# Best Flexible Concrete Recipe



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

You may want to consider building a form and installing rebar to help keep it from cracking. Using regular concrete is fine, but using crack resistant stuff will make for a really strong curb. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Quikrete-80-lb-Crack-Resistant-Concrete-Mix-100680/100318448


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

The mixture that will crack the least is called asphalt.


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## ClarenceBauer (Mar 4, 2005)

You may not be able to stop all cracking.
Look into the use of Helix Steel ( Micro Rebar ) & in place of Steel rebar use V- Rod it is a fiber Glass Rebar ( no rusting ) www.fiberglassrebar.com
"IF IT COMES IN A SACK IT WILL CRACK"


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## preventec47 (Jan 16, 2020)

Well this is going to look a lot like a street curb on the top side 4 or 5 inches high and dug down to 6 or 8 inches deep. I will be forming with 2x6s. What I am researching also is the method I have seen promoted whereby you fill all the forms with dry concrete and gravel mix with rebar and then add water. Sounds crazy but I saw some articles on the Quikcrete website and other places. Might not even need a concrete mixer.
You have to admit this would use the least amount of water making the cured product the strongest it can be as the more water you add the weaker the cured product is.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

ClarenceBauer said:


> "IF IT COMES IN A SACK IT WILL CRACK"


My favorite sayings (probably read them here) about concrete are:

There are two kinds of concrete:
1) Concrete that has cracked
2) Concrete that has not cracked yet

and:

There are 3 sure things about concrete:
1) Its heavy
2) Nobody is going to steal it from you
3) Its going to crack


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

The guy who poured my shop floor (great job btw) told me they would come back and cut control joints in the slab once it had cured a few days. Not knowing the real purpose, I asked why. He said "your slab WILL CRACK. We're just going to tell it WHERE to crack."


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

> What I am researching also is the method I have seen promoted whereby you fill all the forms with dry concrete and gravel mix with rebar and then add water. Sounds crazy but I saw some articles on the Quikcrete website and other places.


Why don’t you post a link to this recommended process?

I know about it for fence posts, but that’s the only thing I’d use it for.
Doing it with form work is crazy.


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## preventec47 (Jan 16, 2020)

Oso954 said:


> Doing it with form work is crazy.


I have a friend who used the technique for a 5 inch slab for his garden shed
and he said it came out great. He said he did a screed job on the top of it
with long 2x4 and kept spraying it with water . So I dont know ? ? ?


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

preventec47 said:


> What I am researching also is the method I have seen promoted whereby you fill all the forms with dry concrete and gravel mix with rebar and then add water. Sounds crazy.....


Yes it does. Just because people do something does not make it a good idea.

Besides, you already bought the cement mixer.


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## preventec47 (Jan 16, 2020)

when good friends tell you something that they did that they liked and were satisified
with...... there are hints that this may be a good idea for some certain situations
meaning that it appears to get the job done without any downsides. I have my doubts as well but I tell you, I have seen a guy build a retaining wall with nothing but stacked concrete bags with rebar pounded through them. He left it to nature to do the hydrating and peeling away of the paper and that wall today is bombproof. I cannot say it is any percentage stronger or weaker than poured form redi mix walls 
but it sure seemed to go together with a mininum of effort.... and makes me wonder if other approaches to the use of dry mix might not be effective. Good ideas are in the minds of the beholders.


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

*ran into this in atlanta ( gwinnett cty & 1 last yr in smyrna ),,, not a bad idea under the right circumstance,,, have heard of the floor method you friend used, too, but ONLY for fenceposts & pole barns*


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

*conc won't crack IF its designed for the intended use & properly installed,,, this includes the correct jointing pattern,,, what comes in a bag's just as good as what comes out of the chute IF properly mixed*


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## carmusic (Oct 11, 2011)

i would not rely on concrete itself for waterproofing, put a membrane on the concrete or at least some waterproofing stuff on it some any crack wont let water get in


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

*if all you're doing is diverting surface runoff, i wouldn't worry about wtrproofing the conc,,, IF there'll be standing wtr, some drainage help'll be required*


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## Half-fast eddie (Sep 19, 2020)

preventec47 said:


> a retaining wall with nothing but stacked concrete bags with rebar pounded through them. He left it to nature to do the hydrating and peeling away of the paper


I bet the neighbors really appreciated looking at the deteriorating bags for a year. And this works if you don”t mind a lumpy surface.


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