I'm not an engineer but I've help pour several 100 yards for towers,
garage floors, patios etc. My late Father delivered redi-mix for 30
yr.s. Just my personal experience. I'd 'wet' it twice a day for the
first three days. Don't hose it, gently sprinkle it. You put a hard
stream on water on soft concrete & you'll peal off the top 1/8'' if it
was troweled smooth. After an hour or two water will rise to the
surface on a new pour. That's when the final smooth troweling is done.
That top layer is cement & sand.Don't blast it with a hard stream of
water. I take a nail & scribe the date in soft concrete but that's my
way.
Concrete cures inside out. After a week or two most pours " white
out' . The top shows the normal concrete look. That is dependant on
how wet the mix was when poured, how wet the sides of the hole were,
how wet the surrounding soil was
and the air temp.. Concrete cures faster as the temp. increases and
lack of rain. If rain is coming soon after the surface is smoothed you
can cover it with a plastic drop cloth to keep the top from being
eroded.
How long you wait to use it depends on the size of the pour.
Obviously a pour of many yards in a square hole takes a lot longer to
be safe than a patio. These days people drive cars on a pour 3 days
after the pour. If it was me with a larger than 4 yard tower base I'd
wait 3 weeks. Better to error on the safe side than try to put too
much pressure on a new tower pour.If it's cold and/or a lot of rain
I'd wait 4 weeks. Putting up a large heavy tower & pulling guys puts a
lot of pressure on the base. You want it to be absolutely solid before
you stress it.
Just my opinion. Good luck
K9IL
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