Cement and Hot weather

[Chewie]

Hello Gents
I was planning on setting up my Sat dish pole in the ground this weekend but the weather is about 100 d. out here. I have quikrete bags and the instructions details the cement should be pour in about 75 d. weather. next weekend the weather will be about 90 to 92 d.
I looked around on the web for some ideas on how get it done in the hot weather, but maybe any of you guys have better ideas.
please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Chewie

 

[Magic Static]

It shouldn't be that hot in the ground. Pour the concrete and keep a sprinkler lightly sprinkling and keep it wet for a couple days or so it doesn't cure to quick.

 

[Anole]

I'm no cement expert, but let me ask this...

What if you used regular cement instead of the quickcrete?
Then, follow the suggestion above: keep a wet towel over the top and maintain moisture (light sprinkler sounds good).
Give it three days (?) to set up.
Make sure there is shade over your work, too.


In those circumstances, the quickcrete would set up in three hours, generating lots of heat.
That's probably not what you want.
Maybe one of you cement experts can comment?

 

[sergei]

As long as you keep it slightly wet you shouldn't have a problem with it curing, normally when they pull down in hot weather I've seen them cover it with burlap and they keep it wet. I'm sure you could even use your wife's bath towel to keep it moist

 

[hwm]

I had quite a bit of experience working with concrete when I was young and working in construction. You should be fine simply pouring it into a hole in the ground. The ground temperature will be much lower than the 100 degree air temperature.

Hot weather does cause concrete to set up much faster, which can be a huge problem on a slab where you need to work with it to level it out, edge it, and trowel it to a hard finish before it sets up too much. I personally will never again try to pour a slab on a hot day in direct sunlight. It is a recipe for disaster.

One method to slow hardening speed in hot weather is to use ice water in the mix. I would also suggest you keep your bags of Quikcrete as cool as possible before mixing.

If it was me, I would do this job in the middle of the night when it is relatively cool. Use a mixer to speed things along. Please don't try mixing concrete by hand in hot weather.

As others have suggested, keep it wet for several days after pouring.

 

[stogie5150]

I had quite a bit of experience working with concrete when I was young and working in construction. You should be fine simply pouring it into a hole in the ground. The ground temperature will be much lower than the 100 degree air temperature.

Hot weather does cause concrete to set up much faster, which can be a huge problem on a slab where you need to work with it to level it out, edge it, and trowel it to a hard finish before it sets up too much. I personally will never again try to pour a slab on a hot day in direct sunlight. It is a recipe for disaster.

One method to slow hardening speed in hot weather is to use ice water in the mix. I would also suggest you keep your bags of Quikcrete as cool as possible before mixing.

If it was me, I would do this job in the middle of the night when it is relatively cool. Use a mixer to speed things along. Please don't try mixing concrete by hand in hot weather.

As others have suggested, keep it wet for several days after pouring.

^^^^^^^^
What he said. For pouring it in a hole for a dish, not an issue. Here in Louisiana I have poured in 35 degree cold, and 100 degree heat, makes the same concrete in the end. Fine for our purposes.

 

[Chewie]

Hello Gents
I tank you all for your input, I was in my back yard earlier and it was just to hot to do any thing, the temperature will be in the 100's for the next few days, I plan to get it done early morning next Friday the temp. will be 91 d. may be at noon for a few hours.
According to the data sheet on this 80 lbs cement bags I should be adding about 6 to 9 pints of water, is this enough water? I think the cement will be hard to work with, the cement company claims, if one more pint of water is added
it will loss half of the strength.
what do you thing?
any comments will be much appreciated.
Regards.
Chewie.

 

[stogie5150]

Hello Gents
I tank you all for your input, I was in my back yard earlier and it was just to hot to do any thing, the temperature will be in the 100's for the next few days, I plan to get it done early morning next Friday the temp. will be 91 d. may be at noon for a few hours.
According to the data sheet on this 80 lbs cement bags I should be adding about 6 to 9 pints of water, is this enough water? I think the cement will be hard to work with, the cement company claims, if one more pint of water is added
it will loss half of the strength.
what do you thing?
any comments will be much appreciated.
Regards.
Chewie.

I add water until its workable. Screw the bag instructions. Sometimes until its like soup, because I get overzealous with the garden hose. I ain't had a dish fall yet.

At the very least, look on the bag, it will give instructions for post setting, whereby you put dry mix in the hole first, add water, then add the rest/ Or something like that.

Anyway, temperature would NOT stop me from setting my pole. When you're ready, pour your mix, brace your pole so it stays level, and let nature do its thing. your concrete will be fine.

