TIL why you should wet cure instead of just spraying and walking away

I always thought wet curing was overkill. I'd just spray the slab down once and call it good. But last month on a driveway pour in Austin, I had a customer call me back cause the surface was dusting bad. An old timer told me to try burlap and keep it wet for 5 days straight. I did it on the next job and the finish came out way harder and smoother. Anyone else notice a big difference with proper wet curing?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_young16d ago

Funny you mention Austin... I had a crew there three years ago that swore by misting every hour on the hour with a garden hose. The concrete still ended up with spider cracks everywhere. An old timer told me it's the wet cure that lets the crystals grow right, not just surface moisture. I started using straw and a soaker hose on my own patio last summer and it made a world of difference... the edge work looked way better after seven days compared to my brother's drier job. Now I tell everyone to stop spraying and start soaking for the whole week.

king.derek16d ago

Did you use regular straw or pine straw for the soak? I'm curious if the type of cover matters that much or if any old straw works the same.

margaretm2316d ago

Oh you're opening up a whole can of worms there... next thing you know people will be arguing about what color straw cures concrete the fastest. Honestly at this point I'm half convinced you could use shredded newspaper and someone online would swear by it.