Help: Using Quickrete 101

[jen_in_southtexas]

OK, someone please chime in and help me. I need to set a coupla fence posts to install the front gate. I want to use Quickrete but Ive never used it before. Can someone tell me how much water is needed for a bag of Quickrete. Im sure Im going to use more than one bag but lets start with water measurements for ONE bag. What kind of consistency am I looking for when mixed? What is the curing time? I know there are instructions on the bag but i want to hear your experience with it. I will have to haul water in a big tote. Looking to do this soon. Thank you.

-jen

[cinok]

Which Quickrete The red bag or yellow what size bags. You want enough water to make it wet and moldable.

[AlchemyAcres]

OK, someone please chime in and help me. I need to set a coupla fence posts to install the front gate. I want to use Quickrete but Ive never used it before. Can someone tell me how much water is needed for a bag of Quickrete. Im sure Im going to use more than one bag but lets start with water measurements for ONE bag. What kind of consistency am I looking for when mixed? What is the curing time? I know there are instructions on the bag but i want to hear your experience with it. I will have to haul water in a big tote. Looking to do this soon. Thank you.

-jen


In general, mix it so it's as stiff as possible.
It'll need to be stiff to hold the post plumb.
Tamp it in good around the posts.

If the ground is moist, or after adding some water to the hole, we often just tamp it in dry. We've done many thousands of fence posts that way.

With standard mix, I'd give it 2-3 days to cure well. If you're hanging a gate, you don't want the pressure from the gate breaking the concrete loose from the post.


~Martin

[bee_pipes]

Martin and Cinok are right on the money. There is no secret recipe, like cooking something. You add water a bit at a time to reach the consistency desired. We mix it in a wheel barrow with a hoe. If you are lucky, a hose will reach to the spot where you are mixing the quickcrete. My experience is that I always need the quickcrete somewhere that the hose won't reach, so we haul buckets of water.

We get more than enough water to be sure we don't have to run for water after the mixing starts. We also have more than enough quickcrete to be sure that if I get heavy handed with the water we can fix that.

It is simpler to mix the quickcrete next to the place I want to use it. Moving a wheelbarrow with 50-80 lbs quickcrete and water is a bit of a chore.

Scrap lumber nailed to your post can help hold it plumb until the quickcrete dries. Just a single nail in each board. Nail the boards at 90 degrees to each other on the post so you have a control over forward and back, left and right. The boards ought to meet the ground at about a 45 degree angle or so. After the quickcrete is poured, recheck the post for plumb and adjust your scrap lumber legs as needed to restore it to plumb.

Martin knows what he's doing. I don't. My personal approach is to give the crete as much time as possible to cure. At least 2-3 days. If I have other stuff to stay busy with and don't need the gate hung right away, give it a week. Depends on the job and my rush. You will also want supporting timbers - normally around here another post is put in the ground 8 foot or less away and a timber goes between the gate post and the support post - like the letter "H" or "N". If the gate is large, folks around here will use tall posts and string a timber across the top to keep posts from leaning inwards to each other.

Best luck with your project. Please don't forget the pictures so we can admire your work!

Regards,
Pat

[PaulNKS]

Jen,

Around here most people don't put concrete with the post. They use a combination H and N brace with the two uprights (the gate post and the brace) about 8 feet apart. The H is with another piece of timber and the N is with wire. When I finish hanging my gate, I'll take a pic and show you.

On the rare occasion that someone here uses concrete, they put it in the hole dry and tamp, like Martin stated. The concrete will absorb the subsoil moisture and set up on its own and it will do just as good without the back breaking labor. lol

Like Pat said... Take photos! lol

Paul

[flatwater]

Everything mentioned above is very correct. I like my fences very tight and my gates very strong so the one thing I do is not use concrete because in the past it has given me a false since of security. All my corners are in an L pattern with each leg of the L with cross wires like this 1X1 and a top rail Yes it's a little more work but hell for stout. But again I tend to over build. It also has a lot to do with the type of soil you have and the type of lumber you will be using. If you have a long run I also will put in another set of posts like Paul has mentioned. Another thing to take into consideration is what is it you want to keep in or out. Good luck on your project Jen

[PaulNKS]

Jen,

Here's the way my gate posts are set. The one closest to the gravel is the one the gate will hang from. The "brace" post is the one behind it. You can see the wire that goes from the top of the gate post to the bottom of the brace post and then the wire is tightened with another piece of wood or pipe. It twists the wire to hold the top tightly. Also the two posts are notched to accept the "H" part that is horizontal. This corner post is actually a little over 18" in diameter and the gate post is between 12" and 15". My gate is recessed about 58 feet off the road. If you look between the two posts, you can see my mailbox and you can see the other brace posts that the wire from the gate braces will angle to. I still have a couple more braces to add. These two posts will actually be three posts in an L shape.
http://cedarshillfarm.com/bhmphotos/hedgepost01.JPG

Just another view. You can see my gate lying on the other side of the drive. These have no concrete but are tamped in good. They will outlive me, because they are hedge and set well enough that they will never lean in my lifetime. The house that you can see in the background has been vacant almost 20 years. I really have no close neighbors.
http://cedarshillfarm.com/bhmphotos/hedgepost02.JPG

I hope that helps you. This is a cheap way. The only cost in this gate post and brace is the cost of the wire and the cost of the gas and oil for the chainsaw. These posts weigh a lot. There is not way I can even pick up one end. I have to use the tractor bucket to lift them up and set them in the holes.

