0ne captured my exact sentiments. Great Job MAN about TOOLS!
Thank you for your easy-to-follow instructions. I really appreciate the absence of loud background 'music'.
For anyone wondering...the RapidSet Cement All is about 50/50 mix of CSA/Sand, and the RapidSet Mortar Mix is about 30/70 mix of CSA/Sand.
hello friend, my name and Carlos and i live in Brazil, i have been following your videos and the stress tests on aircrete concrete, i want to congratulate you for sharing all your effort in transmitting all this experience, thank you very much, i have a suggestion if you are interested, you can do with two layers, a first thin layer of pure cement and a second one using foamed concrete, I believe that this would allow a piece with a more resistant front to the lawn mower and at the same time a light piece, thanks friend and congratulations.
Great suggestion.
can make heavy duty ones for ground level and lighter ones for higher up
I like your channel... I dont know if you have seen this guys channel yet but he has done so much testing with all types of aircrete that he started making alot of things with it too. its an addicting channel to see too. check it out. here is his channel: th-cam.com/channels/ApbVsMQ2oO0WlW3BHC1mVw.html and here is an example of his vids too.: th-cam.com/video/MXs-tqfCSX0/w-d-xo.html
You're really putting your forms to good use! Good to see they're holding up after so many pours.
The polyurethane on these plywood forms is working very well. Thanks!
@@MANaboutTOOLS I had a filing that polyurethane will be the superior finnish, but how do the mineral oil ones holding up?
BTW, you have done a great job with your concrete panels. I've watched all of them. Thanks for your efforts! This is a great idea!
I have been following your garden box videos as they are published. Thank you for taking the time to make the panels and publish the results, it should save a lot of people a lot of wasted time. The thing that I have been considering, since your first video, is to encase foam board in the cement panel. This would allow for a hard, more dense surface, and a lighter weight added in the interior where it would be less likely to affect the durability. From my research, it is suggested that the foam be perforated at several spots where the cement can connect through the foam and join both sides. I saw this in a counter top video where they used foam board as a core. If you are looking for another option, this is one I would like to see. Again, thanks for your time and diligence in making this information available.
Thanks! I like the foam board option and have also seen it done. Maybe in the future I'll have a go at it.
You are so thorough, i didn't realize you did all these miniature series branching off into experimenting with different types and mixtures. But i never thought aircrete was worthy, knowing the only reason it is so light is because it lacks the thing that makes it concrete, meaning it is weak, and has no durability. But watching you do these different experiments confirms my suspicions, but at the same time open up the possibility that aircrete could be worthy given enough experimenting and mixing procedures.
Thanks! The aircrete mix I used in Part 3.6 is really good. I like how strong and dense it turned out.
Wow you really struggle to say you weee wrong. 😂
If you add glycerin to you foam mix it would make your foam last longer and further reduce your weight.
My neighbor had a business making cement mix insulating and structural tongue and groove panels for exteriors of houses and small buildings when I was a kid. He used vermiculite (a heat puffed mica granular insulation) as an aggregate in a cement mix with reenforcing mesh, very similar to what you are doing. His panels were about 4" thick by 8' long by 16" wide, as I recall. One strong man could move (drag) or set upright a panel when building walls, although it was usually done with two guys.
THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS FLOAT ABOUT 1/2 OF AN INCH OF REGULAR CEMENT INTO THE FORM, to form a harder, more impervious outer cement skin on what would be the exterior side of his panels. Then, when that had "gelled" a while, he set the reenforcing mesh on what would be the inside of this harder skin and poured in the (lighter than water when cured and dried!)
vermiculite aggregate
concrete mix until the form was full. I do not know if this insulating concrete mix was "air entrained" like yours, but suspect it was.
We used to amaze our little friends by building toy concrete BOATS which would float from scraps of these panels (the light back sides after we cut or scraped off the hard concrete faces)...
@@bsimpson6204
Knowing what I know now, I'd have made those panels with a hard skin and a single layer of reenforcing mesh on BOTH sides of a central, lightweight, insulating, air entrained + lightweight aggregate concrete core. Kind of like an I beam or engineered floor joist...
