Poured a 12x16 patio last spring that looked rough at first

Three months of proper curing and daily misting turned it into the smoothest slab I've done in five years. Anyone else stick with long-term curing or do you just seal it and move on?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesleyc7523d ago

Hold up though. I've been doing concrete for twelve years and I gotta say, daily misting for three months sounds crazy to me. That's just asking for surface dusting and a weak top layer if you let it stay too wet for too long. I usually wet cure for about seven days, then let it air dry for two weeks before sealing. Last year I did a driveway that got misted twice daily for a full month and it ended up with a weird cloudy finish that never really polished out right. You sure that super long cure didn't mess with your final hardness?

bettywilson23d agoTop Commenter

Yeah that cloudy finish thing is EXACTLY what I've seen happen with overmisting too. Had a buddy try it on his patio and it came out looking all chalky and dull no matter how much he sealed it. Three months of daily misting sounds like overkill for sure, I think you hit it right on the head about the surface staying too wet for too long. Most guys I know stick with that week long wet cure then let it breathe, and their stuff comes out solid. Maybe the super long cure works for some fancy mixes but for standard concrete it just causes more problems than it solves.