I wish I could say I'm surprised that so many people are butthurt over this. Yeah, fucking obviously follow the engineering plans if you're building a foundation or a structural pour. If you're a DIY weekender, anything you're making is going to do JUST FINE with a dry pour.

Ha, from someone who's had a shed with an unknown leak, I can tell you what happens to the sealed bags 😅

"It's quicker to do dry pour, I just have to stop what I'm doing every 30 minutes for 3 hours and go back outside to spray it"

Mixed and poured will always be superior in strength and appearance

There’s a reason every major construction job on earth uses wet pour.

Sealed bags tend to just turn solid but break apart easily and is kinda powdery when broken apart

My husband is an architect. He said dry pouring may be quicker, but in the long run the wet pouring will hold up longer and be stronger.

I'm just amazed at how many videos you can make about dry-pouring!

I had six 80 lb bags under a tarp in the back yard for a few months and they all solidified fully through. They're stepping stones in my garden now.

I’m a civil engineer and can solve all of this for you. A “dry pour” is absolutely wrong and you should never do it. The water to cement ratio is critical for the strength of the mix. Also if you don’t wet and mix, you will have honeycombing in the pour and the aggregate will not be evenly distributed in the pour. You will have poor compaction of the mix and you will have voids. Just mix your mud. If I ever saw anyone doing this on my project, they wouldn’t be on the project any longer.

This is fine just for a makeshift paving slab for walking on, however the wet mix adds strength, so for a driveway, you would want mesh reinforcing and a wet mix of 20+ MPA. Its possibly the corners and edges will be more prone to chipping and wearing

Water makes the concrete form crystals. I'm of the opinion that proper hydration of the concrete is important to its strength.

Remember kids, there's a reason we use wet mixed concrete, with a calculated water to concrete ratio, and don't let trucks sit past 90 minutes...

When you take the form off hammer test the corners and maybe flip the slab to see if you got full cure, I'd love to see if there is any difference in density and strength!

Here's what some people fail to understand. Concrete is a chemical reaction and just like all chemicals, too much or too little WILL affect the results. Too much water and the concrete wont be strong. Too little and it'll be brittle. Follow the damn instructions and you'll do just fine.

As a tile guy. Wet or dry isnt good. Needs to be wet BUT too wet cracks too easy, too dry breaks apart like sand. Theres a reason why building a shower is done at the right consistency. Just enough water to activate the cement and grab the sand aggregate strong to last years and years.

Let's ask demolition ranch to shoot dry pour vs wet pour.

Takes longer doing the dry, lol. In construction, when you have to make extra trips or create extra steps, it's a no-go.

Dry pour is faster, but with wet pour as soon as it’s set and leveled, your done it just dries. It’s also stronger and wet concrete can be easier to transport because it’s already wet and ready in truck so you don’t need a concrete mixer which are usually small. Both are great options at home though and any project you do can probably be done by both, unless it’s a mold.

I have an accidental answer about spraying the bag of cement. Back around 1990 my wife bought too much cement for a project she did. We just dropped them between the tracks of the driveway. I thought it would crush at some point and be a filler. They became solid pieces of cement that have been remarkably strong without any rebar. They never crushed. We never sprayed them. Jut whatever fell from the sky.

Sealed bags of concrete don’t last long in storage. I had bought 50 bags of quikrete, in order to make a small slab in my backyard for grilling and a fire pit. I was planning on doing it that weekend, but had an emergency come up. I didn’t get to it for 3 weeks, and I stored the mix in my shed. I go out there bright and early Saturday morning and all the bags were rock hard. Turns out my shed sits at 99% humidity when the A/C isn’t running. I salvaged about 10 bags and the rest went into a dumpster. It was a good lesson, although I don’t enjoy spending $500 on lessons.

Wet is quicker and stronger in the long run. Get it wet once, pour it, level it, walk away and never touch it again. Dry pour you’re coming back and spraying it like you are, every 30 minutes. I like a wet pour. I can control what my finish is going to look like.

