Questions & Answers

I decided to mix my own deck mud and figured it was probably a good idea to test it, since I haven't worked much with cement. My ratio was five parts of "play sand" to one part of portland cement. I mixed the dry ingredients in a bucket with a small spade first and then sprinkled some water on, got the "snow ball" or "sand castle" consistency and put it into a little form I threw together. In total it was about a half gallon of mud. I didn't do a slope, I just wanted to test the consistency, so it was only about an inch thick throughout. It is now about six hours later on a hot day and I'm wondering if it has set up properly? I was expecting more of a hard, impenatrable,

cement slab. It seems solid enough but It will crumble if I scrape it with a metal blade. I can even put a mark in it with my fingernail if I dig hard enough. I suppose it would be good as an underlayment but I have nothing to relate it to. Is this how deck mud should set up? It's doesn't crumble without some provocation but it doesn't take much. I can also loosen the surface grit if I rubb my hand over it. I mixed all of the ingredients thoroughly and thought I had done a good job of distributing the water so no part was wetter or drier than another.