Departments | Shop Talk

Working railing for a porch

Solid Solutions

Keep some Quikrete on hand for small concrete jobs
When we reach the concrete step, we have the ready-to-use mix on hand. We used a section of drain pipe to avoid pouring the Quikrete over the new deck.i

“That’s not set in concrete!”

Well, maybe it should be, especially when it comes to fence posts and vinyl decking rail systems. I’ve done a few projects lately where a small amount of concrete made a big difference in making the finished project sturdy.

Now, I’m a big fan of concrete to begin with. Living in an area known for rain, sidewalks and patio areas are a common part of the landscape. We had a 50x25-foot sport court in the backyard. My plan for a bathroom was patterned after a milking parlor, with a concrete floor and a drain in the middle so you could hose it down. Although my plan was hosed down the drain by my wife, it was still a good idea.

There are several ways to get the type and amount of concrete needed, and what I choose is usually dictated by the size of the job. For small jobs like sidewalk repairs or setting posts, ready-to-use mixes such as Quikrete work great. For one-half a yard to six yards I use volumetric delivery, which is a truck that mixes the amount needed right on location. For larger jobs of more than six yards we call a ready mix truck, which gets sent out by a local dispatcher, dumps the load quickly and leaves you standing there blinking with a bull float handle in one hand and a trowel in the other.

The post with Quikrete in place.

Recently I was asked to help out with a weekend warrior project building a deck on a backyard patio area. When we got the decking done, the homeowner pointed out a pile of shrink-wrapped plastic that was suppose to be assembled to resemble deck railing.

After driving steel pipes through holes drilled in the deck and into the ground, we positioned the hollow newel posts over the pipes and assembled the rails and balusters. We had several bags of Quikrete on hand, which we mixed in a wheelbarrow and used to fill the newel posts.

The completed deck railing looked great, and I was happy because what looked like nice, decorative newel posts were actually very solid, steel reinforced concrete posts in disguise.

Quikrete makes a large number of products for a wide variety of applications, such as post setting, flat work, repairs, mortar, countertops, stucco, plaster, waterproofing and tinting. If you have a nice dry place in the shed or barn to store a few bags, it’s handy to have around for setting an occasional fence post. Of course, you may want to add a three-point-hitch mounted PTO mixer to your line-up.

Quikrete has a calculator on their Web page (type “calculator” in the search window) that can give the number of 60-lb. or 80-lb. bags of mix you need for your project. You’ll have to determine your own bag limit—you know, when the job gets too big for bags and you call in the big boys with the ready mix truck.

—Larry Walton