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Curing admixed concrete

17 years ago

Dummy that I am,I had not thought to speak to a techie about what kind of cure to use with,in my case,AMA or acrylic mortar admix.

The tech rep at Custom Building Products suggests that,with 100% admix as your fluid of choice,you should still mist your piece 3 times a day,for 3 days.

So,that answers my nagging question"To mist or not to mist.That is the question.Whether it be nobler not to cure this way...".Maybe Shakespeare knew something about our stuff,eh?

cheers from here

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Comments (4)

tango88
17 years ago
Hey, Meester Reek...if the size/weight/configuration of the piece allows, you can save a lot of clock watching by misting it thoroughly just once and sealing it air tight in a big black plastic bag. It keeps any breezes off and maintains just about perfect hydration. That's how I cure nearly all of my supercritical neat paste mixes. I even searched janitorial suppliers for giant bags & found some that are five feet tall and heavy weight.

Often I will set the work up off the bottom of the bag on a piece of board and pour in some additional water. And if you have sunny to hot weather, sitting the black plastic out in the sun actually helps by heating up and re-condensing the moisture all over the inside of the bag. It's a poor man's "steam-cure" and it works great. Just make sure to seal it up tightly. On critical work, I leave it undisturbed for a solid week, but 3 to 4 days will generally do the job on most work.

Now if I can just find a bag large enough to accomodate that 9 1/2 foot bench I'm about to start...

All my best --- Tango
rickharmer
Original Author
17 years ago
A body bag for basketball players might work...
Thanks for the info.I'll give it a try.
Cheers from here
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Running_Dog
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tango - when I'm working on a very large project I buy bulder's plastic. It comes in different gauges, I get the strong stuff. You can buy it here by the metre, or by the roll.

But even black plastic garbage bags on a roll would do, you can tape the bags together with strong waterproof tape. But you probably do that already :o)
hotredpepper
17 years ago
6 mil builders plastic comes in 100x10 foot wide rolls among many other sizes and it is very strong and almost impossible to tear. It is very inexpensive as well and lasts for darned near ever.
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