Quikrete versus Cement

[mikeweirfan]

I'm going to be sinking some pressure treated posts for a small shed. I've heard of this stuff called, I think, quikrete. Apparently you pour the dry mix into a hole and pour water on it. Soon it hardens. I've never used this before. What do the pros think?

I normally just bring out the wheel barrow, drop a bag of cement in there, pour in some water and mix, then pour into the hole.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[concretemasonry]

The Quikrete is a mixture of cement and aggregate (usually mainly sand).

For fill around post you can get reasonable strength eventually, but never as good as mixing the Quikrete with water and then putting it in sink the dry Quikrete does not fill the voids good enough and the weather/rain may not follow your schedule.

Dick

[Don_P]

You'll sure get a better footing to set the post on top of by mixing the quickrete with water and placing it in the hole then coming back to set the posts a few days later.

[RTF]

Don is correct, pour a footing base prior to setting your posts, set your posts and mix your mud in a wheelbarrow then pour it around your posts. Make sure to add a type of anchor leg to the bottom section of the post, you can add galvanized 60p spikes to two sides of the post.

[mikeweirfan]

Thanks everyone for their contributions. So here is what I will do, based on the comments above. First, dig a four-foot deep hole. Pour in some mixed concrete to a depth of maybe six inches. This is the "footing". Once that hardens (two or three days) put the posts into the hole that is now 3.5 feet deep. Line up the posts and pour in pre-mixed concrete to ground level.

Do I have this right? Can someone explain the purpose of the footing?

[Don_P]

The footing spreads out the load that is coming down the post onto a bigger footprint. It needs to be thick enough that the post cannot "punch through". The rule of thumb is that it needs to be as thick as the horizontal distance from post to edge of hole. A couple of rebars each way in that pour in a # configuration is usually specced but under a light load...

Pouring a sleeve around the post does not support it vertically and in my mind promotes rot. Pinning the posts to the footing and running them up through the building, using the walls to pick up lateral strength would probably do the job and save on concrete.

[mikeweirfan]

Don,

Thanks for your always-helpful advice. I now realize that the footing is very important. I'm going to make the footing to a six-inch depth. I think that will cover me off.