@@Bert2368 Thanks for the chiming in. Great reminders for me, as I'd heard of using a harder layer that will become the face, less dense layer for the core and I believe it was for a DIY stone veneer. (However, the concern of adequate adhesion between the two layers immediately come to mind, but perhaps it's baseless.) I had also heard about using vermiculate, but had forgoten about that technique as well! . Maybe Kent @man about tools will try a couple batches with your suggestions. I absolutely love how he keeps at refining the process/recipe while sharing his findings! If you're seeing this Kent, kudos good sir--your efforts and approach to updating your channel are certainly appreciated!
@@michaelz6870 I think you could use some wire reinforcing strips like Kent does, but bend them in a V or W shape and partially press them into the face layer with about half the wire sticking out. This should give a good tie between the two layers to keep the face from spalling off.
@@papparocket ahhh, I like that; I'll have to give that a try when I give the project a go. Thx!
@@michaelz6870 @papparocket
Good thread! Lots of good ideas here.
Thank you for all your clear concise explanations and your willingness to try viewer suggestions.
This is an experiment I had wanted to see for a long time.
A neat trick if you ever make a panel that you want to have sunlight or other source come through is to have fiber optic glass lined up to be through the sides of the slab. You will need to clean the ends but you get light-through walls.
I think Aircrete Harry's experience with sand would bear out your suspicions. For him, it made the Aircrete brittle and crumbly. Thanks for the informative videos.
agreed. I used a sand mix once and made umm sand clumps :(
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, also 10 points for the video, camera and verbal work!!!! it was a pleasure to watch ..
Thank you for the effort you have put into both doing the work and presenting useful results. It really is much appreciated!
Just a thought. Try pouring regular concrete into your mold first in the area where you want increased durability. Then fill out the balance of the mold with the aircrete. You gain the strength where you need it and still get much or most of the weight reduction.
From what I read about plasticizers, soap/foam serves the same purpose. Is it possible that using both resulted In too much water?
That mix could go well for the pieces above. For those below I would leave them with the first mixture. Heavy down, light up.
For an oven, use fireproof cement made with vermiculite, red clay, cement and calcium aluminate.
Thank you so much for going through all of these different permutations. I am going to be building my own raised garden this spring and I hope to give your concrete panels a try. I was thinking about ways to improve the durability of the aircrete after your third video showed that it wasn't going to stand up to the string trimmer. My thought is to pour a hard wear strip for just the lower outside part of each panel using a full strength mix. This should keep the panel lighter than if you had a full density layer over the entire front of the panel as other have recommended.
I think this could be done with some temporary coffers between the raised centerboard and the short sides to hold the concrete in just the lower section of each panel. A strip of wire bent into V or W pressed partially into the wear strip with a portion of the wire exposed would tie the wear strip to the rest of the panel and keep it from spalling off after going through the freeze/thaw cycles of winter. Then when the mix is set enough to hold its shape, remove the coffers and fill the rest of the panel with aircrete. The surface finish will be different between the two sections, but with a clear separation of the two mixes that might look OK. Or add color to one of the mixes or different colors to each mix to make the difference surface texture to just be another part of a larger difference.
I was thinking how to do the two week cure in water since I don't have an old bathtub. My thinking is that I could make a shallow 4'x4' basin in the place I am going to put the raised bed (since killing the grass in that place will be a feature rather than a bug) by forming earthen berms around the periphery and then line it with a 6'x6' tarp free of holes. The panels would lie flat in the bottom and I would fill the basin with lime water and cover with a second tarp. The trick of course will be getting a tarp for the bottom that doesn't leak.
How about a big plastic kiddie pool? Super cheap!
Just found your page a few days ago and every day I see new versions of the garden panels! Great info. Glad I found you and enjoy your content
Awesome! Thank you!
Can you make a chart comparing the different blends you have used? Weight, durability, cost, etc.
I wonder if you lined the casts with a light fibreglass cloth, then poured the cement mix in whether that would allow you to really reduce the cement or CSA cement ratio to foam ratios and still survive the line trimmer test?
This is my favorite video.. all kinds of other applications
Thanks! However, the aircrete in Part 3.6 worked out better.
so pour a thin layer of regular cement in the form first for the facing followed immediately by the aircrete
Just what I was thinking. It would solve the surface durability problem.
Yes that the way to go, I'm making a plan to make a aircrete (RV)house in Puerto Rico. Thanks
Awesome that you like DeWalt tools and you are very thorough and you're describing can't wait to try these panels
Thanks for watching!
If you put quick dry in the cement it will dry harder and lighter in combination with the foam.
