Had a slab start to rain on me right as I was about to bull float it

We were pouring a garage pad in Mesa yesterday afternoon when a surprise monsoon cloud opened up right overhead. I yelled for the guys to grab the poly and we covered the whole thing just as the rain got heavy, then had to wait an hour for it to pass. What's your go-to move when the weather turns on a pour?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph9322mo ago

Man, that's the worst timing. Did the poly hold up okay or did you get any washout on the edges? We keep a couple of those pop-up canopy tents in the truck for exactly that reason, but a full garage slab is a whole different beast to cover fast.

terryb112mo ago

Those pop-up canopies are a good idea for small work, but they're not much help for a full slab. The wind that comes with those monsoon rains would turn them into kites. We keep a big roll of 6-mil poly and a bundle of 2x4s on the ready. You can roll the plastic out fast and use the lumber to hold the edges down against the wind. It's about speed and weight when the sky opens up like that.

charles6781mo ago

Read an article in Concrete Construction a while back that said a good tarp setup with sandbags or lumber can save you hours of cleanup, especially on fresh pours. Your 2x4 trick sounds way more solid than fighting with a canopy in a gust. Poly and weight is the old school way that actually works.