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I am mixing 5:1 dry pack. Everyone online shows that it should just barely hold form in a ball. And it should crumble when squeezed. How much water should I add to this mix? I'm using Quickcrete Sand and Topping mix which is 3:1 and mixing one part of that with half a part of Quickcrete Sand to bring it to 5:1.

I mixed in slightly under 4 quarts of water. 3-4 quarts of water.

Evan Carroll
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1 Answers1

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QUIKRETE makes a dry-pack mix. Presumably it's more than 3.5-4:1 because that's the ratio of their sand-and-topping. But they don't advertise their ratios. They didn't sell this product at my big box retailer. But the instructions online for QUIKRETE Deck Mud say,

  • For each 75 lb (34 kg) bag of QUIKRETE® Deck Mud to be mixed, add approximately 4 quarts (3.8 L) of fresh water to the mixer.
  • For each 50 lb (22.7 kg) bag of QUIKRETE® Deck Mud to be mixed, add approximately 2.7 quarts (2.5 L) of fresh water to the mixing vessel.
  • If the material becomes too difficult to mix, add additional water until a workable mix is obtained.

Note – Do not exceed a total volume of 5 ½ quarts (5.2 L) for each 75 lb (34 kg) bag or 3.6 quarts (3.4 L) for each 50 lb (22.7 kg) bag. Do not leave standing puddles.

So the QUIKRETE suggestion is 18.5 - 18.75 lbs of mixture per quart of water for their 5:1 mix. For the 90 lbs, you should have used 4.8 quarts.

The Mapei 4:1 Deck Mud mix is sold in a 55 lb bag, their instructions call for

Mix each 55-lb. (24.9-kg) bag with 3 U.S. qts. to 1 U.S. gal. (2.84 to 3.79 L) of clean cool water

They advise 3 quarts, and hold back on the fourth quart as needed. The ratio there is 13.7 lb - 18.3 lb per quart of water.

Evan Carroll
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