The rapid setting cements are CSA (calcium sulfoaluminate) and are chemically different from portland cement, which is made from limestone (Calcium carbonate), which is converted to calcium oxides when clinker is made, and is mainly calcium silicates and calcium aluminates. You can control the set time of the CSA cements with the addition of varying amounts of citric acid, much as in the old days of adding some soda pop (sugar) to portland. In my decorative concretes, I add varying amounts of CSA to the portland from 5% to 30%. This allows me to not only speed the set of the portland mix, but also adds early strength and the CSA, which expands as it sets, compensates for portland's tendency to shrink. Shrinkage cracks are then at an absolute minimum. If it's going to rain, I increase the amount of CSA so the mix sets within an hour. I also work with mixes containing metakoalin and silica fume, both being pozzolans, and utilize their small particle sizes to take advantage of particle packing that creates a very dense, impervious finished product with compressive strengths of 15,000 to 20,000 psi when mixed using fiber additives.
Hi dperry,,,this is great info, they should put it on the bag, I been doing everything trial and error, I added to the Portland a few times and it worked fine, but dosent work as a paint, it holds up to the freezing weather very good, I got to pin your comment to the top of the page, thanks Mike
@@MikeHaduck I forgot to add that one of the other ingredients that I absolutely can't do without anymore is acrylic bonding agent/admix. If you add it to your mix water, I think you'd get the results you want when using mixes at paint consistency. I buy acrylic with 50% solids and dilute it 3 parts water to 1 part acrylic When doing parging or adding new mix to old concrete, wetting the old concrete with the acrylic/water mix instead of plain water and using acrylic in the new works wonders for bonding. Most of the stuff sold in box stores is 25% solid or less, so it should be diluted with less water. Dozens of brands. Sika Latex, Laticrete, Acryl 60, Weldcrete, Crossco AcrylB60. Dayton-Superior J40, LaHabra Ladacyl, Fishstone KongKrete and more. They make your concrete much more durable and waterproof.
@@MikeHaduck Yeah, they are almost secretive about what is in their products. The CementAll is not all cement. It has a very fine sand in it - maybe mostly. The pure CSA cement is in a purple/white bag and super expensive. A tan color shows that it is CSA not portland.
I’m a concrete polisher we mix cement all to a water Consistency like super over watered and dump it in little cracks and holes and grind it smooth…basically like a grout
these vids are soo educational ... one of my favorite things about your channel is how you revisit the lessons and show it all again and again. thank you Mike! make some more music!
Hands down the best masonry videos out there, my go to site anytime I do masonry work! Plus thank you for no stupid intro and just get right to the point!
Thanks to Mike I was able to repair the 4 foot by 3 foot section of120 year old foot thick brick wall that collapsed when I pulled the old front porch off. Its disconcerting to stand in the basement and look out at the street through a hole in the house. It kept playing in my mind wet it down good and just stick it in there. It doesn't matter how you do it just get it in there. Several years later its solid as a rock.
Nice video Mike , i always wondered what all the different concretes and mortars were for knowing to use which one for what job is very important and you explain it well .
MHTAPDE: Mike's humble teaching and passing down experience. Even though our choice in products is different, I still learned a lot from your videos. Best advice was probably to practice and to research. I like the idea of putting samples in the fridge....
Well I'll have to say as of now I've learned more in two videos from you then most people in the mason world I'll be watching every video of yours thank you very much
As a woman with no experience or knowledge, I think I can patch a small section of concrete myself! Its not smooth on top. Done with a QuikRete concrete mix & to me its too bumpy rough w/ stones. Thank you for your valuable knowledge & time taken to do these videos. From SoCal Desert.
Nice rundown on the fast drying cements Mike. To keep with the theme of the video I increased the playback speed to hear fast talking Mike talking about fast drying product. You & the products both finished fast. :) Paul
Just found your channel a couple of months ago and soooo happy I did....you saved our bacon lol...just a DAY before installing some stone ....on a FLAT surface...we learned we picked the wrong product and back to the store it went..lol...We also live in a much colder climate so we went with the 1 portland to 2 sand mixture..It turned out great, probably not as good as if you did it but we're so pleased with the outcome......I hope you have an apprentice and are passing along all your knowledge...it's so important. :) Again thanks!!
