This must be my week for weirdness… I mixed a batch of concrete today to make support pillars for my plate girder viaduct, and it reeked! Smelled like a bucket of snake poop. I’ve never had concrete stink like that before. Any idea what could have caused it? It was Qwik-krete 5000.
I’ll be glad when this viaduct is finished. It’s taken weeks to get it built and I’m finally nearing completion. Once it’s done I’ll be able to make more progress on the layout.
I had that happen a couple years ago when I built my shed, and had to pour a bunch of footings. I had about 3 bags of premix that stunk like rotten meat. No idea what it was though.
Bob,
Did the concrete setup and hold up okay?
I don’t know about the USA , but sometimes in the UK where sand from old quarry workings which have stagnated , or even the sand dredged from the banks of tidal rivers at low water , finds its way into commercial premix because of improper mixing–i.e. not mixing with clean sand to dilute the pong . Even washed sand can suffer from this now because of the perceived need to re-use water , whatever its state. I wonder sometimes if we should be more critical of the barmy ideas of the tree huggers . If the premix smells like the water in a carwash , you can bet that’s the cause . “Proper” carwashes recycle water many times over , thus concentrating muck which then eventually goes into the recycling system for domestic water via the water table or sewers .
I wonder if the sands from sewage works find their way into other sands , I do know that the filtration beds are
emptied and the sand content dumped in settling pools .These pools can themselves be partly disused sand quarries and the resulting mix of water can make the sand quite unpleasant .
My hobby of trainspotting includes looking at the narrow gauge systems that are used in this trade , if you think your trackwork is bad , you ought to see some of these . Mind you , the trains often find themselves in the shot .
So , wish you hadn’t asked ? Put you off drinking water ? Talk to Fr Fred , he will educate you in the art of drinking the right things .
Mike
Mike Morgan said:Yes, but Holy Water is still mostly ... water.
So , wish you hadn't asked ? Put you off drinking water ? Talk to Fr Fred , he will educate you in the art of drinking the right things . Mike
I get my water at home from my private well and so far it has remained pure, fresh and non-smelly. However, there is tomorrow. One of the local bergs took a large amount of cash from good ol’ BNSF to put a refueling station directly over the aquifer. Of course, no provision was made in the original plans for spillage. There were many spills… BNSF has had to spend considerably more on a retrofit than they would have had to spend to do it right, or to build it off the aquifer. JB lives 20 miles closer to that facility than do I. How’s your water, JB?
madwolf
Bob McCown said:Jimmy Hoffa
I had that happen a couple years ago when I built my shed, and had to pour a bunch of footings. I had about 3 bags of premix that stunk like rotten meat. No idea what it was though.
Ric Golding said:
Bob,Did the concrete setup and hold up okay?
“JB lives 20 miles closer to that facility than do I. How’s your water, JB?”
Well, aside from the occasional e-coli, it’s fine. But since that last “boil order”, we drink bottled water.
But so far no BNSF diesel in the shower.
jb
Bob McCown said:Bob; you found the problem, I guess you mixed the concrete with your feet since you where making footings.
I had that happen a couple years ago when I built my shed, and had to pour a bunch of footings. I had about 3 bags of premix that stunk like rotten meat. No idea what it was though.
Ray Dunakin said:
This must be my week for weirdness... I mixed a batch of concrete today to make support pillars for my plate girder viaduct, and it reeked! Smelled like a bucket of snake poop. I've never had concrete stink like that before. Any idea what could have caused it? It was Qwik-krete 5000I’ll be glad when this viaduct is finished. It’s taken weeks to get it built and I’m finally nearing completion. Once it’s done I’ll be able to make more progress on the layout.
Hmmm… do you have a degree in Snake Poop recognition?
Quik Crete puts chemicals in their concrete bags so that the mix attains a “High Early” cure, meaning that it sets faster and harder, more quickly
Fly Ash is often added a concrete mixture permitting a smoother trowel finish.
…and maybe a cement plant worker couldn’t make it to a Porta Potti in time and took a dump in your batch
Tom