That stat about curing time got me second-guessing my whole method

I was reading through the PCA website last night and saw that concrete only gains about 50 percent of its strength in the first 7 days if you don't keep it wet. Here I thought I was doing fine just spraying it down once a day on my garage slab in Austin, but now I'm wondering if I should've used a wet burlap blanket instead. Has anyone here measured the difference in compressive strength between wet curing and just misting?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethhart22d ago

Honestly, you're probably overthinking this. I've seen slabs in the Texas heat that got misted twice a day and they turned out fine after 28 days. The real enemy isn't a dry surface, it's the air temperature and humidity. Plus, wet burlap can actually trap heat and cause thermal cracking if you're not careful. Tbh, unless you're pouring a bridge deck or a structural column for a high-rise, that extra 10-15 percent strength from soggy curing ain't gonna make a difference in your garage floor.

rowan26221d ago

Hold up though, when you say "turned out fine" what are you actually checking? Are you running break tests on cylinders or just going by feel and how it holds up to a scratch test or something? Because I've heard a lot of guys say their slab looks fine, but then they park a heavy truck on it a year later and get hairline cracks.