Thanks for the replies to my query regarding pouring concrete in cold
weather.
Anyhow, this morning I had the concrete poured.
The pump arrived on time, the concrete was half an hour late. The first
thing the readymix driver did was to ask for a cheque or wouldn't provide
the concrete to the pump. I hadn't even got a chance to say hello at this
point.
The readymix had a 125 slump, though an 85 slump had been requested, but the
pump guy assured me this was fine. We poured 5m cubed in about twenty
minutes. I checked the temp of the concrete and discovered it was about as
cold as tap water on a cold winter's morning.
After levelling, I didn't really see the point of the insulating such a cold
mix, but I did so anyway with 25mm polystyrene and some rolls of loft
insulation in plastic sheets. I covered the whole lote with tarp.

Question: will this mix reach a good strength or did I make a mistake in
accepting it?

TIA Bhadan.

bhads Wrote:
Thanks for the replies to my query regarding pouring concrete in cold
weather.
Anyhow, this morning I had the concrete poured.
The pump arrived on time, the concrete was half an hour late. The
first
thing the readymix driver did was to ask for a cheque or wouldn't
provide
the concrete to the pump. I hadn't even got a chance to say hello at
this
point.
The readymix had a 125 slump, though an 85 slump had been requested,
but the
pump guy assured me this was fine. We poured 5m cubed in about twenty
minutes. I checked the temp of the concrete and discovered it was about
as
cold as tap water on a cold winter's morning.
After levelling, I didn't really see the point of the insulating such a
cold
mix, but I did so anyway with 25mm polystyrene and some rolls of loft
insulation in plastic sheets. I covered the whole lote with tarp.

Question: will this mix reach a good strength or did I make a mistake
in
accepting it?

TIA Bhadan.


It'll be fine. Ive worked on many jobs where, beacause of limited
access the concrete has been poured at one corner of a foundation
trench. In order to get the stuff to flow as far as possible the
readymix has been specified with a high slump and sometimes more water
was added on site. Strictly speaking you shouldn't add water after the
initial mix but i've seen it done many times and the concrete still
went off ok and the houses are still standing 25 years later.


--
Nick H