First video I have ever seen on Aircrete. Very nice
Just came across your channel. Great idea and well presented. Have you tried using 2 mixes. Adding small amount of more durable mix then topping up with lighter mix. Thanks for the inspirational videos. Will have to try this.
Oh My! He's going for 99%!!!
Thanks for doing these videos - they are very well presented and instructive.
I think any erosion at all from the trimmer would be an issue in the medium to long term. Would it be possible to make some panels with a hard lower face of regular concrete to resist the trimmer and then a light areo mixture for the rest which would not be subject to the trimmer. You would then have durability just where it's needed on the lower outer face with the remaining 70-80% made of an even lighter mix. It would be like face hardened steel. I wonder if it would delaminate or warp.
I think that might be a good solution for increasing the durability closer to the ground.
To my knowledge, CSA cement shouldn’t require a long curing time nor an extended water bath. Look up CementAll instructions to verify. I can usually demold within an hour or two and it’s ready to use right away. I keep it wet until all the heat is gone and occasionally mist with water for the next few days but I don’t know if that’s necessary.
Thanks for your videos, I’m really enjoying this series!
I tripped over this video when trying to find out about CSA curing
th-cam.com/video/RcSoA-iC1GM/w-d-xo.html
CSA is a different animal than Portland cement. I think you're right about not needing the extended water bath. If I understand correctly, the bath was probably the primary reason the outer layer was damaged by the weed trimmer. Whether that was primarily due to the length of time in the bath or the solution itself, the video leads one to believe it was detrimental. I'm still looking for information about spray on curing compounds for CSA. It needs something to seal the surface, protecting it from drying, for at least a couple of days. Beyond that, I suspect it would be better for it to dry in a cool shady location.
If you go back to Part 4 of this series, the straight RapidSet Mortar Mix panel was 40% lighter than standard concrete (~36lb for 3ft panel)....this CSA/Foam mix here is 52% lighter (~28.8 lbs, 7.2 lighter than Mortar Mix), but also seems to be much less durable and more work to create with the foam.
Around here, the Cement All is about $6 more expensive than the Mortar Mix ($23.57), but you only use 15# in this lighter mix ($6.42 in Cement All vs $17.47 for a full bag of Mortar Mix)...so there is a cost-saving in the cement of around $1.84 per foot in this lighter foam mix.
I will have to do the cement mix math on making multiples of 4ft panels because I have standardized my system with 4ft x 12 ft beds, so all my drip irrigation and weed barrier with precut plant holes are interchangeable across the garden. But I also mulch pathways around all my beds and don't weed whip much up against them.
This series has been really fun to follow! I noticed how light the panel was when you easily moved it with one hand at about the 8:57 mark. Such a smart design. It's like watching "behind the scenes" of product development. We are all eager for you to WIN this competition you challenged yourself with. Can't wait - in it to win it! :D
Thanks! It's been interesting to try out these options.
I havent got completely thru this series nit will offer a tip if you havent used it in further videos.
When working in the bricklaying industry, we were the first in our area to use a round pumice stone mixed with Portland cement to surrond flu tiles made from the same pumice stone. This is a European method. It is very lite in comparison to brick, block and traditional portland fill around the flu tiles. A large bag of this pumice stone is very lite. It looks just like creek gravel, brown and rounded.
You might try it if you can find it.
Thanks for your comment here. Appreciate you sharing with everyone.
Please do a video on putting together a raised bed garden using these panels. I'd like to see them in use. If only you could purchase something similar to these at the local garden shop to do a raised bed with. Might have to break out the tools and make some! Thanks for sharing
D M -
Kent, if only. Have you thought about taking this to Shark Tank?
Curing concrete underwater really produces a superior product. Concrete cured underwater for 7 days is 50% stronger than air-cured concrete. Curing concrete for 28 days underwater produces concrete that is 125% stronger than its air-cured counterpart. That's near 7000 PSI, my friends.
Do you feel that the lightweight concrete is worth the extra trouble? Once my raised beds are in place I can't see moving them, certainly not often
I can't say that it's worth it. But, if I want to test the strength and durability I want to cure it the best I can.
@@MANaboutTOOLS - Publishing your results about foamed concrete is definitely appreciated. It's useful for this project and many others. Many thanks for what you have done.
I want to make both 8-foot and 4-foot versions of these planks. If the large plank is too heavy, I can make a dolly to cart them around.
