Scott Perkins

Angus Johnson wrote:I’m wondering if aircrete would work as a water proof barrier instead of using plastic, for a underground home?
Maybe bed sheets dipped in bees wax would work?
Just curious:)

There is an entire industry devoted to this subject and it is  the repair and remediation of leaking basements.
There are coatings for outside and inside the basement walls as well as drainage sheets that allow gravity flow of the water on outside walls to what are essentially underground gutters at the base of foundations that take the water away.   For decades an asphalt base substance has been used for roofing and underground sealing but was only good for 15 or 20 years and recently that have come up with elastomeric rubber based coatings that can potentially last forever when using silicone type base formulations.   Just google basement waterproofing.... if you are really serious get all the back copies of WATERPROOFING MAGAZINE  which is a commercial publication publicizing all the products to be used by builders and contractors and how to use them etc.  

I would love to know what the concrete experts posting in this thread think about the collapse of the residential multi family building in Florida this year that claimed 100 + lives because of degradation in the concrete.    I have built a house and done some remodeling projects using concrete and the only  option I thought I had was to order higher psi strength concrete from the ready-mix plant ( more bags of cement ) .  
and opt to pay for some fiberglass fiber reinforcement to minimize cracking etc.
For some small projects I have added the latex admixtures the tile guys were using in their mortar to further strengthen the concrete and make it more water proof.  

If we civilians are willing to spend the extra money to buy extra longevity,  what are the best ways to spend our extra money when working with concrete ?

Could not find a more appropriate forum so I chose "Tiny House".  Sorry
I have   poured concrete slabs many times in my life for driveways, foundations, floors
etc.   and have also seen how some commercial buildings and warehouses are built by
using cranes or other heavy equipment to lift up portions of concrete walls and set them together
to create a building.    I would like to do it on a smaller scale to build a completely indestructable
smallish shed like building for minimal living etc.   If I was very clever perhaps I could design walls
that when tilted together would eliminate a separate need for a roof such as a vault  or a pyramid
etc.   The main point being that such a structure would be imune to tornados,  and earthquakes
and bugs  deteriation.  Or perhaps it would be better to start out conventional and just build
four walls as in traditional shed and add the wood framed roof..... or perhaps a poured roof with
the forms made with temporary structures below holding up the form while pouring.   I suspect
building wood forms to pour a roof would cost more than a completely woodframed framed roof.
Anyway, just imagine using a skidsteer BobCat type lifing up one side of a flat driveway slab and using it
as a wall.  That is the basis concept I am starting with.    I would love to figure out a way  to do curved
slab structures then you could build a dome with orange slice segments or an igloo type structure.
I believe that to do curved concrete components you would have to have two sided molds.   Back to the flat
wall components,  What I need is to design some shape into the mold that would allow connections
of two side by side wall components or connections at the corners etc.    Has anyone here ever done
poured wall concrete foundations ?   Those are essentially two sided molds with connections but I have never seen any curved poured wall concrete foundations ? ? ?

Last year when I was raising Ducks at about 5 or 6 weeks they started getting Angel Wing and I was feeding them 15 percent protein chicken layer pellets.    I am at 5 weeks this year and want to reduce the protein
for a few weeks while their wings grow  and would like to mix something with my layer pellets to reduce the
protein content.   I was thinking of just mixing in cracked corn 50/50.    Does anyone that knows more about it
think that that would work for the next 2 or 3 weeks that they are susceptiple to the angel wing ?

Whenever I think eggs are ready to hatch,  I can candle them ( look into them with a flashlight in a dark closet)
put the egg on top of a toilet paper roll tube and shine the flashlight in.  If the egg is moving inside and it is time to hatch, I break the shell on the end where the bubble of air is to let fresh air in and look at the baby
chick or duck.  I may or may not remove more shell it if looks like the baby needs help.

I am sorry I forgot to add in my message that the beans were ultimately delicious and have been mostly gobbled up even though 20 years old.  I did cheat however and this is how.   I took one quarter of the cooked but still slightly crispy beans and put in the blender and blended to smooth paste.  To the paste I added
about a half pound of fried ham slices and blended that into the paste for an abundance of ham flavoring.
When I then mixed the bean-ham paste back into the slightly crispy beans it was very difficult to notice
the slight crispyness of the beans and the taste of the ham was out of this world with everyone wondering how in the world so much ham taste could be transfered from just throwing a ham bone in the pot while cooking.
The beans were eaten on both rice and with cornbread.   Indeed these 20 year old beans were a huge
success.   I will next try cooking with my pressure cooker to compare but my secret weapon now is blending the ham meat into the bean paste.

I am a little embarrassed here but  20 years ago I put several different kinds of dried beans in  a 5 gal plastic
paint bucket and put the lid on air tight.  Last night I soaked some pinto beans for 8 hours according to
instructions and the directions said to then simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.   I have had my beans on low boil
now for 7 hours trying to get them soft and there has been no change in the texture for about 3 or 4 hours.
They are edible but they have some hardness that wont go away.  Several months ago the same thing happened with some of the red beans I had.  I had them simmer for 24 hours after soaking them.
There must be something that happens to the beans over time in storage.  These beans were individually
sealed in one and two pound plastic bags the way they were bought.   Has anyone else experienced this ?
They are not bad to eat but slightly less appetizing because of the texture that would cause someone to think
they were not cooked quite enough.

Several months ago I purchased a fifty pound bag of race horse oats from the feed store.   I took five pounds and gave the 45 pounds to a friend who owns a horse.  What I did was take one cup of these race horse oats at a time and put into a blender dry as they come out of the bag and processed until abou tthe same texture as corn grits.    I then experimented with different amounts of water and cooking time but basically cooked them like regular grits.  The result was something that tasted just like oatmeal made with rolled oats.  The texture was a little different but that can change with amount of time cooked and how finely ground.   The unexcpected "benefit"   is that the oatmeal had more of an effect similar to fiber one cereal or a handful of plums  on your pooping ability.    Now to the finer point.   When I bought the oats from the feed store the difference between regular horse oats and race horse oats was 2 dollars per fifty pounds and the guy said race horse oats did not have briars and sticks mixed in.
I dont have any oats left so I do not know if they would sprout or not  but they definitely have the full natural hull on the oats that the horses eat.
They look much like wheat berries before wheat is ground.     I dont think I ever boiled any of the oats witout grinding them first but I will next time.