I poured a basement slab in cold weather;stiff slump; it appeared to be setting up before we could finish hand troweling it-about 4 hours after we started the pour. It took two trucks. Only a small part of the load from the second truck is now anywhere near the desired hardness, the rest is soft-scuffing feet create large amounts of surface material coming loose and it is easy to dig a furrow in the slab with the edge of my boot. I had a heater and used it . Did it freeze anyway? Once I figure out what the problem is, what are my options? Thanks for the help.
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How long ago was the pour?
It doesn't matter how fast you get there, it just matters that you go in the right direction.
The pour took place about 6 weeks ago. Got any suggestions as to what might have happened and what to do?
Hard to say exactly what happened. I'd suggest waiting a few more weeks and hoping for the best. It doesn't matter how fast you get there, it just matters that you go in the right direction.
Sorry for the late post, was there calcium in the mix? ran into a similar problem with a retaining wall, only the top wound not set. took two full days to harden, had a lot of water coming to the top. could be that you got a bad batch of concrete as well.
PatRen.
Get the concrete co. out there....all three co's in my county have a site guy that will come out to review pre-pour, if needed, and follow up on later questions/problems.
It sounds like the surface moisture condensed and froze.
...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Sorry to hear this.
Sounds like you might have froze up a little.
Also, what kind of heater? The combustion gases from direct type heaters (salamanders and the like) can mess up concrete.
How long ago was the pour? Sounds weird, but I have seen concrete take a lot longer than you'd think in cold weather (like days) and it was still eventually OK.
Well, it had a few footprints in it, but it was getting carpeted anyway. <G>
DRC