But I do want to make sure if I hit one with a tiller, it won't make a serious gouge in an otherwise beautiful plank. Your string trimmer test is great for the exterior side and typical for the harsh conditions the exterior is expected to see.
I'm looking at using these for a non-garden-box application. So I do appreciate the lightweight options given here.
I wonder if adding dye to the foam mix and csa mix would make the color stronger?
Would love to see the pure CSA aircrete
Use the stronger ones for the bottom and stack those on top
Great video thanks.Will be purchasing your plans. Hemp and aircrete is a possibility . Lime and flyash PFA cement with hemp or jute fiber???....add iron oxide ...(lawn moss remover) for a "Copperas" lime wash finish...solves colouring issues......copperas is a traditional Victorian ochre lime wash which gives a fresco effect that is neat..........jute fabric and epoxy make a very tough material......try lashing two boards together with it and then try breaking them apart.....the boards will break before the joint gives way......line moulds with this ...or make moulds with it in lay ups..??
Would using a slurry of CSA minus the aggregate first in the form make the garden boxes more resistant to the line trimmer? Thanks!
Ok, I'm convinced these panels are a great idea. I'm just wondering which interation is the most durable??
I'm thinking that the original concrete recipe in the newest thinner forms would be strong AND lighter than the originals without having to use more costly materials and complicated process. Have you come up with a way to join two or more three-sided boxes. I'm thinking about flower beds with the house as the fourth side.
Another well done exercise on the "Panel Project". I'm kind of surprised you did not make one with perlite however with the sand n the mix it would appear to be pointless at first glance.
have you thought about tryin to pour 1' of you light weight perlite mix into each frame and then finish them off with the air create
you might get a stronger surface for the face but still get the light weight frames
I haven't considered that option.
Just wondering if you have considered selling the forms for people who aren't able to make them?
Thanks for doing this one! It's the version I was most interested to see
You're welcome!
I built some of your perlite panels over a year ago but I've been interested in aircrete for many years. I had a thought about how you could potentially strengthen the panels from trimmer damage. Why not pour a thin layer of sand, portland, and fiberglass mix say around 1/4 to 1/2" thick then pour CSA aircrete on top to fill the molds to capacity? That way you get some durabilty where needed and keep the weight and cost down with aircrete.
What about using 1/2" wire mesh? AKA Ferrocrete. If the wires are close together, it makes it extremely strong.
Seems I missed the boat on this one. Shame. I like a few ppl here have been thinking about a multi-layered approach.
My thoughts would be to create a hard 'exoskeleton' of super dense and strong (very hard arrogate compound ) mixed with CSA Cement, which is reinforced. This would surround an almost hollow middle.
The advantages depend on how you want to use your new garden 'wall'.
My original though was to use White Concrete, some hydrated lime, quartz flower & quartz arrogate with a dash of Titanium Dioxide Pigment. Combine this with a bit of glass fibre and some steel reinforcement.
Put this into the mould first, then add aerocreat on top, this will give your the hard outer face to protect against strimmer's and other garden related things.
However, if we took away the well loved large mould insert, replaced it with much smaller ones (maybe using beading along the 'face' to create a
effectively Ran out of space it seemed and deleted the rest of my post (1/2 or more of it :( )
Thanks for the additional testing. Are you putting all of the panels you have made to use in the garden? It would be great to see them again in a year.
I am. And will get footage through the seasons. Cheers! Kent
Nice presentation as always. I will be pursuing tests with rammed earth pavers. My early tests with wall miniatures have shown to be weather resistant. I may increase cement from 10% for the walls to 20% for the pavers. Garden pavers would look nice around your raised bed sections.
Thanks! I've been impressed with the rammed earth construction I have seen. Would like to use that in some future projects.
Have you considered adding something like basalt sand?
Your videos are very easy to hear and understand unlike a lot of TH-camrs.
Wanted to know, after taking them out of the two week soak in water and putting them in your shop was any more water used in the second two weeks of drying? As in spray or wet rags etc. Thx Bill
Thanks Bill! The panels were covered with plastic in my shop to slow the drying. No more water was added.
I would be interested in an aircrete and vermiculite recipe
Adding some bondcrete to the bottom layer in the mold might toughen up the outer face a bit.
Any chance of a follow-up on how these things have been doing in your garden?
Will try to in 2023
great experiment. have you thought about first pouring a thin regulat concrete mix with fibre glass mixed in , to get about half inch of strong surface before pouring the aircrete mix which would then form the bulk?