 

[T4Runner]

You never said how many bags of cement you were actually going to use, but I always use a wheel barrow and mix one bag at a time in it. Water hose and add water til its sloppy enough to pour by tilting the wheel barrow. I keep going fast and furious til it's done.

I always braced 2x4's grnd staked and duct taped to the pole so I don't have to worry about the pole moving. I also keep two magnetic levels on the pole during the process. Good luck!

 

[Chewie]

Hello Gents
Thanks for your input, the hole is 3.5 feet deep by 20 inch square, according to a Cement calculator It downloaded it should take about 14- 80 lbs bags, I read Dee-Ann Thread anfd ask her how many bags she used on the c foot dish setup, she claims she only used 9 to 10 bags and the hole is are 18 inch to 20 inch by 4 feet deep, so I am buying 13 bags just in case.
here are some pictures of my setup.
Regards
Chewie

 

[Dishman Dan]

It is much better to have too much than not enough! If you have some bags left just use them on your next satellite project!
Or you can return them to the store.

One suggestion is to get a pole level that sticks to the pole. They are available at most Lowes and Home Depots and places in between. This type of level sure works great for me when setting poles and posts and it sure helps get that pole plumb!

 

[ZetaMale]

Last summer I had a mixer deliver some fiberglass mesh concrete for my new 12 footer. It set up real good even though I had a string of 90 degree days. And the dish hasn't fallen over yet.

 

[NotTy]

The weather won't hurt it but too much water can. You should be able to slice through the mixture with a shovel & it should hold it's shape somewhat. It shouldn't slop & spill out of the wheelbarrow while in transport but it should flow easily when you dump it. If you add too much water, you can always add another shovelful or two of concrete to thicken it up without waekening the mixture. Work fast to get it done. Keeping the hole damp doesn't hurt either, just don't turn it into a mud pit. When you're all done, you shouldn't need to cover it or keep water on it, it's not a slab. I pour concrete for a living, even in 100` weather. I pour & go & come back in 2 hours to pull forms. I 'll keep my slabs cool with water but my foundations I leave alone. You could also do this early in the morning when it's cool & it's a little easier to work. Have a friend or neighbor help you mix. And if it looks as though you're running a little short on cement, it's far better to toss some large rocks or old brake drums off your truck into the hole rather than gravel or dirt.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I was told that the cement should be like soft peanut butter and that you mix a gallon of water to a sack of cement.

I put a few small poles in myself and this worked for me. Mixing it was pretty hard work but I would imagine it would be a lot easier for you guys.

The guy I paid to put in the poles for the big C dishes didn't measure out the water, he just added it and mixed, added it and mixed until he thought it was right then dumped it in the hole.
I bought out a gallon ice tea picture to measure by and he told me "I don't need that BS, just move back and lookout." I guess he's mixed cement before a lot more than I have.

I have no idea how to calculate how much cement to use that's foolproof but I found a cement calculator for fences. I looked at several of them on google and the results for all of them came out different so I was way off on how much to buy. I ended up with several sacks more than the calculator told me but that wasn't a tragedy because the next pole wasn't done yet. After seeing how many for sure it took on the first one, I was able how much more was needed to do that last one. There was one sack left over and that was not a big deal, I saved it for later.

 

[navychop]

.... I'm sure you could even use your wife's bath towel to keep it moist

Yep. Be sure to use HER bath towel, not yours! :dev

 

[arcticracer]

It's not rocket science, mix it a bag at a time, add water until you get a nice liquidy but firm mix. Overkill on the number of bags there but too much won't hurt anything. When I dug holes I made them round, only about a foot or so wide at the top and maybe 18" at the bottom and about 2 feet deep. Sort of the shape of a bell. That will hold a 12 foot antenna in firm soil.

 

[stogie5150]

It's not rocket science, mix it a bag at a time, add water until you get a nice liquidy but firm mix. Overkill on the number of bags there but too much won't hurt anything. When I dug holes I made them round, only about a foot or so wide at the top and maybe 18" at the bottom and about 2 feet deep. Sort of the shape of a bell. That will hold a 12 foot antenna in firm soil.

Agreed. 13 bags is overkill. Down here in our soupy Louisiana dirt, my 12' Paraclipse is held in place with three bags. Never had a dish that used more than that. Birdview used four, but only because I poured a little 2X2 slab ABOVE ground level just as an experiment to see how I liked it.

 

[Chewie]

Hello Gents
Well, I pour the cement today it took 10 bags of it, I got me some help, it took us about 2 hours, with my setup the pole did not move at all, right now the temp. is about 96 d out there, so I put a tarp over the wood to keep the sun of it until it cools off.
I will take it off during the night.
I tank you all for your comments.
Regards.
Chewie