That old-timer told me to wet cure my slab for 10 days, called him crazy but now I get it

Had a guy who's been pouring since the 80s tell me to keep my residential driveway wet for 10 full days. I thought that was overkill, most guys around here do maybe 5. But I tried it on a job in Austin last month, that heat was brutal. After 8 days I had zero surface cracking. A neighbor of the customer had theirs done the same week by another crew, no soak, and it's already got hairline stuff. Has anyone else gone long on wet curing and seen a real difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt86224d ago

Hang on, are we sure the lack of cracking is from the water, not just good luck with the mix? I've seen guys soak a slab for two weeks and still get spiderwebbing because they poured it too hot or the subgrade wasn't compacted right. Seems like everybody blames the curing, but half the time it's the prep work or the concrete itself being junk. Plus, keeping it wet for a full 10 days out in that Texas sun means you're babysitting it constantly, and most homeowners don't have the setup for that. Just seems like a lot of extra effort for something that might just be confirmation bias.

the_karen24d ago

Tell you what @wyatt862, I used to think the same until I had to redo a buddy's slab that we rushed the cure on. Prep matters a ton, but I've seen good mixes crack because the surface dried out too fast. In that Austin heat, you're fighting evaporation every second. I keep a sprinkler on a timer for the full 10 days now and just check it twice a day. Last July I did two slabs side by side, same mix, same crew, one got 10 days wet and the other got 5. The 5 day had little hairline cracks by week three, the 10 day is still clean a year later. So yeah, the extra babysitting is a pain, but it's paid off for me in that climate.