My home is interlocking cedar and quite thin. My plans are to replace the wood fronting my pony walls with stone and mortar. I will also add plant boxes as that is a great place for sun. My thoughts were that if things got bad and I was concerned about projectiles going through my walls that I would like to have materials on hand to add mortar and the same stone up some sections of my walls. It's not a look I want right now though.
I'll need stucco wire and maybe adhesive and mortar. My thoughts are that if I line Rubbermaid containers with heavy duty plastic bags and add humidity absorbers and seal the whole thing that I could store mortar till I need it. Has anyone had experience with this? I do know that stored improperly I will have a big lump when I go to use it. Any info appreciated.
I second this, for different reasons. Any one got any thoughts on how to store cement so it doesn't turn into a brick?
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
I third this...I have several bags of reacted concrete that I need to find a use for!
I have 25 bags of cement that have been good for 2+ years at this time. Place a pallet inside a shed with a large sheet of new 6 ml poly over it. Stack your bags and bring the poly up and around like wrapping the bottom half of a present using tuck tape to hold it together and seal all seams. Put another sheet of poly over top and fold it down over lapping the bottom "poly box" to make a lid on the pile. Seal the top to the bottom around the middle with tuck tape. To get in for some cement when needed, use a box knife to carefully cut the tape joining top and bottom, pull the lid off and retape top to bottom ASAP.
Before I figured this out, I created some cement bricks as well as inheriting some from the last owner of my farm. I had some very deep ruts in the lane way out to my haystacks made by the tractor during spring and heavy rain. I placed the bricks in the bottoms of the ruts along with all the rocks I kept picking out of the fields. I used a scraper blade to grade the dirt back over top and no longer have a problem with the tractor creating sink holes in the boggy bits.
Thanks for that! I was hoping someone who had experience both would reply. This is a great way to store lots of it. I can think of many projects I want to do now and more if things go bad. Great use for the spoiled ones too!
I also like that quick fence post stuff available. It is so light but I don't know what kind of shelf life it has. Thanks for your reply.
I cant bring myself to put cement in Mylar lined buckets. 😥 I just cant do it 😆
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Thinking out loud here...
Portland cement is only one of a few ingredients in mortar and concrete mix.
If you only stored the portland like that, the other ingredients such as gravel and sand can be piled up in the yard under a tarp and be OK.
This way, only a fraction of the bulk needs to be sealed up....
Thinking out loud here...
Portland cement is only one of a few ingredients in mortar and concrete mix.
If you only stored the portland like that, the other ingredients such as gravel and sand can be piled up in the yard under a tarp and be OK.
This way, only a fraction of the bulk needs to be sealed up….
That is what I do. I have portland, masonry and self leveling on the pallet. Out in the yard on cheap tarps are a truck load each of cement gravel (sand and small rock mix), sand, and 3"minus rock for what ever. The cement gravel and sand should be covered with plastic or you won't be able to judge the moisture content of the cement when mixing very well and you don't really want it washing away, weeds growing in it and chickens/cats crapping on it either. The other thing to look out for in your sand pile is frogs. They like to burrow in and frog makes for lumpy brick mortar. You would be surprised at how many frogs of various sizes taking up residence in the sand pile.
Frogs -that's a new one on me. We don't have that prob out here, but as the climate changes it might be something to watch for. We don't have rats or raccoons but if the SHTF the rat patrols might end. So some poison and large traps might be good to have. The frogs-are they good eating?
I think you would need something called a brick shelf on the foundation to hold up the weight of all that stone.
How about a hugel mound in front of the vulnerable spots? Protection and garden in one.
Frogs -that's a new one on me. We don't have that prob out here, but as the climate changes it might be something to watch for. We don't have rats or raccoons but if the SHTF the rat patrols might end. So some poison and large traps might be good to have. The frogs-are they good eating?
Now Zana, don't be that way. It's a well documented fact of life that one does not eat pets. Besides, "Door Toad" is just to ugly too eat even though he is almost big enough to sub as a christmas turkey. Door Toad is the fellow who sits on my door step every night and catches all the bugs attracted to the porch light. When leaving the house it has become automatic to step up and over. He is becoming a real stumbling block. On second thought, we might be forced to eat him. Yay PETA!
Well you don't need to eat the useful ones, just the ones who make for lumpy concrete. Lol you could google recipes just in case. That's why we need have lots of spices and seeds for fresh herbs!