Using fence post mix as filler for a small slab?

[Aaron_W]

My basement floor is a mix of rough finished concrete slab and plywood flooring over dirt. For what ever reason there is an area of about 6x12 feet between the door and the slab which is not concrete (the concrete section is kind of in the middle of the basement along one wall). I'd like to finish off this section so I have concrete running the full length of the wall instead of having this weird gap. The other areas with wood floor are not really an issue as I mostly use that for storage, the concrete area has been serving as my shop space. The existing slab is 4-6" deep.


Anyway my real question is I have 6 or 8 bags of fence post concrete that got rained on and set up. I'd like to use it as filler, more as to avoid paying to take it to the dump than on saving a little on new concrete. It will make up less than 1/4 of the estimated concrete needed. I know fence post concrete is not what you want to use for a slab, but just wondering if I break up these bags and spread the chunks throughout the area if it is likely to cause any problems? I'm assuming no, but I'm not a concrete guy and it can't hurt to ask.

 

[duneslider]

It won't cause any problems, it would just be like using gravel. In my area they are starting to crush up concrete and sell it as base (gravel).

 

[Viper98912]

You have an interesting setup. I've never seen a basement that didn't have a concrete floor. Plywood floor and/or no floor...interesting.

Nonetheless, if you're just using it as filler, sure why not? I don't think it matters either way. I'd just dig out some of the dirt in the same size of the wet bags and place them in as filler. I wouldn't even bother to crush the concrete, just put it down as big slabs. If you want to get fancy, bring in some fine stone and fill in the gaps with it. Or even, buy some paver sand that gets hard when you wet it and use that to fill in the gaps? It won't be perfect, but should be better than just dirt?

 

[nadogail]

Your crushed concrete will now become aggregate, just as if it were gravel.

 

[mike93lx]

It will be fine. Don't kill yourself breaking it up, just get it small enough to not poke out the top

 

[Aaron_W]

Thanks, thought it would be fine but just wanted to make sure there wasn't something weird about the mix.

You have an interesting setup. I've never seen a basement that didn't have a concrete floor. Plywood floor and/or no floor...interesting.

Nonetheless, if you're just using it as filler, sure why not? I don't think it matters either way. I'd just dig out some of the dirt in the same size of the wet bags and place them in as filler. I wouldn't even bother to crush the concrete, just put it down as big slabs. If you want to get fancy, bring in some fine stone and fill in the gaps with it. Or even, buy some paver sand that gets hard when you wet it and use that to fill in the gaps? It won't be perfect, but should be better than just dirt?

I always mix up basement vs cellar but it is above ground, and pretty common to find a dirt floor in California.

Kind of a weird deal, it is an old house on a slope. Basically crawl space on the uphill half and where the ceiling height becomes about 6 foot it is walled in with a plywood floor except for this roughly 12x20 foot section of concrete pad which does not extend to the one access door. For somebody going to the trouble of pouring a slab they didn't seem to put any effort into giving it a decent surface finish.

It will be fine. Don't kill yourself breaking it up, just get it small enough to not poke out the top

That was the plan, figured I'd give each bag a couple wacks to break it into a few chunks instead of a big bag shaped lump.