Warning: That cheap curing compound almost ruined my driveway job

Used a budget curing compound from a big box store last Wednesday on a 30 yard residential driveway in Phoenix. By Friday afternoon the surface was spider cracking like crazy because the stuff didn't seal right in the dry heat. Anyone else had curing compounds fail on them in hot weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek_ramirez9d ago

That "spider cracking like crazy" line hit home because I once watched a driveway I poured turn into a map of London in about 48 hours. My issue was I bought the cheapest stuff I could find and learned the hard way that scorching sun and bargain chemicals don't mix. Now I just accept paying a bit more for the good stuff and call it my idiot tax for the last mishap.

charlie_allen8d ago

Tbh I feel your pain on that one, @derek_ramirez, and @wendy72 nailed it with that tuition fee line because every cracked slab is a lesson you can't unlearn. At least you paid the idiot tax early instead of doing the whole thing twice like Tom did.

wendy729d ago

My neighbor Tom had a slab he poured for his shed that looked like a GAME of connect the dots after one summer. He used some no-name mix from a discount lumber place and figured the shade from his oak tree would help, but that tree actually made it WORSE because the roots kept shifting the ground underneath. He ended up jackhammering the whole thing out and paid a crew to do it right the second time, which cost him triple what he saved on the cheap cement. I told him he should've just called it his tuition fee for the school of hard knocks instead of crying over it. Now he swears by adding those reinforcing fibers and covering fresh pours with wet burlap for a week, but I still catch him eyeing any new driveway with a nervous twitch.