Pouring a 40x60 slab in Phoenix when it hit 114, and my ice water trick saved the whole job
Last Thursday we poured a 40x60 slab for a shop building out in Phoenix and the temp hit 114 by noon. I have been finishing for 16 years but this was one of the worst heat days I have seen all summer. We started at 5am to beat the sun but the mud started setting up on us way faster than normal, we were almost running to keep up with the screed. My foreman told me to stop adding water to the mix and instead we started spraying the forms down with cold water and put ice in the wheelbarrows. That one trick bought us maybe 20 extra minutes of working time and let us get the bull float on before it crusted over. We ended up with a clean finish, no cold joints, and the GC actually shook our hands at the end. Has anybody else tried the ice in the wheelbarrow thing, or do you all just work nights when it gets this hot?