hey everyone,Am i supposed to wet down the concrete,around the pool? where the kool decking will go?it was poured today & its really windy in las vegas tonight....& lucky if your thinking of coming out!
concrete
- Thread starter electropablo2002
- Start date
If you are talking about your pool shell wet the entire shell everywhere you can get it wet, 3-4 times a day for the first few days.
They had me wet my decking for a couple of days but mine was just concrete no kool dek (yet!)
MiaOKC
0
My PB told me the deck didn't need to be watered unless the temps were really hot (ours were in the 70s, not really hot, but very windy). He said to water cure the concrete it had to be constantly consistently wet for 7 days, so unless I was going to quit my full time job to take on concrete curing, not to worry about it. Don't know what your temps are, but take that as you may!
For a pool deck you may get away without watering it. But, just in case others see this thread ---- the curing of concrete is a chemical process called hydration. It is not a drying process. It is particularly important to keep it wet/moist for the first 3-4 days and the longer the better. Use a lawn sprinkler or cover it in plastic or burlap, "hire" a neighbour, or anything else that serves the purpose. Keeping it moist contributes significantly to its final strength, lower propensity to crack, abrasion resistance, and impermeability. These may be less critical structurally for a pool deck slab but for a pool shell, retaining wall, house foundation/wall/slab it would be very important.
Im a contractor that does a fair amount of concrete construction and Im not sure where the myth of wetting a concrete structure a few times a day came from, but not only is it wrong, its actually worse for the structure.
Either constantly wet, or cover the concrete with something to reduce the mositure loss (which is what curing actually is), or sit by your new shell and drink a beer.
You will feel better and its better for your pool too!
http://www.concrete.net.au/publications/pdf/Curing06.pdf
Thank you everyone,i finally got ahold of my pb (hes been real scarce & almost no info unless pryed from him) he said not to water it,& it seems like a mixed opinion here...but i sooooo apreciate it
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