Over the summer, we can have a nice few days of sunshine and some high(ish) temperatures and each year we get our annual rise in calls regarding the concrete setting quickly and we’re asked the question, how is it possible to get more time?
Unfortunately, there is no ‘magic’ cure.
Nice as the sunshine is, it does make the concrete set much quicker. Concrete will set completely differently between areas under the shade of a building or the areas out in the direct sun. Often people will start printing the area in the sun first, even if it isn’t the most logical place to start, just because they know if they don’t, they won’t have a print in it at all if they wait to print the shaded area first (as the area in the sun would be much further along setting then the shaded area).
One solution to help with this, although an extra step is to set up a shade to work under. It’s not a shelter to protect from the rain as that’s often difficult. Just using a tarpaulin (or similar) tied up above the concrete so you can work underneath it can help to keep the concrete (and you) in the shade. It will be like laying concrete on a cloudy day.
If you’ve got nothing to tie your tarp to, make yourself some weights. Do this by getting a dozen old Release Agent buckets (or similar), then fill them with some leftover concrete and create a hole in the concrete the size of a scaffold pole to add a pole to. Hey presto! place these around the job, and you’ve got something to tie to. (A couple of bits of bent rebar sticking out of the top to act as handles will make lifting them easier).
If you do use the tips and tricks suggested above, you’ll be able to do more, better quality work, with less effort and stress!
Dr Concrete