The date on the bags is from Jan 2006.Placed a sample in a plasticplate, mixed with water and the next day the quot;concretequot; was brittle to where just pressing with the finger causes it to crumble.The bags were kept off the floor in a garage.There are a few small lumps in each bag but for the most part its in quot;goodquot;powder form.Can I use these cement bags for any other use? Can it be mixed with good cement at a given ratio for a sidewalk concrete mix? Thanks
Test it again using sand/cement mix 4:1 with minimal water, and leave it for at least 3 days before feeling the strength. If it is still no use then you could treat it as inert, say 10% of good cement, but better to dump it. The date on cement also relates to the slow formation of hexavalent chromium compounds which build up to 'risky' levels and cause dermatitis and other allergic conditions. For this reason, it's well worth wearing protective clothing when handling cement powder and wet concrete.
might be strong enough to grout some cells in blockwork...
Use the bags for garbage disposal.
I have a very long and very expensive gravel driveway. Old bags of Cement would be cheap fodder to keep it from being a mud pit on rainy days. See if anyone could use it as filler in a road and you might be able to sell it cheap. Once it is that old, I would not trust it to hold on to the stonework it is designed for. Time for other uses.
