# Quikrete goes Bad?



## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I’ve never seen anything like this. I always keep a bag or two of quikrete in the shop for setting posts etc. Last Tuesday I had 3 bags in the shop 2 bags of mortar mix and a bag of ready mix concrete.

I went and bought 6 more bags of ready mix concrete to pour a new lid for the septic tank. The first bag I mixed was the one from the shop. I lined the inside edge of the frame with it and the rest went at one end.

I mixed the next 6 bags the same way in the old wheel barrow and shoveled the mix in adding rebar and handles.

I was one bag short and used a bag of the mortar mix from the shop to finish up. Every bag set up fine except the first one which had been in the shop 3 years.

This picture is of the lid flipped over, bottom side up. That one bag didn’t set, it was just powder and gravel!!!! You can see the color isn’t even the same as the quikrete that set up properly. 

Has anyone seen anything like this? :eyebulge:


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Did you mix it thoroughly? It's a mineral compound so there should be no spoiling as it has no organic components.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

VoorTrekker said:


> Did you mix it thoroughly? It's a mineral compound so there should be no spoiling as it has no organic components.


Yep! just like the 7 after it and 100 before it through the years... lol. My only guess was it absorbed some chemical during it's stay in the shop that somehow neutralized the cement.

I'm going to knock off all the loose stuff and try pouring another bag to fill the void. The surface is pretty rough so maybe it will adhere. If not I guess I'll use it upside down. It's going to be buried anyway.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

Years ago they used to line the inside of the bag with plastic. They no longer do that just paper. I've had several bags actually set up and turn into cement in the bag, just giant 80lb blocks.....

I've still used them with limited success. I've always tried to blend the hard bags with fresh and bust any big chunks up with a hammer to allow it mix in as much as possible. I use a mixer though which helps blend everything together and I usually make it a little drier than normal when I do this.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Over the years that I have been pouring concrete I've seldom used quikrete, I generally have a pile of sand and gravel around but I will say that I've had more 94 lb. sacks of cement turn to stone than I wanted. The sacks of cement that I get always have a plastic liner, thing is cement, even setting in a place you think is dry, is highly susceptible to absorbing any moisture in the air. One time I did have the surface of a concrete pour powder to where I could brush off a layer of sand and small stones and I about had a heart attack when I first saw it because it was on a retaining wall that I was using slip forms, something that you just don't tear up and make another pour without a ton of work involved. Anyway at the time I thought it was caused from some chemical reaction to something in the plywood form, I never did figure out what happened but thankfully it didn't weaken the pour and just a thin area of the surface was effected. I always like to use fresh cement, I have had some that worked that I had stored in a 5 gallon pickle bucket but most of the time any sacks I've saved for any length of time end up as filler blocks behind a retaining wall.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I have seen a local back road built up on the edges so it would not wash away by them just stacking the bags one on top of the other offset by half a bag. Once all were stacked to their liking they back filled with dirt on the road side and just left it to draw moisture from the ground and harden up. No mixing, no adding water, no nothing, just stack and forget. Worked good too as this was apparently done many many years ago and it is still there keeping the road from washing away.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

Growing up in Tx they did this extensively in lake side retaining walls for Lake Conroe. They stacked up the concrete in the bags, back fill with dirt spray with water and let it cure prior to flooding.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Yeah, the bags seem to be really hit or miss. You can get some of their products, or similar ones, in pails. Not as available though and it seems like even the 50lb pails tend to be pricier than bags. More reliable for storage though, imho.

Kinda like some bags of livestock salt  but at least the worst outcome there is an odd shaped lick-block.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I talked to my dad about this evening. He confirmed something I seemed to remember, that first mix was much darker than the next 7. One summer I bought that single bag to set a large gate post. I had hired a teenager to help with a peach crop and to handle a few odds and ends. He wasn’t much good at anything and the bag of quikrete didn’t get used. It sort of got lost in the shop, more was purchased and used since then, 3 maybe 4 summers ago. I don’t use enough to buy cement and maintain a pile of sand and gravel. I might only use one or two, 60lb bags a year.

I don’t know if was just a bad bag or it absorbed something that ruined it. In any case this was the first bag I’ve ever used that that failed to set. Keeping it from setting is the usual problem, lol. A piece of tin blows up or a door is left open during a storm and rain blows in… I have a couple of 60lb boat anchors lying around.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Looks to me from the color, it was heavy with fly ash and light in cement. I'm sure they dick up a mix every so often.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

smaj100 said:


> Growing up in Tx they did this extensively in lake side retaining walls for Lake Conroe. They stacked up the concrete in the bags, back fill with dirt spray with water and let it cure prior to flooding.


Yep, I've heard of this too though I always thought they hammered a piece of rebar into the layers to hold them until they set.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I managed to knock off the loose material that didn’t set and patch the lid. It turned out pretty good. Got the new lid on the septic tank this afternoon. Another chore done!


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