With out being thoroughly mixed it greatly reduces not only the bond between the cement and the aggregate but also the fact that you cant ensure a proper mixture of the dry ingredients

Mist for 30 seconds at 1 hour intervals for 3 hours. Then you the shower spray and soak the surface for 30 seconds. Do this 2 times in one hour intervals. 24 hours you can walk across the concrete and in 30 days you can build your shed. Do not forget to put in rebar or concrete screen. Also remember to put concrete gravel for the base to stablize the concrete.

As a lowes worker, I can tell you what happens to a sealed, wet bag of concrete. A return at customer service

I think it’s faster just to do it right the first time and forget about it instead of having to comeback many time every hour 🤦‍♂️

Dry concrete is a mixture that includes cement, which is highly absorbent. When water is added, the cement particles absorb water and undergo a chemical reaction called hydration. This reaction forms new compounds that occupy about the same volume as the original cement and water combined. The water fills in the gaps between the particles of cement, sand, and other components of the concrete mix. This doesn't increase the overall volume significantly because the water is essentially occupying spaces that were previously air-filled. While there is some expansion when the cement hydrates, this is usually offset by a subsequent contraction as the concrete sets and hardens. This contraction occurs as the water used in the hydration reaction is consumed and as the concrete cures, leading to a slight decrease in volume over time.

As a former contractor dry pour can never match mixed in strength and appearance. Dry pour spraying washes the top layer of aggregate free of cement. The finish will be rough and aggregate loose. Mixed concrete allows all aggregate to be coated with cement thus bounding to its rated strength. And no way are you getting a clean smooth finish when dry pouring. Mixed you to finish surface to desired look. However. If you want a cheap slab with a rough finish then dry pour. That’s the Home Depot professional way.

* I posted this on the previous but will post it again, because this is my career is and my passion. Its also a well fleshed out science, so no need to listen to internet people when some of us study this daily * Im a building and welding inspector. Ive tested, casted and broken tens of thousands of concrete cores (cylinders). The dry way is perfectly fine for the applications here. Quick crete is literally designed to hydrate throughout with minimal mixing and minimal hydration. Because its mostly "fines" and not much if any super hydrators (fly ash, porous aggregates, coarse sands, etc.) Thats why post hole concrete works. "Add post. Add dry bag. Add water. And enjoy". Its cement hydration ratio is so low because its not meant to hold up a tower, for yard slabs its totally acceptable. Hence why there are no building codes for it as long as its a non structural or non post tensioned slab or load bearing. Using add mixtures such as plastacizer, water reducer, transmission fluid (air). Has little to no effect because the average batching for concrete, is meant for large, structural and load bearing pours. Thats why they use concrete trucks and pumps or conveyers, not 20 guys carrying 50lb bags of quickcrete. Cmon now guys, common sense here lol

Can you test the weight limit of the dry pour with your vehicle. Since this would help a lot of diy driveways. Also can you take off the 2x4 and show us the entire slab hardening. Very very interesting work you are doing. Keep it up!!!

The longer that the slab can stay wet while curing the stronger it is. I cover it w plastic and wet it as necessary

A bag will harden when wet. I live where its humid enough that the bags will harden if left outside long enough.

Ok my friend. Take the 2 small slabs. After they both cure turn them over. Bust them apart n check the inside. Would make another good video... Thanks

Simi Dry for post fences as it's easier to break up years later 😅slabs wet as wet can get screed into perfect smoothness dividers for cracking settings the seperator is 3inch thick 3/4"too 1 quarter depth ridgeline dripping points.

I only use dry pour for integrated areas such as shower pans of pitched floors, I just would be concerned over movement and it’s ability to break up easily under vibrations

I’m confused by your logic. In a previous video you said wet concrete takes longer to pour and complete and that pouring dry concrete only took you a few minutes. Yet you have to return to pour water over the dry concrete every other hour before it can actually be “complete” that sounds like it’s a lot slower process.

