Saw a crew in Austin skip mud curing on a hot day and learned my lesson

I was on a job site in Austin last August watching a crew pour a driveway in 95 degree heat. They sprayed cure compound but skipped the wet burlap and poly, and within 3 hours the surface was checking like crazy. Has anyone else seen guys skip proper curing and end up with a mess?

2 comments

2 Comments

felixlee9d ago

Yeah that's almost worse than doing nothing at all. Spraying cure compound without sealing the edges and joints first is asking for trouble. You gotta wet the subgrade too before you pour, especially when it's that hot. I've seen guys think a spray on cure is enough but it just doesn't keep the surface moist long enough when the sun's beating down like that.

irismartinez9d ago

Nah I gotta push back on this one a little. Look I've been pouring in Texas summers for years and I've seen guys overwater the cure and actually cause more problems than they solve. If you wet cure wrong you can get thermal shock when the burlap dries out fast and the concrete cools down too quick. Sometimes that spray on compound is all you need if you apply it right and keep the crew moving. I've watched crews waste half a day babysitting wet burlap while the guys who just sprayed and walked away had perfectly fine slabs three months later. It's not the method that's the problem its whether you know your mix and your weather conditions.