I've been working the last few weeks laying bricks and doing concrete work at my OHD to my shop. I've been using the "dry" method of installing concrete. I saw a few videos on YouTube and it makes the process for small jobs much easier then mixing/pouring and finishing as you typically would using bags of redi-mix.
1. Form it as you would any job.
2. Place rebar if needed.
3. Compact and wet the ground surface
4. Open the bags and spread it around. Each squire in the pic needed 3 1/2 60# bags.
5. Screed it off and backfill any low spots.
6. Use an edge tool to add that slight radius to the edges.
This is where things get different:
7. Take a standard 12 inch paint roller with a low nap roller and go over the surface several times until smooth. Keep going until you get the finish you like. This is all WITHOUT adding any water. The surface is concrete dust and sand so be carful with it. You touch it and it will show up.
8. Get a hose attachment that gives you a fine fog and start watering it down. The water will be drawn into the concrete. Do this for about 10 minutes wait 15 minutes and do it again every 15 for about 2 hours. DON"T touch it and don't change the hose setting or you'll wash off the top surface.
9. Keep the dog off of it for about 6 hours while it sets up and wait overnight and you can walk on it.
Advantages: No mixing and shoveling wet concrete, no working the surface of wet concrete to get it smooth, very little clean up, and use only use what you need.
I had used bricks left over from a planter wall to use as a border. My next row will be three squares wide to mix it up a bit. Used bricks also allow you not to be perfect with joints.
