FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



BUILDING PERMANENCE INTO 

 FARM BUILDINGS 



Construction Points Which Should be 



Followed to Secure Permanent 



and Satisfactory Results 



The use of concrete for farm struc- 

 tures is constantly increasing, due large- 

 ly to a better understanding on the part 

 of the farmer of the principles involved in 

 making concrete. New uses each year 



variably an excess of sand in natural de- 

 posits of gravel and such material should 

 never be used until screened and the fine 

 and coarse materials separated and then 

 in turn correctly proportioned. In re- 

 mixing the correctly proportioned mate- 

 rials only enough water should be added 

 to produce a mixture of jellylike consis- 

 tency, j 

 Thei'e are two things to be remembered 1 

 when waterproof concrete is desired. 

 First of all the materials must be screened 



I 



are being found for concrete and a brief ' and then re-mixed to the proper propor- 

 knowledge of its application is usually ad- tions 



vantageous to the farmer. A few brief 

 rules will be given here which are es- 

 sential to the making of good concrete 

 and will be found useful in any kind of 

 concrete whether it be a sidewalk or a 

 fence post. 



In selecting materials the first require- 

 ment is clean aggregates. A quick test 

 for this is to shake sand and water in 

 a bottle and let settle. About two inches 

 of sand covered with at least four inches 

 of water make sufficient quantities for the 

 test. For the average farm structure the 

 loam should be limited to 10%, which 

 would give a layer of loam in the bottle 

 of about 3/16 inches on the two inches 

 of sand. 



The second requirement is choosing a 

 coarse sand. Fine sands never give high 

 strengths. Choose sands with hard grains 

 and as free as possible from shale. i 



Concrete mixed so wet as to be sloppy 

 has its strength seriously impaired. The 

 proportion of water should be kept as 

 low as possible but keeping the material 

 plastic or workable at all times. The pro- 

 portion of sand to screened gravel or 

 crushed stone is for most work just half, i 

 The strength of concrete is dependent on 

 the proportion of cement to the sand. It 

 is evident then that a mix where the sand | 

 is half of the total aggregate would give 

 a stronger concrete than where the ag- [ 

 gi-egate consists of practically all sand. ! 

 It is essential for high strengths to have 

 correctly proportioned materials and in 

 order to get this bank gravel should be 

 screened and re-mixed. 



Concrete proportions are usually desig- 

 nated as 1:2:4, 1:2* :5 or 1:3:6, etc., this 

 means one part of cement to two parts of 

 sand, to four parts of screened gravel. 

 Sand is usually defined as that material 

 which will pass through a quaiter-inch 

 screen, while gravel will be that part re- 

 tained on the screen. A sack of cement 

 is considered a cubic foot. 



Many persons have the impression that 

 when definite proportions of sand and 

 pebbles are specified that the same results 

 can be obtained by sub.stituting an equal 

 bulk of bank run material, that is, sand 

 and gravel as combined in the ordinary 

 pit. This is incorrect and leads to weak 

 and porous concrete. The majority of 

 wet basements and leaky tanks are trace- 

 able to this cause. There is almost in- 



It is because the mix is dense, i. e., 

 there is enough cement to fill all of the 

 air spaces in the sand and also there is 

 enough mortar to fill the air spaces in 

 the gravel or crushed stone. The first of 

 these conditions is extremely important. 



Where machines are used for mixing, 

 the concrete should never be dumped be- 

 fore the last of the ingredients has been 

 mixed a full minute. Where hand mix- 

 ing is used the materials should be first 

 measured and placed on the mixing 

 board and turned twice while dry to in- 

 corporate the sand, cement and gravel, a 

 pool is then made in the center and filled 

 with water. By turning in the edges of 

 the pile all the water should be absorbed 

 by the materials. The mixing is then 

 started by placing a man on each side of 

 the pile and turning over about four times 

 or until the mix shows a uniform color. 

 If necessary more water should be added, 

 being careful to avoid sloppy mixes. 



Spading is necessary to expel the air 

 and settle the concrete in the forms. 

 Walls are often both porous and un- 

 sightly from failure to heed this precau- 

 tion. Spading may be done with an ice 

 I spud, a straightened hoe or a sharpened 

 piece of thin board. This operation 

 forces the gravel or stone back and allows 

 1 the mortar to come to the face, making a 

 decent looking wall. Concrete should not 

 [ be placed in the forms all at one place and 

 ' allowed to flow from there as this tends 

 to segregate the fine and coarse material, 

 as well as the cement, resulting in leaky 

 walls oftentimes. The material should be 

 placed in six-inch or eight inch layers 

 and then spaded. Too rapid drying out 

 of the concrete either by exposure to the 

 sun or hot, dry winds lowers the strength, 

 ' oftentimes by half, lessens the durability 

 and wearing qualities, and increases the 

 porosity. 



It will be necessary to spade the con- 

 crete next to the forms to get smooth, 

 dense walls. This will expel a large 

 amount of air and allow the concrete to 

 settle in the forms. At the same time the 

 coarser aggregate is worked away from 

 the walls leaving a dense face. 



Concrete should never be allowed to dry 

 out. Concrete should be kept damp by 

 sprinkling or covering with moist earth, 

 straw or old bags. The water originally 

 mixed with the concrete must be retained 

 in the concrete until curing is complete. 



I f 



\ Merritt Clark 8C Co. 

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