I was dead set against wet curing until a 95 degree pour taught me the hard way

Last summer I poured a 30 foot driveway in Phoenix and figured I'd just let it cure naturally like I always do. Three days later I had hairline cracks spiderwebbing across the whole thing. Called up my buddy Tom who's been finishing for 25 years and he told me to try wet curing with burlap and a soaker hose. I did a small test patch on the next job and the difference was night and day that concrete held moisture way better and didn't shrink crack. Has anyone else had a big swing in results switching from dry to wet curing?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.willow2d ago

...I mean I hear what you're saying but I wonder if people make wet curing out to be a bigger deal than it really is. I've been doing dry cure for years on everything from patios to retaining walls and yeah I get a few cracks here and there but nothing that's ever made me redo a whole slab. Maybe it's more about your mix design or how you finish it than the curing method. Plus that soaker hose setup sounds like a pain to keep running for a week straight especially on bigger jobs.

ross.sean2d ago

My first time wet curing was on a 40 foot sidewalk in Tucson and I couldn't believe how smooth it came out compared to my usual dry method. The burlap and soaker hose setup took a little extra effort but I barely had any cracking at all even when it hit 105 that week. Idk if I'll ever go back to just hoping for the best with dry curing after seeing how much better the concrete looked.