Placing shotcrete in hot weather can be a risky proposition if you don’t follow basic guidelines. Success under these conditions, reports William Drakeley, calls for controlling concrete temperature and mix design while also managing details of the installation and curing processes.
Wetting down freshly applied shotcrete is crucial to cool it down in hot weather and slow down the hydration process.
The summer is always busy, but that may be a huge understatement this year. The country is coming back to life with consumers very aware of their personal space and wanting to do more with it - which, often times, means adding water.
As a result, heightened demand for our industry’s products will likely lead to all sorts of logistical and supply issues. The availability of concrete may well be one of those critical issues. Ready-mix people I’ve talked to are saying that during this forced downtime, many homeowner do-it-yourselfers are taking on their own concrete work. Suppliers caution that when the contractors come back fully online during the summer, there could be delays in product supply and even shortages of delivery trucks.
To varying degrees that’s often true in hot weather, when elevated temps drive demand. With the current extraordinary circumstances especially, the first step in hot-weather concrete work, whether you’re doing wet-mix or dry-mix, you need to communicate with your suppliers setting up orders well in advance. That’s the only way you’ll know what to expect in terms of availability and delivery, so you can schedule accordingly and in turn let the client know what to expect.
Beyond that basic caveat, there are specific measures and conditions required whenever you’re applying concrete in hot weather.
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