wood.faith•3d agoMost Upvoted

Tried pouring a concrete pad for my fire pit and it cracked in 3 days

Mixed my own concrete from a bag last Saturday, followed the instructions to the letter. Thought I was being smart by doing it on a hot afternoon so it would set fast. By Tuesday morning there were spiderweb cracks all through the middle. Turns out concrete needs to cure slow, not fast, and I should have covered it with wet burlap or a tarp. Lost about $60 on materials and now I'm looking at renting a mixer and using a fiber additive instead. Any tips for keeping a slab from cracking when you don't have a perfect temp day?

4 comments

4 Comments

victor7793d ago

Man that stings, I feel for you - $60 down the drain on a project that looked good for all of two days. @robins83 makes a solid point about the heat being the real issue here and the control joint thing is probably worth double checking too.

sage_green19h ago

Did you also try the 'sacrifice a bag of quickrete to the concrete gods' method, or was that just me?

robins833d ago

Tried following the instructions to the letter myself once and still got cracks, drives you nuts doesn't it. But you mentioned you did it on a hot afternoon so it would set fast, was that your own idea or did you actually read that somewhere? I'm just asking because everyone who's done concrete more than once knows heat is the enemy, not the friend, and I'm wondering if you maybe skipped over that part in the instructions. Also curious if you put any kind of control joint in the middle or just poured it flat, because that makes a big difference too.

fiona_west2119h ago

Pour the slab in the morning when it's cool out, thats the trick I learned after my third cracked patio slab lmao. Throw some burlap on it and keep it damp for a few days, that slow cure makes all the difference in the world. Control joints are a must too, I cut mine about a quarter inch deep every four feet with a cheap grinder and a diamond blade.