Paul

[flatwater]

That almost looks like a locus post. If not some sort of hard wood. Looks hell for strong though.

[PaulNKS]

That's "Hedge" which is also called "Osage Orange" and "Bois d'arc".

It's also great for firewood. But, if a person doesn't know how to use it, they can warp a good cast iron stove and ruin a fireplace insert because it burns so hot. The firewood from hedge was selling for $150 a cord, but a buddy told me the other day that he saw an add for hedge firewood at $275 a cord.

For fence posts, I think they sell for $1 per inch of diameter at 8 feet long.

It grows in the midwest clear down into northeast Texas.

It is the preferred wood for fences. It won't rot. If you use if with fence staples you have to do it while the wood is still green, because you can't nail a staple into once it dries.

The old perimeter fences that I've been replacing were over 40 years old and the wood still had not rotted. So, I cut them up for firewood. It dries hard enough that a chain saw will spark as you cut it.

It makes darn good fences and gate posts.

The other thing I forgot to say is that those posts I cut were 10 feet long with 4 feet in the ground, tamped solid. I'll cut some off the tops, too.

For Jen, I think she could probably do the same thing with Mesquite if she could find some that are big enough diameter.

Paul

[MissouriFree]

Everything mentioned above is very correct. I like my fences very tight and my gates very strong so the one thing I do is not use concrete because in the past it has given me a false since of security. All my corners are in an L pattern with each leg of the L with cross wires like this 1X1 and a top rail Yes it's a little more work but hell for stout. But again I tend to over build. It also has a lot to do with the type of soil you have and the type of lumber you will be using. If you have a long run I also will put in another set of posts like Paul has mentioned. Another thing to take into consideration is what is it you want to keep in or out. Good luck on your project Jen

Flat I am like you..I never use concrete. seems that if I put it in straight , brace the corners and gate post and most important tamp it right ( every 3-4 inches),, they last as long as I need. I grew up in the country on self sufficient farm in the 50/60's( cause we had to be-didn't have much) and daddy never used concrete.

In fact I doubt there was such a thing as quikrete then. I often wonder if we haven't gotten the idea that for a fence to be good it has to be sit in concrete only because the concrete people say it is such as good idea.


ADDED.. I add that the wood selected is the important thing.. Osage orange. white oak, cedar or locust was best on the home place. Locust easy to find but so darn hard o split. have to do it after the freeze

[jen_in_southtexas]

Hey guys,

Thanks for jumping in with your advice. Paul thank you for taking the time to post pics. Looks good. Maybe I wont need to use concrete afterall. I gotta get a hold of the phone company to come and mark where their cables are buried along the fence line area before I even think of digging. I've already got some posts for the gate. They are treated posts.

Paul, is that wire that is twisted from one post to the next where you adjust the tension? How deep into the ground did you set your posts?

Thanks again everyone.

jen

[PaulNKS]

Paul, is that wire that is twisted from one post to the next where you adjust the tension? How deep into the ground did you set your posts?

Jen,

The wire is a "smooth" wire. It is the same thing as barbed wire without the barbs. Any strong wire works. The cross bar keeps the posts from leaning toward the each other and the wire keeps the posts pulled tightly together. With both the wire and the cross bar, those posts ain't gonna be movin' none. lol

You just cut a small notch in the backside of the posts where the wire runs to keep if from moving up or down the posts. I completely set one post, usually the brace. Then I tamp the other post about 1/3 of the way, insert the cross piece of wood, then just wrap the wire around both posts, and join the two ends. You can see that I have a smaller stick to twist the wires. It goes halfway between the post and the horizontal wood piece. You twist it until the crosspiece of wood is tight. Then twist the wire until it is like a guitar string. lol The piece of wood you use to twist will become permanent. This wire keeps the gate post from eventually leaning.

I cut those two pots at 10 feet. Then I put about 4 feet in the ground. So as you see it in the photo, there's about 6 feet sticking above ground. Once the gate is hung and the barbed wire is strung, the posts will be cut off about 2 to 3 inches above the top wire.... maybe. I'm thinking of leaving them tall unlike the rest of the fence.

For those posts, three feet in the ground would be plenty. But, I have a post hole auger that will four feet. Then I clean the loose dirt out of the holes with hand jobbers. For those brace posts, I have to enlarge the drilled holes because my auger is only 12 inches across. But, for my line posts, all I do is clean out the hole.

Hope that helps. Heck... you oughta know by now that if anything can be done good AND cheap or free, you can find it here. lol

Paul

[cinok]

http://www.staytuff.com/build/how/4
http://www.redbrand.com/installation/
Jen both the abovr links have basic suggestions for building both fences and bracing. Part of post instillation is based upon soil conditions and site conditions.

[Builder Ken]

Just thought I would add that the hedge that Paul was talking about is also used for making bows. I live next to the Osage reservation in Oklahoma we have lots of hedge we also call it hedge apple. They get a big green fruit on them about the size of a softball some folks around here use them for bug control they split them in half and toss a bunch under the house. The post of choice around these parts is Black Jack or scrub oak. I have seen huge grass fires come through and the post will smoke but very seldom burn. Ken

[ArmySGT.]

Wear a mask and goggles, you do not want the dust in your lungs or eyes.