Why nobody talks about wet curing with burlap anymore

Used to just spray and pray with a hose every few hours on my driveways... but last summer on a job near Lake Placid I tried wet burlap and plastic sheeting. The surface came out way harder with almost zero hairline cracks. Has anyone else gone back to old school curing methods or am I the only one?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly3386d ago

Is it possible the reason wet burlap works so well has nothing to do with keeping the concrete wet and everything to do with controlling the temperature? I've read that a slower, more even cure happens when you stop the surface from losing heat too fast, and burlap plus plastic acts like a blanket. The water's just part of the equation, the real magic is the steady temp inside that wrap. On hot days, the difference in surface temp between a hose job and a covered slab is huge. That might be why you saw way less cracking, not just the moisture.

fiona1306d ago

Tossed some wet burlap on a slab back in '19 after my regular hose spray setup broke down mid-pour. Ended up leaving it on for a full week because I forgot about it, wrapped in plastic too. When I peeled it off that concrete was so dark and smooth I almost didn't recognize it as my own work. Neighbor walked by and asked if I'd switched to some fancy new mix. Nope, just lazy and forgot I'd covered it. That's when I started wondering if all that fussing with hoses every few hours was just making me tired, not the concrete better.