How to Use Quikrete: Using Instant Concrete

The back room flooded through the doggie door. Obviously some quick thinking was needed to keep the same problem from happening again. So much rain had descended upon us that the ground couldn't absorb the water. The back yard has a slope, which unfortunately leans towards the house.

My husband quickly ran for the Shop Vac. He sucked up three vacuum containers of water from the back room. Although it had rained plenty in the past since we bought our house a few years ago, this was the first time we had seen a flood inside the house. We can thank the dogs that we had to experience this little adventure because of the doggie door they had needed.

We knew action must be taken. My husband, being the quick thinker that he is, decided the best and quickest fix was to buy gutter material and twenty bags of quick-setting concrete and a border of wooden poles to divert the water from collecting towards the back room. It would be my second experience with using Quikrete. The first had been a tiny little set of two holes for support of my clothesline poles, which was nothing but baby stuff compared to this project.

Putting up the gutter was easily enough done. It would help divert water that would run off the roof, of course.

The first test of my strength came when I decided to help him measure and clear the ground for the foundation. This foundation was meant to slope so that any water collecting on it would run down and off, away from the house and the doggie door. It would also prove to be a catch for the dirt and grass collecting on the dogs' feet when they ventured back inside from the back yard. The foundation only measured a foot and a half wide and twenty-two feet long along the length of the room. It sounds silly to complain about such slim measurements. But working in the Texas heat and humidity would quickly prove this to be a challenge. We hoed and scraped away grass and weeds; then we leveled off the dirt as well as possible.

Second, my husband measured and cut the poles to stack for diverting the water collecting in the yard in the future. He made holes in the wood with his drill to allow the screws to sink down into one pole and attach to the other for more stability. He layered three poles atop each other down the length and sides of the area where we were to pour the concrete. Then he made wooden stakes from two-by-fours to hold up the poles as the heavy and wet concrete took time to harden. He beat the stakes into the muddy ground outside the poles.

Mixing Quikrete by hand requires determination and strength. I had plenty of determination, not so much strength. My husband showed me the consistency he needed, which looked like a bowl of oatmeal in a wheelbarrow. We tried mixing two bags at once. Bad idea. This proved to be more work than my little muscles could handle. I quickly discovered that one bag was plenty for me to handle at one time.

First he would open a bag of Quikrete into the wheelbarrow, dumping the whole bag. Then we would pour in water from the outside hose, a couple of gallons at a time, mixing the water with the Quikrete until it soaked in enough to need more. We used a hoe to mix the concrete from the bottom layer to the top, folding the dry over the wet for the best absorbency until all dry mix was wet and sloshy enough to shovel out of the wheelbarrow into our awaiting form.

My husband's back had begun to hurt, so I generously offered to step in to share the load. "Love Hurts" was once a popular song. I completely understand how that is possible. But twenty-four wonderful years of marriage had created enormous compassion within me for the sacrifices my husband makes for our family. So, I was determined to be courageous and strong for his sake. After all, we both live in this house. He pays more of the bills than I am able to pay. He is away from home more often, which means he enjoys his home less because of lack of contact with it. I like to call our biggest marital asset "compromise".

Picking up an eighty pound bag of Quikrete is no easy task. I quickly gained an admiration for my husband as well as anyone else who has to suffer through such a task over and over each workday. Thank you to all the men and women who do this sort of work for our great public.

After I shuffled over to the wheelbarrow with the dry concrete, my husband would help me dump the bag into the wheelbarrow. Then he would add enough water for me to start mixing, hosing in more as needed until the mix was almost soupy in consistency. Concrete that is too soupy will not set well. Judgement has to be learned quickly. I overshot my judgement twice when trying to mix on my own as my husband smoothed out the mixture within the confines of the form we had created. That meant he had to mix a second bag in to compensate for my mistake. More pain and struggling. It's normal for me to learn things the hard way.

Once we had the Quikrete mixed and shoveled into the waiting form we'd created with the poles and stakes, my husband would take a trowel and smooth out the mixture to make the slanted form we wanted. It took nineteen bags of Quikrete to make this small form. That means we hand-mixed 1520 pounds of Quikrete that day. What a team we were! And you know what? It was actually fun to work with my husband and see his mind and body in action as he figured out the plan and put it into action alongside me. What a man!