I do the whole bags for steps at the river lot. Works great

When wetted cement sends out microscopic spikes, these spikes bind to aggregate. So in theory if the water is under applied the slab will be weaker.

for a construsction the concrete they use the use water in it and they have porpotions, if you change this you change the durability of concrete. if they want to be more running they use special fluids to make it. So yes i you take the concrete you have make and put in test you will see different numbers

Note; If you line your form with visqueen (Plastic film) this will prevent the concrete from losing it's moisture to quickly, and will prevent the water from being absorbed into the earth below, thus allowing it to cure more evenly. This prevents cracking, and assures maximum strength! This should be done on all concrete pours, both wet and dry! Premixed concrete will have a higher PSI, equating to a stronger finished product! The reason for this, is because a dry pour holds more air pockets, then a properly finished wet pour! Uneven curing, and failure to remove the voids including small air pockets always results in premature concrete failure! Hope this helps!

@fullsteamdesigns both of those pads would be stronger if you tap the air bubbles out during the process.

My dad had a post and beam building put up ~40 years ago. They dry poured the support posts much to his surprise and disappointment. The builders defended the decision citing experience. The last time I checked in Google Earth the building is still there.

Yep architectural student here (4th year). It may work but in the long run it's worse. Big part of the problem is not just having "dry" concrete bubbles inside the wet material which can't handle any pressure but those cement bubbles will get wet at some point later on and start to react. Due to the way concrete hardens you'll have Ettringite needles (Idk if that's the correct term in English) forming which will expand and damage the rest of the concrete. A similar thing happens when concrete is poured into a ground with high amounts of sulfates. The expansion is sometimes visible actually and the concrete is beyond repair.

there's people out there that think that wet concrete will give you more concrete? That's precious

Don't start soaking concrete until it's been set in place for at least 24hrs. And once you start soaking it, continue for 7-14 days. Max is 24 days. After 7 days of soaking, the compressive strength curve starts to straighten out. But the strength gained is still considerable, until the 24th day. After this, the strength gain starts to become negligible.

I am a Concrete construction worker and can tell you to NEVER NEVER Dry pour concrete i have seen this over the years and have seen the long term results the dry Pour will not fully cure correctly

In Missouri you wouldnt have to spray the sealed bag. Our humidity is so bad it would make it set up without spraying it

I poured an 8x10 slab with rebar 6 inches thick. And I went to grad school. Did it all in one day. Hardest day of my life. The sense of accomplishment is priceless

Saw a retaining wall built with bags of Sackrete stacked and wet down. After it set, they cut away all the visible paper from the bags. It's been there or at least 20 years.

I love that all of his research is just observations and touching the concrete. No breaks, no slump, not a bit of any meanigful data.

The bag concrete will harden on the outside but the interior will never be very strong, it will harden but never create the molecular bond that fully mixed concrete does during the curing process.

I had a bag of concrete set by itself, just from humidity in the air.

In another video he talks about taking a few minutes to mix the concrete and said that the dry pour saved time. He’s got 3” of concrete there, so after misting it twice (say 20 minutes apart), he then has to hang around and come back every half hour - you have to hang around for at least a hour and 40 minutes. On the flip side, I spend 15 minutes (tops) mixing the bag of concrete, pour it in the mold, level it out, spend another 5 minutes spraying out the wheel barrel and hosing off my tools, and then walk away until it cures - total working time - 30 minutes or less for the total job.

As a concrete demolition contractor, yes drypour all your concrete, we like those quick jobs!

Smack each of them with a sledgehammer in the center and see how well they hold up. Dry pour has its applications im sure but wet pour will mostly be the safest route in most applications

I have used bags of dry concrete anchored in place with rebar stakes driven through the bags to build a retaining wall. Worked great!

I was about to say what other comments did 😂 As someone who left an opened bag under my basement sink after making the place habitable, I know exactly what happens when a sealed bag gets moist and sits

Dry pour is gonna have cold joints where one layer is cured and the next isn’t. Concrete forms long chains in its reaction. Making it one solid pour makes for stronger concrete.