How have the previous panels held up from freeze/thraw cycles?
Time for HEMPCRETE :)
This 3.7 video seems to be the last test. What was the conclusion on the best and most durable lightweight version. Portland Aircrete vs Portland with Vermiculite etc??
You have a great voice for advertising.
Thanks! I so appreciate the support. Making these videos can be intimidating as you are putting yourself out there for all to judge. It is so fantastic to receive positive feedback. Cheers! Kent
Thank you for this great series
I usually don't lend out tools but you can borrow my little eletric concrete mixer any time. You would love that thing. (Home Depot version)
Thanks David but, I have one. Don't use it for small testing batches tho.
I subscribed because of your clear, concise informative videos. Thank you for your efforts! I have a question about your perlite concrete mix. Would it be possible to do a Perlite/Aircrete mix? I am asking not for garden boxes but a pizza oven I am thinking about making. There are tons of videos on the ovens but not on mediums. The refractory nature of Perlite combined with the weight savings of Aircrete are intriguing. Any advice?
I wonder what would happen if you used a layer of pea gravel at the bottom of the forms? Would it give it a layer of protection from the string trimmer or would the trimmer just knock out the stones? You might want to make a 12" x 6" form so that you can easily test different versions of reinforcement.
Is subway tile string trimmer resistant?
I just added wood pulp, in the form of cypress mulch, to one of my mobile home skirts. I want to see if it adds strength. I have been adding sand at a 1 to 1 ration. But think I'll stop. No savings with sand as it cost about the same as Portland cement.
Did CSA cement set so fast? How to decrease the setting time of CSA cement?
Superb video
A bit of info: the wire mesh & the fibermesh act in the same, supporting the strength of the concrete.
Using both gives no added benefit.
When using just fibermesh, you fold it into your slurry mix. No power drill used, with a large stick, gently folding in trying not to break the fiberglass strands. A handful of fiber should be enough for this project.
Suggestion, next sample might be with plastic cement. This has plastsizer & lime in the mix.
Other suggestion; try using bleach & peroxide. A chemical foaming reaction, in stead of soap foam.
Mansard Manor ..... when do you apply the foaming chemicals ? it seems as though fiber mesh ( or bamboo ) would be less likely to corrode than metal mesh
Thanks for the info! I really appreciate all the sharing of ideas, questions, and comments! Cheers, Kent
The wire and the fiber support differently against different types of stress (tension, torsion, sheer ) So it can be benefitial to have both.
@@patrickkeller2193 Very much agree.
@@cedricpod foaming chemical, bleach & peroxide can burn you, it's designed to hear up while foaming, I add it last, cause it rises quickly.
I wonder if there is some kind of coating you could apply to make the surface more durable.
Maybe coat it in liquid glass.
Might it be possible to use the Portland / aircrete to approximate a 2’x4’ piece of T1-11? I have some siding that is rotting out on the bottom and wondered if a sheet good could be made out of aircrete or better just to buy fiberboard
Have you ever tried making a permeable concrete paver like Turfstone with your recipes? It is an expensive product. Best to you.
did you try glycerin added to bubbles for support?
Great video as always. Have you thought of making a smaller size rectangular pottery with base bottom? Thank you for your video
Sorry if this has already been asked, but why haven't you tested using silicate densifiers on these foam concrete panels you've made?
Hi, great channel, new sub with a suggestion, add a split dowel along the trimming edge of the mold, should leave a nice trim space to avoid having to hit the box walls.
Now try sealing the concrete to see if it strengthens the face.
Do you spray with mould oil before casting your cement . And see if you can make a vibrating bench . I used to make fencing posts panels when I was young .
Based on a concrete countertops episode of this old house on TH-cam, I was wondering if you had considered starting with a spray on layer of regular cement followed by filling the remainder with aircrete.
You can get pure CSA cement. CTS sells it as DOT Cement. The big box stores don't carry it but a contractor supply house may have it
Thanks Jack! I'll have a look for it.
You have my thanks as well Jack!
What would be the cost of making a 8x4 concrete raised bed box? I want to compare it to the price of lumber making the same sized box.
Also I wonder how brick would stand up to the line trimmer test compared to concrete.. if the brick is stronger then perhaps it would be better to use bricks with the holes in them at the bottom of the mold and to make the mold the exact width of the bricks so the brick is completely exposed at the bottom and the holes in the bricks will lock the brick into the concrete panel. So basically the box will have 1-2 layers of a brick foundation.
