[Strawbale] ahh, finally have slab done

[Robert Tom]

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:21:21 -0500, <Raftercat5 at aol.com> wrote:

> we had our slab poured 8 days ago.  Just took off the plastic today,

>  It's a good day...mid-70's and  sunny.

Kathy;

And now that you've had a chance to let your new-born slab run around  
nekkid in the warm sun for a bit, I would highly recommend putting its  
plastic back on.

The concrete has only reached about 40% of the potential strength that it  
would achieve if allowed to moist cure for 4 months or so.

What you might do is go to a subdivision tract home construction site and  
see if you can scrounge a load of drywall cut-offs which you could lay  
down over top of the plastic sheet (ie piecing it together like flagstone  
to protect it and the still soft concrete while the rest of the  
construction proceeds around and over it.

By the time the rest of the building is finished it will be just about the  
120 days or so that the cement in the concrete needs to fully hydrate and  
the moisture retention sheet can be removed and re-used since it was  
protected from mechanical damage and UV-deterioration by the protective  
covering of drywall scraps.

Of course, plywood or OSB or any other sheet good material would do the  
job but the drywall would have been garbage anyway and you'd be diverting  
it from the landfill.

When you're done with it, you can break it up, nleave it out in the  
weather for the paper rot and then use the gypsum to sweeten alkaline soil.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at chaffY a h o o  dot  c a >
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