Heard a foreman in Dallas say something about curing that got me worried

I was grabbing coffee yesterday and overheard a foreman from a big crew telling his guys to skip the curing compound on a driveway pour because 'it's cloudy, it'll be fine.' That made me stop cold. I've seen what happens when you cut that corner, especially with the heat we get here. A job I did three years ago had early cracking because the homeowner turned off the sprinkler too soon on a partly cloudy day. The surface dried out way faster than the slab underneath. Now I'm real careful, even if the forecast looks okay. I always use a full gallon of cure and seal per 200 square feet, no matter what. Has anyone else run into crews trying to rush the cure step to save a few bucks?

3 comments

3 Comments

murphy.tessa1mo ago

My neighbor's driveway from last summer is a perfect example. It looked fine for a few months, then a whole spiderweb of cracks showed up. The crew had poured it on an overcast day and just left it. Now he's looking at a full replacement. That foreman is trading a tiny bit of saved time for a massive headache down the road.

hollywhite1mo ago

It's the same mindset that makes people skip primer on drywall, it ALWAYS shows up later.

mianelson1mo ago

Yeah, that "it's cloudy, it'll be fine" line is a huge red flag. I've had to fix so many jobs where someone thought the weather would do the work for them. The slab still needs that moisture locked in, clouds or not. It's crazy they'd risk the whole pour to save maybe an hour of labor and fifty bucks in compound. That kind of shortcut always shows up later, and the customer is the one who pays for it.