Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Any tips of conrete curing in a basement?

Props from Bob! Nice.

According to concrete.org you should be good to go in 6 days.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

Nick, quick suggestion - do you have to secure the walls to the floor this weekend? Could you build them and temporarily anchor them by other means until the concrete is cured before you secure them permanently? When I refinished my basement I had a couple of walls that were a fairly snug fit between the subfloor below and floor joists overhead that easily held them in place with no anchoring. I of course did anchor them before finishing but they were solid enough for any other work that needed to be done before the drywall went up.

Bob, I'm not "questioning" the advice, just asking more questions.

I was just down in the basement prepping for the concrete fun tonight. There is 1 wall that will secure into the surrounding existing concrete, and another wall will me 3/4 on existing concrete. The back wall will be 100% on NEW concrete. There are also some shower surrounds that will be 100% on new concrete, BUT I think that I will play it safe and secure what I can to the existing floor, and then secure the walls that are over the new concrete to the ones over the old... Go on my business trip, and then late next Wednesday night or early Thursday just fire a few nails into the new stuff. Seems doable and lets the concrete do its stuff.

I did pick up some accelerator stuff. Gotta factor that into the recipe (starting to think that it would have been a lot better to have gotten Quikrete since it is already mixed and just add water and accelerator)...

Hopefully that will help. Well, time to make some calculations and then off to rent the mixer.

Thanks all!

It's not a problem to shoot into the concrete after about 24 hours. In fact, it's much easier while the concrete is still green.

You don't need to do anything special to cure it in a basement. That's only an issue if you're outdoors where the sun or wind could dry the surface faster. Like you mentioned, it's better not to use a curing compound so you avoid issues with flooring later.

I wouldn't bother with an accelerator either. It'll just make the finishing job more stressful if the concrete sets up too fast. Just pour and finish it tonight, and you'll be good to go tomorrow night.

By the way, concrete reaches it's design strength in 28 days, but continues to cure and get stronger and harder for 50-100 years.

Well, you posted those tips about 2 hours too late. ;-)

Anyway, the concrete is all in. I did use some of the set accelerator in there too. You are right, for someone who isn't experienced, it made the first "batch" a little more difficult when it was time to screed and float, but it is done. I noticed that the existing floor wasn't 100% level either, so that didn't help. I may have to put down a thin layer of self-leveling compound or whatever before we tile, but I haven't even looked into what that is all about.

Glad it is done. My back and knees are sore... And even though I wore a dust mask, I still sneezed portland cement...

new screen name nickmason

LOL

I would ABSOLUTELY encourage you to use a self-leveling compound before you tile. Tile wants flat. Bad. Like, Calista Flockhart.

Check out the John Bridge Tile Forums for tips.

Tom, you forgot the " ™ " after Calista Flockhart™.

I've obtained exclusive use of her name on this forum when referring to flatness.

My attorney's letter is on it's way.

Sorry I missed this but the advice you got was spot on.