What it's the benefit of the 2 week water bath?
Does the sand grain size make a difference in the strength? I have several buckets of very fine sand that I need to find a use for.
Thanks for making this video. Keep it up.
Why did you submerge them? To help the curing?
brilliant and useful what does 54% lighter mean ? ( standard x 0.54 = ) or ( standard x [ 1 - 0.54 ] = ) ?
Thanks! The 3rd panel was 52% lighter than regular concrete and weighed 23.9 lbs. The 36" panel is 50 lbs when I make it from bagged concrete mix. So:
1 - (23.9/50) = 1 - 0.478 = 52% lighter
good question ;-)
good answer !!!
actually I asked myself the same question, but it came clear by listening in 09:32
so the foamcrete panel weight was 48% of the regular concrete panel
@@cedricpod I love math!
paul wyleciol i like trig , geometry ( euclidian and non-euclidian ) , some calc, algebra, recursive approximation , abstract math , ......
Have you thought about reinforcing the surface of the aircrete with a cement slurry and/or conrete sealer?
I have not tried that yet. Would be good to test me thinks.
Imagine how tough one of these would be with truck bed liner on it
Pour a thin layer of concrete with quite small rocks in the bottom side of the form first.
@@danharold3087 that is clever - but maybe the "different materials" (or density) will cause warping or cracking? We will have to try that!
@@paulwyleciol3459 could always do a sandwich to equalize stresses if that's a problem.
Haven't seen you try polystyrene air foam
How would a panel made of a lower (front) layer of CSA with gravel, etc, real concrete with the majority of the panel being made of the aircrete version. Would they dry and cure as one piece? So the facade is weed trimmer safe but the panel is much lighter.
Would you ever mix CSA with Portland? How much lime would you add? What are the physical characteristics of the various cementitious materials? Would Portland with lighter weight mortar be a good mix?
"mortar" is just cement mixed with sand, so that doesn't say much. Portland already has some lime in it, more lime makes it stickier and easier to apply but also weaker. Concrete often has Pozzolan added to remove the lime.
You could mix cement types, but there generally is no reason to. CSA is the best cement we now, stronger and faster than others. The only downsides are higher cost and sometimes too short work time.
Thank you
Sir, I had thought while watching your video: cut fiberglass strips just under length of mold. Slowly pour mix into mold until bottom filled/ lay in a full length of fiberglass mat. Then add more mix/smooth/another lay of fiberglass mat, add more mix/smooth/lay in another fiberglass Matt until your final fill cap of mix! Don't use any rebar/ just fiberglass in as many layers as you wish for what your building! Lighter, stronger, no rust, more internal unified layered strength! Instead of a pinch of chopped fiberglass, use a lot! (I would have 2 man team, one pour, then just hold momentarily, 2nd hand lay in fiberglass mat, more pour, another mat lay, more pour, another fiberglass layer, until a rhyme an rhythm so a pour fast easy painless clean)
Aircrete doesn't seem to like forst very well. Sure it does not rot, but it appears to decompose by frost.
Do you use yours in a climate with frost in winters?
The aircrete panels from Part 3.6 have been out in our garden all winter. Been through many many freeze thaw cycles. They don't appear to have suffered at all from it.
Would it help to paint the outside of the foam Crete with a cement all slurry.
Perhaps adding some type of hardening agent to this mix, might yield a more durable finished project? I've been watching your series and was wondering whether CSA would be a good medium for making aircrete. I'm betting that it has great potential, if the mix design is just right.
I think it has potential too. The aircrete in Part 3.6 worked very well so I think it's the best of the lightest options.
@@MANaboutTOOLS I will have to make sure that I have seen the entire series.
I saw a couple of those segments about a year ago, and just discovered that you had posted several new ones, since then.
Your techniques turn out a very nice, consistent product that could pass for having been produced commercially.
While watching these last few segments, I wondered if you have ever tried cutting your fencing wire one segment longer at the top and bottom, so that it would extend out into the joints?
It seems like the corners might benefit from being reinforced, too?
Just a thought. Thanks for the good content. 🙂👍🏼
How does the aircrete handle Canadian winters?
Yeah, would be nice to know (Scandinavian winters here)
Are they cold/ hot weather resistance without cracked?