ᐅ Formwork for entrance steps

Created on: 1 Aug 2019 14:04
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fallout1985
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fallout1985
1 Aug 2019 14:04
Hello everyone,

Hopefully, I’m in the right place here.
My father and I built a step in front of the house.
We used frost protection material that we took from around the house. Since the base needed to be waterproofed again, this material was left over.

The finished step’s color is not gray but rather brownish to reddish. I have to say I am a complete beginner when it comes to construction. That’s why I relied on my father, who once worked in construction and is a trained stonemason, although he hasn’t worked in the trade for several years.

Now I suspect that the material might be very unsuitable for the step. What happens if there is a certain amount of clay in the material?
Or will it harden properly? We added five 40 kg (88 lbs) bags of cement.

Best regards, Markus
wrobel1 Aug 2019 23:56
Hello

An indefinite amount of some material was mixed with 200 kg (440 lbs) of cement.
Regarding your question about whether this will achieve sufficient strength, no one can really give you a definitive answer.
However, it is quite possible that it will work. It would have certainly been better to obtain a sufficiently large quantity of apparently higher quality material.

Olli
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fallout1985
2 Aug 2019 10:31
Approximately 1 ton of frost protection material (0-32mm) would need to be included.

What was more important for me was to find out what fine particles might be present in the frost protection material.
And what the consequences could be if, for example, there is too much clay content.

It has now become painfully clear to me that a screed sand would have been a better choice.
I just hope it will still harden properly.

How long should such a leveling layer cure, assuming everything is done according to standard, before it can be covered?

Best regards, M. Daniel
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Mottenhausen
2 Aug 2019 14:29
Don’t worry, a mixing ratio of 4:1 is fine, and as long as the base is reasonably stable and you didn’t just pour it directly onto loose soil, it should be okay.

Possibly some rust dissolved from the (insufficiently covered) reinforcement?

In my experience, the term "frost protection" is used informally for everything from recycled material to screened quarry material, or basically whatever was just swept together from the local building depot.
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Lumpi_LE
2 Aug 2019 14:51
Clay does not belong in FS material but it will hold.