Had a chat with a retired sidewalk guy who made me rethink my mix ratios

3 comments

3 Comments

Right, so I've been over here buying concrete by the pallet like it's going out of style and this guy just shows up with his little bucket of mix and shows me up... typical. Now I'm staring at my garage full of leftover cement bags wondering if I should just build a small bunker out of them or something. Great, one more thing for my wife to roll her eyes about when she sees the credit card bill.

carter.laura28d ago

I remember reading in Fine Homebuilding that a retired mason said the perfect ratio for walkways is 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 3 parts gravel - way less cement than most people use. He said the biggest mistake homeowners make is adding too much water to make it easier to work, which just makes the concrete weak and prone to cracking. I tried it on a small path behind my garage last summer, and it came out solid as a rock, no cracks even after our freeze-thaw cycle. Made me wonder how much money I wasted on extra cement bags over the years.

the_wyatt19d ago

Man that's exactly the kind of thing that keeps me up at night wondering how much I overpay for materials. @mason.brian you ever try cutting back on the cement like that or did you double down on the pallet life? I'm curious if there's a catch to using less cement on bigger projects or if it works fine all around.