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Watching fresh slabs crack when we rush the curing step
On my last pour, some guys pushed to use a fast drying chemical instead of keeping it wet. They argue it lets customers drive on it sooner and we move to the next job. Others swear by soaking the concrete for days to avoid future problems. I saw a sidewalk we finished with the quick method start spiderwebbing in a month. But the slabs we watered down daily are holding up fine years later. It's annoying when speed seems to beat doing it right. How do you handle this on your sites?
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bennett.henry7mo ago
That spiderwebbing after a month tells the whole story. Read a thing from an old contractor blog about curing. Said quick dry tricks cheat the process. Concrete needs that water to get strong inside. Skip it and you get cracks that show up later. I always fight for keeping slabs wet, no matter how much the crew complains. Shortcuts just lead to call backs and angry customers.
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tyler_nguyen627mo ago
Watched a crew rush a pour last summer, using fans to dry it fast. Hairline cracks showed up everywhere in weeks, and the customer was FURIOUS. Now I insist on wet curing for at least seven days, no exceptions.
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simona777mo ago
Keeping the slab wet for a full week fixed our cracking issues. We just used wet burlap and sprayed it down daily, and the concrete set perfectly. Rushing the cure is never worth the trouble later.
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