# What to do with a pile of damp bags of concrete?



## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

A cabin I recently bought has a stack of 20-30 bags of concrete under a tarp, but damp and surely ruined. I thought about taking the tarp off and letting them get soaked all winter then using them for something else- but what? Or maybe they'd stick together in a giant block if haven't already. 

It's beside a lake, but pretty sure it would be illegal to use them in water there. Needs a permit. 

Any ideas? It's in the way. But hiking them out is also not an option! 
I do need a new outhouse. Maybe shoring up the pit? Anything better? Thanks!


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## Brighton (Apr 14, 2013)

I had ten bags get soaked from a leak in my shop roof, I use them every winter as weight in the back of my truck. Other than that I haven't found much use for them.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

About once a year I routinely buy a bag of concrete and let it sit until it is no longer useable. Other than chucking 'em in mudholes, I haven't found a use for them. Maybe you could paint them up like sleeping animals and use them for trail markers?


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I have used hardened in the bag concrete for pires under various sheds or wood piles or water tanks. Always a use around this wet climate. I even used one as a step until I could do it right.


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## plowhand (Aug 14, 2005)

Folks around here use whole bags, new soft bags, to stack at the end of culverts, some even cement/mortar over the bags after they harden up. I see no reason you couldn't use them like big solid blocks, especially if drive some rebar/ wire around it and surewall the boogers together!


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

They usually break up fairly easily with a sledge hammer.. I've broken up a few and put them in the rock driveway to fill holes..


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

First I would be sure that they are hardened/set. Most bags that I've gotten from cleaning out people's garages/basements for them were wet/damp on the outside but inside they were plastic lined and only along the seams were hard. The rest was still of use. Yes they will still feel hard all the way through, because there isn't any air getting into it anymore.

If all else fails do as others said use as bases for piers, sheds etc. Or break them up as simi said.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

If you need a retaining wall somewhere.... they should work great for that... once the ivy grows over them you wont be able to tell them from any other rock.


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## biggkidd (Aug 16, 2012)

You could always bust them up and use like gravel.

Larry


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## Megaputz (Feb 4, 2013)

Used them as steps to our coop when we were a kid and as paver stones for the walkway.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

Thanks for all the ideas! 
Just had another idea, any guesses whether bags like this should hold together if used in the lake as footings for a dock? Seeing that they haven't been mixed I wonder if they'd harden as well as stirred up bags.
If so, I'd leave them out in the rain next spring to ensure they wetted right through.


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## pcdreams (Sep 13, 2003)

near a lake you say?.. pesky neighbors come to mind


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Maybe use them for the face of a loading dock retaining wall for loading and unloading things like ATV's or riding lawn mowers?


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## Tall Grille (May 4, 2011)

We had about 15 bags get wet from sitting on the concrete floor in the basement. We used them as a temporary 12" tall retaining wall. That was about 15 years ago, It is still holding strong so there it stays.


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