Spray diesel fuel on your slab after you finish....helps prevent water drying out too fast from the top,outwards

Yep, it'll hold. I had a extra bag of concrete left over sitting in my garage and didnt use it for couple years. When I decided to use it it was a solid rock. It was just the humidity that got at it and it solidified....😅

I dry poured a post hole for my mailbox 20 years ago. I didn't even spray it down with a hose. Just poured the Quikrete into the hole around the 4x4 post. The mailbox has been destroyed multiple times by snowplows but the post hasn't budged even the slightest.

As a person who grew up around a private owned concrete/cement company adding water to anything that can absorb water wont gain volume only way it would gain a smidge of volume is if you used 35% water 35% concrete mix 30% gravel (depending on grade of gravel small to medium grade gravel for different jobs and needs)

I would also like to see a totally saturated concrete mix up. To the point of almost self leveling.

A note to everyone - this only works in warm climates. Pouring concrete (dry or wet) on top of topsoil and other deleterious material is a bad idea anywhere, but a guarantee not to last a single winter in northern climates.

Dry pouring or dry packing is only used to fill gaps in penetrations through CMU walls and actual concrete slabs/formations.

After your final soak you should cover with plastic. The longer you keep concrete damp during curing the stronger the concrete. Once concrete dries it stops curing.

"Dry pour is quicker" "I had to spray it every half hour for next 3 hours"

if I remember correctly, you should keep any concrete pour wet for quite awhile, like a few days. apparently the longer concrete is wet the stronger it gets.

So I asked a guy a while ago about this but haven’t seen you on my feed. So here it is. He said while yeah it’s really no different, you get a better mix of the gravel when poring wet and you make sure everything is completely cured. Not to mention there’s a much less risk of the silica dust inhaled. But the last one is up in the air for me considering it’s getting out either way.

Judging from the 6 bags of Redi-Mix which spent the winter in the (enclosed) back of my truck, I can tell you that nothing but the humidity in the air is quite enough to result in 60 pound concrete blocks...

This test taught me alot! Thank you! Also, if you built up a retainer around the dry pour, to hold in the water better, that MAY help with water absorption. (I know it looked a lil dryer in the demolition video) Anywho, Thanks again for the content man!

The more water the weaker the concrete. Spec is a 4” slump for optimum psi. Slump will change when plasticizer is introduced, this chemical will raise or lower when you do a slump test the amount of water need to get to an 8” slump. Spraying the concrete to keep it wet will help it retain its optimum cure time and keep it from dehydrating. A properly cured concrete slab will still look green when it’s cured.

Yeah the dry pour seems more chill less messy

I built a large 2200 lb staircase and supporting pad using dry pour method with a gravel base, rebar, aggregate and a mortar top in back in July. I felt that dry pour worked better for my skill level. Plus it's a less messy cleanup. I misted the top, then ran a hose over it for 5 days. You can see it as the water soaks through the whole structure then cures. It's February now and holding up just fine through the snow and freezing temps. I would 100% do it dry again.

You won't be able to tell til about 3 years later the dry pour won't hold up as well as the mixed slab it's getting wet and dry over and over and freezing in winter that causes damage. You can seal them all and they will last longer, mix is best tho for sure

Water does not magically disappear. It does increase volume, although by a nominal amount due to hydration. Btw, once you have initial set, you can water it almost continuously. It can’t get too much water.

That concrete would’ve worked wonders with helping stabilize that fence. She’s getting lazy in a few areas lol. Got that west side lean going on.

I have seen retaining walls built with seared bags of concrete. It was at a railroad bridge to help keep the dirt slope stay in place. The bags were placed very artfully and like 6 or 7 bags high.

A dry pour is fine if you don't care about finish. If you need to finish it then a wet pour will allow that. Otherwise, water in cement is water in cement. There's no functional difference as it cures the same. There's no structural difference as it cures the same. And he's right, adding water to cement does not change the volume as the water is simply filling the air space in the cement.

What about putting out, say an inch of dry down, and soaking that. Then another inch, then another.. then another, and so on. Would this be preferable to 'hoping' the water gets all the way through to fully saturate the entire amount of the full dry pour?

