Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said yes,
prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small mounds on a
board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to fresh stuff yet.
--
EA

On 10/15/2012 11:13 AM, Existential Angst wrote:
Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said yes,
prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small mounds on a
board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to fresh stuff yet.


I'm not a super expert on concrete and mortar but I've used enough over
the years to find that it's hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from
the air if it's not kept sealed up. When I was installing automatic
doors and store fronts, I used a lot of QUIKRETE® and self leveling
cement for thresholds and such so I kept the stuff in 5 gal buckets with
snap on air tight lids. ^_^

TDD

Existential,

Air contains moisture. If the container is open and the relative humidity
is often elevated, then you can't keep the powder dry. Open and dry are
contradictory conditions. I'd guess that the salesman knows what local
conditions are like.

Dave M.

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:13:47 -0400, "Existential Angst"
wrote:


Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said yes,
prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small mounds on a
board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to fresh stuff yet.

Open bags go bad pretty fast, maybe a year or two in temperate
climates., and that includes even bags where the open end is rolled
down. Don't know about keeping it in buckets as Dufus mentioned.
I throw it away if it any of the powder has hardened. It's cheap
enough, and if it doesn't bond right you've got a mess and wasted a
lot of labor.

Existential Angst wrote:
Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said
yes, prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small
mounds on a board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to
fresh stuff yet.

Yes, they go bad. You can tell because the bag gets hard

If there are large (lemon - orange size) hard lumps in the bag, dump it. If
the lumps are small (pea - bean) and the rest is still powder, use it being
sure to crush the lumps.

Around (central Florida) here an unopened bag is bad in a year or so. I
keep both opened and unopened bags in a garbage bag tied shut and even an
opened bag is good for a year.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:52:58 -0400, "dadiOH" wrote:

Yes, they go bad. You can tell because the bag gets hard

Does this mean that men who get hard are bad too?

If there are large (lemon - orange size) hard lumps in the bag, dump it. If
the lumps are small (pea - bean) and the rest is still powder, use it being
sure to crush the lumps.

It's a good idea to keep the stuff in the refrigerator to keep it dry,
but putting oranges, lemons and peas in the bag are downright stupid.

Around (central Florida) here an unopened bag is bad in a year or so. I
keep both opened and unopened bags in a garbage bag tied shut and even an
opened bag is good for a year.

The use of a garbage bag makes it easy to dispose it when it goes bad.
Smart moove!

"Existential Angst" wrote in message
...

Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said yes,
prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small mounds on
a board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to fresh stuff yet.
--
EA


Yes...You can tell if it gets lumps in it or in the case of plaster or
setting type bags of joint compound it will smell musty...

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Existential Angst wrote:
Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said
yes, prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.
How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small
mounds on a board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to
fresh stuff yet.

Yes, they go bad. You can tell because the bag gets hard

If there are large (lemon - orange size) hard lumps in the bag, dump it.
If the lumps are small (pea - bean) and the rest is still powder, use it
being sure to crush the lumps.

Around (central Florida) here an unopened bag is bad in a year or so. I
keep both opened and unopened bags in a garbage bag tied shut and even an
opened bag is good for a year.

Here's the thing: these bags, containers have been around for years, and
are still smooth, powdery (as opposed to being truly "dry", in a humidity
sense -- kept inside, in the northeast..
The masonry guy says that they definitely can, will go bad, even tho they
look ok.

I'm going to do some test patches on wood, compare, report back.
--
EA



--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

Yes, the humidity in the air makes the cement go lumpy.

I really don't see why the manufacturers of cement products don't have a plastic liner within the bag to prevent that from happening when the bag is in storage.

If you've recently purchased some redicrete, I'd store it in a clear plastic bag. Phone contractors that remove asbestos insulation from buildings. The clear plastic bags they use are really strong and won't tear easily.

Portland Cement is made by extensive baking of clay and lime. Moisture, in any amount, allows them to react to form silicates. There is plenty of moisture in desert air to allow it to set over time. The only way you are keeping it from setting over time is to keep it in an oven or in an airtight container, as others have mentioned.

That being said, you can also place the concrete dry and let it set up with only the moisture in the earth your casting against. The breaks tend to be high when compared to overly wetted concrete. I actually ran across this thread while trying to find the PSI of air set concrete. It looks like ill have to test it myself, which will be easy enough with the curing room.

On Monday, October 15, 2012 12:14:22 PM UTC-4, Existential Angst wrote:
Assuming they are still dry, of course. A local home center guy said yes,

prolonged exposure to air renders it unusable.

How old is old? How to test? My own little spot tests (small mounds on a

board) are really crumbly, but I haven't compared it to fresh stuff yet.

--

EA

If it's still loose then it's probably usable for most home projects. When it absorbs too much water from the air it turns into a bag sized rock.

replying to gfretwell, Scott Franco wrote:
Thanks for the thread here. I am on about my third bag of "gone bad" cement
here in California, all types, sackcrete, motar, stucco. All ready mix, all
worked fine when new. Its not expensive, like $2 a bag, but it bothers me to
have to throw most of a bag away, it can't be great for the environment.

--
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On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 22:14:02 GMT, Scott Franco
m wrote:

replying to gfretwell, Scott Franco wrote:
Thanks for the thread here. I am on about my third bag of "gone bad" cement
here in California, all types, sackcrete, motar, stucco. All ready mix, all
worked fine when new. Its not expensive, like $2 a bag, but it bothers me to
have to throw most of a bag away, it can't be great for the environment.

Seal the leftovers up in a DRY plastic pail

On 10/2/2018 3:14 PM, Scott Franco wrote:
replying to gfretwell, Scott Franco wrote:
Thanks for the thread here. I am on about my third bag of "gone bad" cement
here in California, all types, sackcrete, motar, stucco. All ready mix, all
worked fine when new. Its not expensive, like $2 a bag, but it bothers
me to
have to throw most of a bag away, it can't be great for the environment.


So offer it on freecycle or craigslist "free" while it is still fresh.

On 10/2/18 6:14 PM, Scott Franco wrote:
replying to gfretwell, Scott Franco wrote:
Thanks for the thread here. I am on about my third bag of "gone bad" cement
here in California, all types, sackcrete, motar, stucco. All ready mix, all
worked fine when new. Its not expensive, like $2 a bag, but it bothers
me to
have to throw most of a bag away, it can't be great for the environment.


Gotta love you California libbies- "the environment" will be just fine,
not to worry...

replying to Vic Smith, Thad wrote:
You are on the money with that statement. I used type N that I don t know
the age of and parged a chimney. I didnt think it looked right when mixing
it but I applied it anyway. The next day I had to remove everything I did. It
had crumbled as though there was hardly any cement in it. Also the mortar had
not hardened except for a lot of small pellets no bigger than a pea and they
were not rock hard.



--
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