Thanks for showing all the products that you use together. A lot of different mixes out there these days, all with different set times and compositions!
This was extremely helpful. I've been watching some videos before I patch and resurface my garage floor and this was the first one I came across that described the differences in the types of concrete out there.
I like the Rapidset Mortar mix. After watching some of your videos last year, I did a foundation crack repair, an exterior crack that was leaking through to the inside of the house. Some handyman had done a crack repair in the same spot about 15 years before and they packed it with a chunk of 2x4 and thin diameter steel lathing for filler. The cement was crumbling, steel was already rusting and I suspect you never want to use wood as packing filler for masonry work. Rapidset mortar mix was great to work with and I used pre-mixed Quikrete parging cement for over top and then exterior acrylic latex cement paint. It's been a year and a number of hard rainstorms and no leaking from back splash/ground splash. Rapidset Cementall was another story. I went with that for some crack repair (up to 1/2" wide cracks) on a cement driveway pad because it was supposed to be finer than the Rapidset mortar mix. I am in the prairies in Western Canada and we get -30C all the way up to +15C with Chinooks in the same week in the middle of winter, we can get 3 feet of snow in a dump, hard rainstorms and hail storms in spring (but low humidity) and +30C in summer. Every crack I filled with Rapidset cementall crumbled and failed, I was shoveling it out with the snow, so it didn't even last until spring and I am going to have to clean it all out and redo it with another mix. I have to mention I did try an experiment with Quikrete Polyurethane Self-Levelling Sealant that you put on with a caulk-gun on another exterior cement pad with smaller cracks and inside a garage and it worked very well over the same period. Keep up the good work on your RU-vid channel, Mike!
Thanks, driveways are tough, especially in your weather, maybe next time 1 1/2 sand to one Portland, for the cracks but if the driveway is moving it will keep cracking, thanks mike
That's my concern, it hasn't started heaving yet but if the cracks expand it will likely start breaking up. What kind of sealant do you recommend after a repair? A penetrating sealant?
I use the cement. All for a accelerator mix it with regular bag mix or a overlay mix works pretty well especially when it's cold out definitely helps.. good video Mike
Rapid Set Cement all and concrete mix are great products! be careful they really do have a short working time. strong mixes. i have used the cement all as a stucco repair.
Shame on me for not subscribing sooner… I did watch quite a few vid’s… boy are you a savior to the average home owner who lives in New England… this was quite helpful in so many ways: first the basic knowledge of cement and concrete and the diff mixes inspires lots of confidence when going out to buy; 2nd your reviews are so down to earth and easy to follow
This is really helpful. I remember doing a project with a friend and we used rapidset without knowing just how rapid set rapidset is. Panic set in and we started hauling! Funny thing was the stuff we slapped down fast and striked off quick didn’t have any tiny surface cracks.
Thanks Mike, someone sent me a link to your channel, very well done videos, I am glad your doing fine, nice to meet you, I talk with some other youtubers also, merry christmas, mike
Love the videos Mike. I live in NW lower Michigan and quick repairs are necessary at times. I to have been experimenting with quick drying products for about a decade. We parallel on a lot of views good sir. Looking forward to seeing more videos good sir.
Thanks Mike, loved the proverb. I use high early strength Portland all the time. Its not a premix product. Its great for stone work and foundation work because of the fast set time. Anyway, take care and loads of love from Canada.
Hi Mike! I'm back in the joint again but I got a burner cell phone. Does your breaking out of prison for beginners series still apply? I think some of this is that highfalutin concrete! Wife's on the way with a little sawblade cake!
Cement All is a grout and has a very fine sand. It is a multipurpose ASTM 1107 non shrink grout. It has a super plasticizer already built in to the product.
Damn i came to say that i patched with that red bag of quick set today and what a hassle it was with all the rocks. I put a first coat, worked out the rocks, then went and sifted all the rocks out for a finish coat. What a hassle
Hi Greasy, I don't know what you are patching but I rarely use a product with rocks in it unless I got a big hole, I got lots of videos on "concrete repair" and others on "foundation repair" I use diffrent products, thanks Mike
Hello, Mike. This is the definitive cement video on which product to use and where. Extremely informative and educational...as usual. I hope your girlfriend doesn’t use that dish when she bakes you holiday cookies. Wishing you and yours and very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2021. Be well, Mike.....Phil from Staten Island.