Can you drill both or break them up to prove consistency is the same for both?

Wet placement will be more durable as the mixture will segregate less. In dry placement the concrete will segregate as the rock will settle to the bottom next sand then cement at the top.

I did a dry pour. 12 x 12 feet x 6" four years ago. I park my dump trailer on it. Not one crack. It also has hydronic in it. I just misted it with water and kept it covered in plastic for 4 weeks. It also had insulation underneath so it didn't get ground moisture from below.

See the test results here: kzfaq.infoxJfHbRf3t6s?feature=share

This guy just won't let it go.

What I do to avoid mixing concrete is install soaker hoses in the pour and then just connect it to the hose! Easy pz great results

For optimum strength pour it properly with a proper mix. If you want a stronger mix use less water by adding a superplasticizer. Concrete neads water to harden and cure. The proper amount of water is what controls the strength. Ponding once set up also a good way to get added strength. Spraying every half hour works ok but if you can just build a perimeter wall and put a half inch of water on top for a few days.

Hey there. Used to work in a concrete factory. The answer is no, dry pour is not as strong as wet pour. The more evenly the moisture is distributed in your mix, the better itll set up. Concrete strength is measured on a molecular level

Water does increase volume but minutely. Dry pour is great for light weight applications but i wouldnt do it for a driveway.

Dry concrete works fine. If you want a better surface, wet concrete and some skill. I prefer the 4000psi high strength bagged concrete. The BEST use of dry concrete is setting posts,, because,, with dry concrete you can set a post and be done with it, you do not even need to wet it,,, Rather, rod pack it. Work with a partner,, post hole,, place the post in the hole,, your partner handles the level and holds it upright and plumb. You pour in the dry mix,, and then take a 4 foot #4 rerod, and slide it down along side the post through the dry mix. Continue this up and down action going around the pole. In a few seconds,, your rod will not reach the bottom,, and few seconds more and the rod will only penetrate half way,, keep at it for about one full minute (your partner is still maintaining the top and the level) The concrete mix will bubble out all the gas spaces in the dry mix and after a total of about one minute of packing,, the post is stable and stays right where it was held. Do your next post,, and so on. You can be installing the fence panels or wire as soon as the posts are set. In all but central Arizona,, don't bother with adding water. The dry mix will suck all that it needs from the surrounding soils. Pretty much like all concrete,, 7 days to mostly cured, 28 days to full cure.

It't pretty weak stuff. Just enough cement for it to set. For anything other than setting fenceposts, I'll add half a shovel of cement to a bag of readymix sack crete.

Adding water doesn't affect the volume in a practical sense but using stone and sand with cement and water will be always be better than dry pour

I’ve built my whole retaining wall out of 80 lb bags of SacCrete, wall is approximately 220 ft. It been standing 26 years, started when they were $1.69 to over $4. Wall has never failed, had to replace a couple because of the Co Op backing into wall. It works to dry stack.

Dude is all in proving a point! I like it

It really depends too much water the concrete becomes weak too little it is a pain to pour and could leave unreached concrete powder. People go to university just to understand how water and other materials affect the properties of concrete but to be honest it probably doesn't matter in this situation

Im a 3rd party inspector and literally the most important thing is water/cement ratio. It will say it on the bag. Thats where all your strength will come from.

do a cube compression test. Drill three cores from all three and test them in a hydraulic press until failure. I can say that when drilling a core from the dry pour, you'll find that the bottom will flake off easily and the top will be firm. The wet mix will hold up well, maybe 25 Mpa +- 5 Mpa depending on your water content

only thing id recommend dry concrete for is fence posts. Anything else u should just mix properly.

If you use a wet mix you will be able to get all the air bubbles out by constantly tapping around the wood for 10 minutes. " but if you have a small cangol hammer ? Switch it to chisel mode and go around the wood with it. The vibrations will do a better job than a hammer will.

I learned several years ago to store leftover bags of cement, mortar, or redi-mix in 13 gallon garbage bags. Seal them up good and i've used them a few years down the road.