Cement shelf life?

[julianf]

Ive got some bags of cement here that where purchased a good while pre-covid!

Theyre the plastic bag ones, and have been well stored (ie not punctured).


What should i expect if i used them?

(im planning low load yard covering, not sky scrapers!)




Im taking tarmac's advice with a pinch of salt -

Can my cement still be used once it has passed its use by date?

Home Help Can my cement still be used once it has passed its use by date? Can my cement still be used once it has passed its use by date? We strongly recommend that you…

tarmac.com

After the use by date on the bag we are unable to guarantee that ‘chromium VI’ is below the required legal limit

 

[h-dom]

I'm sure I read recently it's not that it goes bad but it's more harmful to you if you breathe it in.

I had plastic bagged cement on the drive for 18 months and used it to build my workshop, it was fine.

 

[fizzy]

As long as moisture hasn't got at it then you will be fine. If it has gone solid it is pretty obvious.

 

[Gareth J]

Probably very dependent on lots of things. Humidity and temperature of storage for one. I'm in a similar position with some.

Does it, like pink plaster, set at a rate of knots if it's old?

 

[julianf]

Does it, like pink plaster, set at a rate of knots if it's old?

Doesn't appear to have done.... : )

 

[julianf]

I've only got a few bags and one was actually opened, so I've just used the quarter bag on somwhere where, really, all I want to do is seal up the subbase and stop the mud washing into it. So it's not structural at all, and will be a little test to see what happens.

If it turns into more subbase it won't bother me at all.

 

[gaz1]

cement goes off so only has a short shelf life

hence the reason why there was shortages in covid its the same as plaster

if the bag is still powdery then you may or may not be lucky if you do use it most of the time the bags are skipped on the building site as its really not worth using them and having them fail, it can also be costly so not worth it

take note of its used by date or made by date it does have them on the bag itself

 

[brightspark]

if its in the polythene bag and no hard bits in it and not damp it will be fine. ive used 2 year old bags for fence posts . try breaking it out after 20 years to renew the post with a kango hammer and get pi.ssed off because its hard work its not exactly getting used on high rise shuttered concrete

 

[brightspark]

Probably very dependent on lots of things. Humidity and temperature of storage for one. I'm in a similar position with some.

Does it, like pink plaster, set at a rate of knots if it's old?

no it sets at the usual time i keep a couple of old bags of plaster because it goes off quick. ideal for setting socket boxes and patching up if your in a rush . you can make new bags go off quicker by adding a bit of lime to it you can use a bit of cement but it makes it go brittle

 

[MetalMonkey]

If it hasn't gone hard, it will be OK. I've had those plastic bags which have pinholed and gone hard at the top and the bottom half has still been fine.
I wouldn't have used it for the foundations of a skyscraper, but otherwise it will work.

 

[8ob]

If it hasn't gone hard, it will be OK. I've had those plastic bags which have pinholed and gone hard at the top and the bottom half has still been fine.
I wouldn't have used it for the foundations of a skyscraper, but otherwise it will work.

Same here, bludgeon the hard bits to death with a lump hammer and use it for setting gate posts.

Bob

 

[bourbon]

cement goes off so only has a short shelf life

hence the reason why there was shortages in covid its the same as plaster

if the bag is still powdery then you may or may not be lucky if you do use it most of the time the bags are skipped on the building site as its really not worth using them and having them fail, it can also be costly so not worth it

take note of its used by date or made by date it does have them on the bag itself

bags on building sites are skipped because the QS has ballsed up on his counting

 

[brightspark]

bags on building sites are skipped because the QS has ballsed up on his counting

i once over ordered 8 meters of real heavy 4 core armoured cable for a job cost a fortune . i just cut it up and scrapped it and said nowt got about 30 quid for it

 

[500e]

If it can be mixed its ok

 

[DAPPH]

cement goes off so only has a short shelf life

hence the reason why there was shortages in covid its the same as plaster

if the bag is still powdery then you may or may not be lucky if you do use it most of the time the bags are skipped on the building site as its really not worth using them and having them fail, it can also be costly so not worth it

take note of its used by date or made by date it does have them on the bag itself

Agreed
I had 10 heavy duty polyethene bags of OPC stored inside a dehumidified log cabin . it was used four years later . It didn't quite " Wax-up to creaminess quality " like fresh ( less than five month old ) well stored OPC now 12 years later the engineering brick built garden walling and raised bed mortar is eroding out all the joints some brick have lost at least 1/3 of the bed or perps , numerous corner bricks have fallen out .

Lots of sections of the soldier course along the top of the beds is loose over six or so bricks at a time .
I'm thinking thinking of making my own cast concrete forms and casting dozens of interlocking 4x foot x nine inch high x 3 inch thick vibrated fine concrete to replace them a few stages at a time , if I ever get over this infected cat bite ( Painfully still one handed ).