issues with rain and fresh cement pour?

[DezRanger]

Having a cement driveway poured tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 9am, with a high temp. of 78*. Then on (Friday) high of 59* with 80% of rain. Should I be concerned or will the cement have dried enough to not have any effect from the rain?

 

[pop pop]

Yes. Rain will definately diminish the surface hardness and finish smoothnes. You can cover after the finishing with plastic, but keep it up off the surface till it sets. After setting, the plastic will actually help the curing.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Pop is correct.

Incidentally - and this is a personal bugaboo because I work in the heavy civil construction industry - you're having a CONCRETE driveway put in.

"Cement" is just on ingredient. Its kinda like saying cakes are made of flour instead of batter. Cement reminds me of Jethro on the Beverly HIllbillies saying, "CE-ment pond".

I know, I know, "touchy *******" lol.

 

[Gary S]

When I poured my garage floor, it rained during the night and the next day. If it had not rained, I would have sprayed it for a day or so with my hose to keep it wet.
I fail to see the problem with a little rain.
My floor worked out perfectly. I had to cut the relief cuts the next day during the rain.

 

[Davefr]

Concrete cures (it doesn't dry). Concrete loves high humidity/moisture as it cures.

A little rain after about 24 hrs is no problem. In fact you should continue spraying the concrete for a week or so after the pour.

Concrete that cures under high humidity becomes much stronger then concrete that is starved for moisture after the initial pour.

Did you know that the concrete poured to make Hoover Dam is still undergoing curing and will for a long time to come??

 

[DezRanger]

thx for the replies and the schooling me on the correct terminology

 

[IHI]

durig the summer we recommend homeowners put the sprinkler on the job to help cool the slab, just helps longevity in the big picture. If you got rain before it's hard, obviously that's a problem, but it sounds like you have the ideal situation happening, mother nature is going to possibly help out.

 

[Cryptic1911]

Rain shouldn't be a problem.. it should be solid enough by then. They poured ours, screeded it, ran the whirlygig over it a bit, and then the next day we had a lawn sprinkler keeping it soaked from sun up to sun down for an entire week. Hasn't cracked in 3 years, and we don't have any saw cuts either. Most people get it poured, and just let bake out in the sun, and the top sets too quickly, while the bottom is still wet. Keeping the top wet lets the top set slower, which makes it stronger in the end.

 

[IHI]

Concrete cures (it doesn't dry). Concrete loves high humidity/moisture as it cures.

A little rain after about 24 hrs is no problem. In fact you should continue spraying the concrete for a week or so after the pour.

Concrete that cures under high humidity becomes much stronger then concrete that is starved for moisture after the initial pour.

Did you know that the concrete poured to make Hoover Dam is still undergoing curing and will for a long time to come??

We've demoed jobs done in the 50's that still had green concrete in the core, especially thick thick, overkill pours. We had a job we had to remove a 4'x6' cement patio and steps in order ot build a handicap deck/ramp. I spent 6hrs in the skidder with the jackhammer att. and mini ex. trying to find the bottom of the thing...it became a mission more/less. Once i got down to 6' deep of solid concrete, and drilled down with my 12" SDS bit and still did'nt poke through, I threw the white flag and said I was beat (we were well below frost level anyhow, but i just wanted to find the overall depth) There was ALOT of green concrete we pulled out of that mess. All that ever went through my mind on any old concrete tear out, mud must have been next to free back in the day since everything was always poured about 3x's deeper than needed LOL

 

[starquestMM]

Typically, it only needs a couple of hours for its initial set. Once its got a surface, keeping it wet is a good thing, so rain away.

 

[NHBandit]

I guess mine should be good.It was poured about 3 weeks ago. It's been raining off and on for so long here I saw my neighbor building an ark...