01-29-2018, 05:18 PM
Both 4" poles are set now. What a job. The concrete seems to be setting up OK although the batch I put around the top of the first pole seems like I can mark it with my nail after 24 hrs. I mixed that batch nice and stiff so it should be as good as an amateur can get it. It was raining off and on yesterday so maybe that affected the surface. Still it nags at me. Can concrete mix go bad in the bag from the humidity but still be powdery, not hardened into a block?
ETA: I think the answer is yes it can look and mix OK but the cement can have lost the capacity to harden. I bought these bags from Home Depot over the weekend. They sat in the cab of the truck a couple of days. Maybe the humidity got to them there or at Home Depot. I'll keep checking it. I hate the thought of the concrete being weak but maybe it is OK if given enough time. I don't have the same nagging feeling about the second pole. I could have one "off" bag I suppose. We'll see.
ETA: I think the answer is yes it can look and mix OK but the cement can have lost the capacity to harden. I bought these bags from Home Depot over the weekend. They sat in the cab of the truck a couple of days. Maybe the humidity got to them there or at Home Depot. I'll keep checking it. I hate the thought of the concrete being weak but maybe it is OK if given enough time. I don't have the same nagging feeling about the second pole. I could have one "off" bag I suppose. We'll see.