Denver Decorative Concrete & Custom Masonrymy concrete driveway was poured on wednesday and now friday it's raining can i drive on it sunday?
it is also going to rain all day saturday will it be ok to drive on sunday or should i allow a few more days since it rained
it is also going to rain all day saturday will it be ok to drive on sunday or should i allow a few more days since it rained
Concrete typically requires seventy two hours (3 full days) to cure. It will be safe to drive on by Sun. Your contractor did not advise you of this?
Give it a few more day. The curing process for concrete is effected by heat. The rain will not help. I’m surprised your contractor did not cover it with plastic considering the time of year. Unless you live in a very warm area three days is not long enough. Here in Pa. We would let ti sit for a week even in the summer time.
if i were the guy who poured it i would have to tell you twenty eight days to cover my butt…when you drive on it sooner and it cracks then its on you not me…seriously , wait two weeks…
Unless your contractor used high-early concrete, which is not usually used for driveways, it should not be driven on in 4 days. Conventional concrete continues to gain strength for months. When concrete is tested to determine if it has gained design strength it is tested twenty eight days after it was cast. Concrete cures rapidly for the first seven to ten days and 80% of its ultimate strength will be gained in that period if it is cured correctly and the low temperatures it is subjected to at night are in the 50s or 60s (f.), Keeping the concrete wet consistently is the best way to obtain the ideal cure for the concrete. (Tested concrete is either cured in a lime water bath or in 100% humidity condition.) To minimize the possibility of cracking, traffic should not be put on the drive for a minimum of ten days under the previously noted conditions. If it has been colder at night than 50s or 60s, fourteen days should be a minimum. These limits would apply to light car traffic only. Heavy traffic, trucks, etc. should be kept off until the concrete is at least twenty eight days old. (The heavy truck restrictions are not only a result of the concrete not being cured until twenty eight days but the consolidation of the sub-grade also becomes an issue.)
When ever you decide to drive on the concrete it would be best if you continue to keep the surface wet for at least ten days from the date it was cast. That will assist in the concrete gaining a much higher ultimate strength.
The previous cure durations won’t be found in a book, in that the book recommends twenty eight days.
Another caution well worth considering, if you are in an area where ice appears on the surface, don’t use salt on the surface for at least the first year. If you use salt on the drive during the first year I can guarantee the surface will spall. To protect from salt damage, if it is an issue, I would recommend the surface be sealed after the concrete is twenty eight days old. (Although there are cure and seal products on the market a true concrete sealer would be recommended.)
These guides are the general comprehending of allowables I have gained while working in commercial concrete construction, roads, bridges, spillways and buildings for forty years.