Contractor didnt cut concrete

[sawtooth]

I called him last night as it's been 4 days and he didn't cut it yet. From what I've read needs to occur about 4 hours or just after its setup some. Now he's talking about doing it several days later. What should I do? Is it ok to still do it?

Thanks

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[Sysop]

The initial cracks start to form as the concrete is curing. Cutting lines after it has cured generally doesn't help whether it is 4 hours or 40 days after curing. The proper way to do cracklines in concrete is to trough them in when first working the surface and floating it. Cutting it after it has cured only causes more cracks to form.

 

[schoolsout]

Our finisher cut ours the next day...

 

[schoolsout]

Only cracks we have seen are on corners where the 8x8 posts are...assuming they just expand/contracted enough to produce cracks. Have not looked closely at the cuts, but some were cut about an inch deep where needed. The rest in floor are simply for looks.

 

[roadhunter]

Typically we cut within 24 hours using an early entry saw.

How big of a pour are we talking about?

 

[paulharvey]

The initial cracks start to form as the concrete is curing. Cutting lines after it has cured generally doesn't help whether it is 4 hours or 40 days after curing. The proper way to do cracklines in concrete is to trough them in when first working the surface and floating it. Cutting it after it has cured only causes more cracks to form.

The control joints might not stop cracks, but they aren't supposed too. They are meant to Control (hence the name) where the cracks happen. I also like tooled joints for looks, speed and lack of coming back, but my understand is that they don't work nearly as well, and with DOT sidewalks, they want them cut, not tooled. I've done both, and both only control the cracks about 3/4s of the time.

Will it do any good at this point? Not much, but it won't hurt any. Concrete gets to about 90% strength within the first 7 days.

Size, shape, reinforcement, weather, mix, and water-cement ratio all effect the cracking. Also long sections take more thought, for expansion joints, ect.

 

[yanmars]

As the concrete cures it gets harder and therefore more difficult to cut than green concrete I have been told but most concrete in this area is cut the next day or so without apparent problems. I cut mine after a couple of days 20 years ago and still do not have any cracks.
The old saying that concrete is cracked or will crack still has some validity. I would not worry much about it.

 

[sawtooth]

Ok thanks for the responses. The actual building floor is 40x70 and was poured a few months ago. The only cut he made was halfway down the 70' long side of the barn. The two pads outside the garage doors were poured last Saturday and are 40Wx20D on the front and 15Wx20D on the back of the building. No cuts have been made on it yet.

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[yanmars]

Now this is only from memory but I thought a cut was supposed to be every 10 feet or so and not more than 15 feet. A true concrete man will answer for sure or I suppose there is google.

 

[yanmars]

I did just look it up. For 4 inch thick concrete they said the depth of cut should be 25 per cent or one inch deep. The cut spacing should be in the 8 to 12 foot widths in both directions.