Help me mix my mixture

20 years ago

Friday and Saturday were the first not too hot days in quite a while. But I had to work. Sunday started well, but we are back to scorching.

Sunday I started my first substantial project. I have an ice chest with rounded corners and edges. Wrapped it in plastic and covered it with about 1" of hypertufa made 1:1:1:1 Porland, sand, perlite, and peat. Mixed it with just enough water that it would form a self-standing wad in my hand and just until on doing that my rubber glove would have water on it.

I'd like to have put in on thicker, but it would slump off when I tried. If I can find the strength and can deal with the heat, I'll give it a light coat of Elmer's glue and add another layer tonight.

It is behaving nicely so far. I misted it well, covered it with plastic and this morning the plastic had a uniform coating of very small beads of water I could see through the plastic. The mix was warm to the touch. I misted it again and recovered it.

My question relates to any "tricks" of making the mix. I have some physical limitations and had to make up five batches to make sufficient hypertufa to complete the coverage. About wore me out. I measured very carefully so that all would be the same although I had to guestimate the water added so each batch could be different.

The first batch I put in my bucket Portland-sand-peat-vermiculte and mixed it until I was blue in the face. Then added the water. The next two I tried mixing the portland and sand first, then added the peat and perlite.

If the goal is to get the most thorough distribution of the "parts" is there a best way to do this? Seems like mixing the portland with one other ingredient as well as possible before adding the other ingredients might be better than simply dumping it all in at once.

By the way, if I do it again tonight I'll do it in my small plastic cement mixing tray in one batch with a hoe and have a few small container molds ready for any left-over mix. Should have done that yesterday, but didn't have any notion how much to make. Now I do.

David

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Comments (5)

dolltrek
20 years ago
David: I am sure that others will have better ideas than I do. My suggestion, off the top of my head, is to premix a large quantity of the dry ingredients in a wheel barrow or some other large container then scoop what you need for each application from this. This way you are fairly sure of getting a "consistent" mix throughout the project. At least this is what I would do. You could mix with a hoe or some other mixing tool and this may be easier. I know for me the mixing is physically the hardest part.
Laurie
billie_ann
20 years ago
David, Buy a 5 gallon pail and lid (their sold separately)from Home Depot or Lowes. Put the dry ingredients in the pail and put the lid on the pail. Make sure you've got a tight fitting lid. One of those stores sells the lid with a rubber gasket seal. Roll it or flip it end over end to mix the dry ingredients. Let it sit for a few minutes to let the dust settle before opening. You can premix your ingredients and store them in these pails. Billie
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liquiddaffodil
20 years ago
I agree with what billie_ann says. A bucket like that has
saved me much time and trouble!
mmfine71
20 years ago
David,
I "stole" my husbands drill (1 of 4) and bought a paddle made for mixing concrete and POP. The paddle is on a long rod that fits on the end of the drill. The drill turns the paddle. All you have to do is sit there. I love it. The paddle is plastic so it cleans up niceley and the rod is long enough so I can sit in a chair and hold it until the mix is done.

I bought a bunch of pop-top trash cans at the local dollar store and fill one with portland, one with peat, one with sand, etc. This keeps them clean, neat, and easily accessible. I also have one for a 1:1:1 ratio of portland, sand, and peat I pre-mixed in a 5 gallon bucket and dumped in there. It took 3 buckets to fill the trash can, but I don't have to mix my dry tuffa material for awhile. I just take out how much I need and add the liquid. I use the drill and paddle to blend, wait 15 minutes and voila!

Happy muddin' Mary
tufftufa
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try them. If it only cools off a little. I'm trying to get enough experience now to be ready for a major production in October...the best weather (unless a hurricane) of the year. But I am limited to working in a Western exposure garage. My homeowner's association rules won't let me work out of doors. (Otherwise, our home situation is so close to perfect, I'll deal with this limitation happily.) Now if only the AC repair folks get here today. Two nights with no air since lightning hit the tree! It's motel city tonight if they don't get here.

David