Foundation cure time

briaineo

Hi

Just wondering how long you guys left your strip foundations curing before commencing the footings and blockwork?

Can the footings be done and ground floor slab be done quite soon after pouring the foundations?

Hoping to get the house sealed this side of winter and wanted to see if my expectations are realistic!

Thanks

B-D-P--

Ideally, you should leave 3-4 weeks to be sure.

People often do less but sometimes it may lead to foundation failing, I would leave a MIN of 2 weeks

Czhornet

+1 on the min 2 weeks

Metric Tensor

When you buy concrete of a stated strength (i.e. C32/40 for 40N) the stated strength is the strength the concrete should be at after 28 days.

The curing process isn't linear though - in some cases it may have 60% of it's strength after a week. Mind you in recent times, for carbon saving reasons, more and more GGBS is being used in concrete and this affects the curing process - 7 days strengths tend to go down for concretes of similar 28 day strength.

So - 28 days to be 100% correct. Definitely wouldn't risk 7 days without cube test results to prove it. Bear in mind that you'll be buying a small amount of concrete (relatively speaking) and you are very unlikely to be taking cube tests - less scrupulous manufacturers might be inclined to skimp a bit on the strength when they know they aren't going to be checked. Mind you having said that I've seen a lot of cube test results in my time and failures are extremely rare ... but all the manufacturers knew the cubes were going to be taken!

MyStubbleItches

It'll be rare enough that there would be any significant weight on a foundation within a few weeks of pouring these days in fairness.