Delays in concrete curing can be a real headache when you’re hoping to move on to the next phase of the project. Googling ”ways to dry concrete” brings up, among other things, grinding cement paste, heating cables, forced drying with panels, and drying equipment installed in the pour, blowers, thirsty camels, and all sorts of old wives’ tales. Most of the time, however, focusing on the drying conditions is enough to get the concrete to dry.
The single most important factor
Choosing concrete with a lower water content right from the design stage is, of course, important—not to mention proper curing. However, this is not absolutely essential for drying. Focusing on drying conditions, on the other hand, is. If you pour a cube of concrete into a formwork and dump it on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, it will never dry, regardless of the quality of the curing. If you pour the same cube into a space where the relative humidity is low enough, the temperature is high enough, and ventilation is sufficient, the concrete will inevitably dry. That is why I consider focusing on drying conditions to be the single most important factor in the drying of concrete structures.
Real-time data for the construction site
Typically, structural moisture meters monitor the drying conditions of spaces during site visits and report their findings to site management. The system itself is quite good, but for a comprehensive assessment of a structure’s drying process, it is useful to know the full history of conditions even when the inspector is not on site. Only in this way can the progress of concrete drying be realistically assessed and unnecessary measurement visits avoided.
At this point environmental monitoring service straightens his collar and takes charge. Once the post-pour curing is complete, sensors that monitor indoor relative humidity and temperature are installed at critical drying locations on the job site, such as areas with thicker concrete pours or locations prone to adverse conditions. The sensors, or ”loggers,” continuously send data to a server, allowing the surveyor to remotely monitor and report on the drying conditions at the site.
Accounts are also created for the construction site within the service, so there are ideally several pairs of eyes monitoring the conditions. The service allows you to select which gauges to display for specific days or locations, for example, if you want to investigate how much the moisture stress caused by surface treatment work is degrading the conditions. The loggers can be set to trigger an alarm if a specific temperature requirement is not met, or if the relative humidity of the air attempts to exceed the specified maximum value.
Statistics teach us
In addition to monitoring conditions in real time, averages can be tracked on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis. In most cases, monitoring weekly averages is particularly important, as other construction phases may temporarily impair drying conditions. The drying conditions of concrete pours can be monitored from the day of pouring all the way through to paving. And why not even after that, as has been done with certain parquet floors. Once the monitoring period ends, the system compiles a report from the data sent by the loggers, which can be used, for example, to plan drying times and measures for the next project in advance.
Except for thirsty camels
Monitoring at a single construction site can therefore, at its best, also help future projects stay on schedule. Even after hearing the best sales pitches, it’s important to remember that a concrete cube cast on the bottom of the Baltic Sea won’t dry any faster just because conditions are monitored. However, by monitoring and reporting on conditions, it is possible to react to slow drying in a timely manner. Monitoring conditions is an excellent tool in a contractor’s toolkit and, at its best, is combined with the methods mentioned at the beginning. (Perhaps with the exception of those thirsty camels)
Would you like more information or a quote for this service?
Contact us