question;If a man is in a thousand acre woods,all by himself,and he says something out loud,is he still wrong ,according to his wife?

I will be married 30 years in June.

The answer is yes, he is still wrong.

Hopefully we'll be breaking ground on a 24x30 garage addition in the next week or so. Just waiting for the building permit to get approved. With some luck it will be framed and enclosed before New Years. Will have to wait until spring to pour the floor as I don't want to spend the bucks for heat to keep the ground from freezing up. "The Toy" isn't scheduled to come home from storage until mid-April and my bride's new (to her) '78 Trans Am (aka BIGBRRD) until May so should have time to get the floor poured by then.

How long should you leave a new pour cure before putting a protective top coat on it?

Norsky said: How long should you leave a new pour cure before putting a protective top coat on it?

We always put a cure and seal coating on immediately after finishing. In heavy warehouse construction, we use a different sealer intended for fork lift traffic, the more they drive on it, the shinier it gets. This also goes on immediately after finishing. For a paint or epoxy type finish, usually 28 days for the concrete to fully cure. Moisture content is an issue with fresh concrete. One method we use to test moisture is to tape a 12 inch square of clear plastic to the floor, sealed with tape all the way around, let it sit for a day. The moisture will collect under the test spot. No wet spot? Go ahead with coatings.

One more thing, do not use an anti-freeze admixture in your concrete, it's a corrosive! We already have enough issues with rust on our toys.

kstyer said: I will be married 30 years in June. The answer is yes, he is still wrong.

It would have been 32 for me next June, been divorced a very long time, only have the stomach for it once, sometimes I'm a quick learner!

Jim,you might want to put tubing in that floor for radiant heat. If you need help with layout or design, feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks guys! I don't know what they'll put in the concrete they pour for the footings as I know it will be colder by then (hopefully next week sometime). Even colder most likely when they put up the block wall across the back of the garage. I would guess that the mortar would have something in it to keep it from freezing. We'll hold off on pouring the floor until next spring after the frost has come out of the ground. It will tough to not put anything in there for a month before painting the floor...!!!

The radiant floor heat would be nice to have but the budget just isn't there for it. I'll probably end up putting a little wood burning stove in a corner to take the edge off when working out there in the winter months.

Thanks again!

The footing concrete shouldn't be much of an issue, The walls,a lot of times, we just heat the water and the sand. I'd look into non-calcium admixtures for the mortar. My concern with calcium containing admixtures in the floor is mostly because during wet weather, they want to sweat, this moisture will be right under the car, if you cover the car, then that moisture will be trapped in there. I'd suggest putting a vapor barrier under the slab too. Down here, it's mostly forbidden to use those additives on commercial projects, but we have a better building season than you. You should be able to get a non-calcium for the slab as well, ask your builder some questions. If you'd like some product data on additives, I'll get it to you.

Thanks Dave! I'll let you know if I get a blank stare from the concrete guy when I ask about it.
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Jim O.
Save the Wave...!!!