Great video Mike. I have an old patio that is a mixture of concrete and bricks and is still quite solid even though the surface is uneven. I would like to give it a smooth cover with some type of cement or concrete product that would probably be one-half to one inch deep and wonder which product you would suggest. Thanks in advance for your advice and keep up the great videos. Tom
Hi Tom, to be honest, I haven't seen anything hold up in my area that thin, maybe another thin layer of pavers might help, unless I was there to see it I really can't say, Mike
You should make a video talking about the 60 pound and 80 pound high strength Sacrete pre mixed concrete and give your thoughts on it because that's what I use and that's what a lot of people use and buy from Home Depot, Ace Hardware etc. And actually the local Ace Hardware only sells the 60 pound high strength Sacrete and it doesn't sell any other concrete but in the next bigger town over I buy the 80 pound Sacrete high strength bags from Home Depot just because they're bigger and I think you get a little bit more for your money compared to the 60 pound bags but those are the ones that I use and I see a lot of other people buying and using them as well.
@@MikeHaduck OK I saw another guy say the same thing that they didn't sell the Sacrete where he lived either but that's weird because here in California where I live that's like the number one thing on the shelves, they also have like the red bag of the quickrete fast setting stuff and big bags of Portland cement bags but I see just about everyone buying the high strength Sacrete and some people buy the 50 pound fence post concrete also that isn't high strength so maybe you could compare like the 50 pound bags of I think it's Sacrete also but compare that with the 60 or 80 pound Sacrete high strength just to hear your thoughts and what the differences are really and when people should use one compared to the other and if you think people should mix in some Portland cement with these Sacrete premixes or not? Thanks!
Hello, great knowledge. I just put a new layer of cement on my front porch sides. I used the fastset repair mortar, about half a bag and i also put 4 scoops of portland and mixed it up and applied it. Will that be ok? Im in nj. 2 hours south of scranton pa.
Hi Laguna, I can't say, I never used it, when I started there was mortar, portland and some fast drying stuff for railings, this is all new school, thanks Mike
mike, one question whats the best for cracks in driveway? thanks for your time. i tell many about your channel. im still catching up to watch your videos! love your channel!!!!
Hi Chris, I got a playlist called " resurfacing concrete driveways" Mike haduck, and resurfacing sidewalks, I show all my techniques there, thanks Mike
Hi thank you for all your excellent videos & taking your time to make us the videos. i have a question please. So I have made a lean to shed using thin mdf board panel as my walls. What I did was I use the nailer gun and stapled the board onto the 2x4s all around. It’s been over 2 years now and it’s starting to come off like the stamped nails are coming off the 2x4 and there are gaps between the vertical boards that are attached side by side. My problem is that I can’t get myself to the back of the boards to staple or mail it onto the 2x4s. So I will have to go inside the shed and try to somehow pull the boards inward and use long nails to attach from the inside instead. Now my question is…if I was to use cement all fast setting and put at between the gaps between the two attached boards, will it bond and hold up? I was thinking about the fabric concrete and staple ins it onto the boards and 2x4s hoping it will bond. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
10:13 and on = "so you go to Patch something, these Rocks, they get in the way... " BOY did I found that out!! I tried using All Purpose Concrete to patch the foundation wall and those Rocks would NOT let the concrete stick to the wall AT ALL!!!! Which type should be used? Is there a concrete mix that uses something like sand instead of those huge rocks? I'll keep looking, because there is so many types...
