The material is a little thin. Fabric softener sheets are a fair comparison. I use them to prevent water from entering a cove in my basement. They hold quite a bit of water and get pretty heavy. I put a few, sometimes 1, sometimes 6, depending on the current, and place a water detector directly behind them. If the water alarm goes off, I can go down and squeeze her. I press her against the divider between the two sides of the sink. Firm but careful. Fold them in half and press again. Spinning increases the stress on the fabric. Then I wring them out in the washing machine. Squeeze, shake, and shake the particles as hard as I can and put them back. Eventually you will have patches that are too worn to risk not going through the machine again or cracking from the compression, but you can definitely use any sock multiple times.