Hello friends, my experience in construction allows me to give some advice when it comes to building and this time today I am going to talk about concrete, and how to obtain a better result according to my experience.
As you know, concrete must be cured, but for how long concrete must be cured, laboratory analysis shows that elements cured for three days reach up to 75 percent of the resistance that they should, that is, they only reach 75 percent. percent of its potential and a concrete cured for seven days would reach up to 95 percent of the strength.
So the optimal or minimum is to cure the concrete for seven days, there is a curious fact that in concrete cured for 28 days, which is the number of days in which concrete reaches the greatest resistance, it has been observed that they reach 25 percent more than the resistance that was expected and as this is known, because breakage tests are carried out on specimens.
One method that I use is to place a reservoir with a hole in it so that the element is always on its surface.
Another factor that must be taken into account is the climate. Studies have been carried out in geographical regions with a humid climate where it has been observed that natural curing may occur without the need for special actions, but this could only occur if the humidity of the environment is 80% during most of the day, which would prevent the movement of the water inside the concrete to the outside, but you have to forget about this since these conditions are very specific and casual, in short you have to cure the concrete wherever you are, which is very necessary.
Understanding how important the curing of concrete is, it must be done with the best technique, the most used method is to water with a hose so that this surface remains moist, care must be taken that the water pressure is not too high at first because the concrete was still fresh and it could wash the surface of the concrete and we don't want that; I use the method described in the image combined with other methods.
Another method used in curing is to cover the concrete surface with thick fabrics, in this way traditional moisture is provided to the element and care must be taken that these fabrics do not dry out because otherwise instead of adding water, otherwise they would remove the water. to the elements and then this would be more of a problem.
Another method that does not require the addition of water to the surface is to cover it with waterproof insulation, this prevents the mixing water from escaping from the concrete mass by evaporation, this is achieved by placing plastic sheets on the surface. surface and although the water evaporates because these sheets do not allow water to escape in large quantities, thus ensuring that the concrete maintains the degree of humidity it needs for curing, polystyrene sheets or any other sheet can be placed, this can be applied method in conjunction with the previous one, placing wet cloths and on top of these plastic sheets plus a reservoir of water, this would be the best.
It must be avoided at all costs that the water in the concrete migrates, if this happens, cavities and cracks are formed, weakening the concrete.
The ideal procedure for curing concrete is by immersion, since the concrete is kept completely saturated and hydrated. This is commonly used for slabs and pavements, it consists of stagnating water, the concrete surface and bringing it closer to prevent water from escaping. this technique would be ideal but it requires a lot of water, another technique used consists of generating a layer of artificial mist with an atomizer around the elements to be cured, however, it requires the use of hermetic chambers that prevent water from escaping or spaces closed that prevent the loss of mist by evaporation and for this reason it is not widely used since it is a bit complicated.
Finally, liquid components that form curing membranes can be used. This can be used to slow down by reducing the evaporation of moisture from the concrete. They are suitable for protecting fresh concrete once it has already exuded or for prolonging self-curing once it has dried. has done an initial curing, these membranes prevent the evaporation of water, they are made from paraffin or chlorinated rubber resins and high volatility solvents and those are all the techniques I know, if you know of another you can mention it to me in the comments , and remember that it is best to cure the concrete for at least 7 days.
I hope the information is useful when making a decision, do not forget to support me and we will read next time, bye.