MIKE.... ENJOY WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS... I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SPALLING, OUTSIDE OF MY GARAGE AN AREA 12" X 16' BETWEEN THE OVERHEAD DOOR AND THE BLACKTOP DRIVEWAY I HAVE SPALLING FROM PRIOR OWNER USED SALT IN WINTER MONTHS. MAY I ASK YOU TO PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR OPINION ON BEST WAY TO REPAIR. THE DEEPEST SPALLING IS 3/8 " BUT THERE IS MANY. I'M IN THE CHICAGO AREA SO WINTER CAN BE BAD. I WILL BE DRIVING CAR OVER IT. HELP YOU CAN HELP ME. THANKS
What would you recommend to fix a corner that the dumpster company knocked off a top block on a wall? The pieces still there just don't know whether to use a mortar or some type of epoxy
It’s been interesting watching you discussing which product to use for what job. With your experience do you have a suggestion for bonding 3/4” crushed rock used as a parking spot for a large rv. How would you mix it ant what consistency? If you have a suggestion it would be greatly appreciated. I’m in the Central Valley of California (80 miles south of Sacramento)
If you had to pick a concrete mix to make a statue in a mold, not a big one, say 5 to 12 inches, which would you think would be better? I live in MA so cold weather can be an issue. Your videos have been helpful just learning about the different uses and how/why to use each mix. Thanks
It's a bit perplexing with all these alternatives, but at the same time very useful to (have to) realise that it is complex and needs some research before embarking on any project.
Research? Abonimation! Nothing good has ever come from that! No, wait, that is how we progress. Even as I have no access to the concrete (!) products, I learned a lot from MHTAPDE (Mike's humble teaching and passing down experience).
We are new to Phoenix Arizona ( used to live in Mt Penn back there near you .....all summer 110+ and maybe 2% Humidity here. Think as hot as you can take then add 20 degrees :).. How many portland to sand do you think would work here for walks, cracks etc.? And then brick, block etc? Just a rough starting point........... Watched many of your videos as i am "Old School" and they have helped me a lot
Hi driver, I would say yes, because it shrinks and I have to go over it, Rapid set dosent but it dries extremely fast is I only use it on small projects, thanks Mike
Mike, Another good video and proverb! If you haven't already, can you walk us through using self-leveling concrete? I've got a wonky basement floor area that needs to be flat and durable enough for some exercise equipment. Thanks, Dave.
Cementall is no joke quick set. Just had my first experience with it and man, slap it on, smooth it out QUICKLY and move on. I swear it was hard to work after 10 minutes...IF THAT! DO NOT make more than you can handle.
I hope you will still see be able to see this question! I wanted to build a small wood-burning stove with cement but I read reviews that said that the stove would explode. is there any type of mortar mix or cement mix that would be safe for making a wood-burning stove? I am also making stepping stones and I wanted to see which mortar or cement mix would be better, and do I need to add some sort of metal to the middle to make it stronger?
Hi Carol, I can't comment on that, most stuff is built with steel liners anymore, too much liability with a masonry wood burner, I won't build them, mike
Man...I’m learning a lot...I’m really glad you say “Ain’t no big deal” through your projects because it makes me confident to start my 1890 fieldstone basement wall refinish. I would love to send you a pic of the basement wall and get your advice...is that possible? I’d really appreciate it!
Hi Ryan, I cant give advice over the internet, but I have two playlist on foundation repair, and stone foundation repair, I am sure you will find something similar, thanks mike
If you get a chance...maybe you could email me at rkoenig@kw.com and I can send you a couple pics. If not...I totally understand. Thanks much and Merry Christmas!
Thanks Mike you finally answered my all time question on repairing and leveling my little entrance sidewalk. I should have shown a picture. lol love your work wish you were closer I probably couldn't afford you .lol
You mention using Rapid Set CementAll for iron railings but also mention rain causing havoc for it. I'm looking to fix a loose porch railing. Will using this product work for me or do you need to put a top coating of some other product to protect it from rain? You mention painting it which may not look great on porch steps? What would you recommend. Thanks for this video.
Hi Samila, I have a whole series on concrete step repair and one video "brick step repair, part 6 ,mkke haduck where I put the old railing back in, maybe that will help, thanks Mike
Thanks Mike you really helped me understand the blue label cement all. I am wondering about the “High performance cement” with the red and black label, who manufactures that. I’ll have to look around here in Ky to find it. Thanks.
Awesome video as usual. Mike can you make a video like this with admixes? Specifically with bagged portland concrete and air, fiber, retarder, densifier and plasticizers? Not the fast set with concrete pharmacy. I got a pallet and a sampler pack from fritz and want to try it. but I need best practices and experimenting with it, that would help before I try to use it on a real job. Just a thought.
