A good pour day is half preparation. The things you do (and don't do) in the week before, the night before, and on the day make the difference between a smooth pour and a stressful one — and between a slab that cures right and one that doesn't. Here's the checklist we give every customer before we pour.
The week before
- Confirm the finish and colour — If you're choosing exposed aggregate, confirm the stone blend. If coloured, confirm the oxide. We bring samples to the quote, but the final call is yours before we order the concrete.
- Relocate your cars — Move any vehicles that need to use the driveway or the area we're pouring. Once we form up, you won't be able to drive over it, and after the pour it's 7 days before you can drive on it.
- Check the sprinklers — If your irrigation runs onto the pour area, switch it off for the days around the pour. We don't pour into water, and a wet base is a weak base.
- Clear the access — Move bins, trailers, boats, and anything else between the street and the pour area. The concrete truck and the pump (if we need one) need a clear path.
- Let the neighbours know — A concrete truck on the street and a pour that takes a day is worth a heads-up. If we're pumping over a shared fence or close to a boundary, a word with the neighbour saves trouble on the day.
The night before
- The weather call — We watch the forecast. If heavy rain or frost is due on pour day, we postpone — pouring into water or onto frozen ground weakens the slab. We'll call you the afternoon before to confirm we're going ahead or rescheduling.
- Confirm who's home — Someone needs to be on site on pour day — to confirm the finish, the levels, and the colour before we pour, and to be reachable if a decision comes up. You don't need to stand over us all day, but you need to be contactable.
Pour day
- Kids and pets in — Keep children and pets inside and away from the pour area. Wet concrete is a hazard (chemical burns on skin) and a distraction. The crew is focused on the pour.
- Clear the route — Make sure the path from the street to the pour area is clear for the truck and the hoses. Move the car, the bins, the bikes.
- Confirm before we pour — We'll walk the formwork with you, confirm the levels, the finish, and the colour, and then we pour. Once the concrete's in, it's in — so the confirmation matters.
- Stay off it — Once the pour's finished and the surface is done, stay off it. We'll tell you when it's safe to walk on (24–48 hours) and when you can drive (7 days).
After the pour
- Curing windows — Walk on it at 24–48 hours, drive on it at 7 days, full strength at 28 days. We apply a cure-and-seal on pour day to help it cure evenly.
- Keep it moist in the heat — If it's a hot, dry, windy day, we may ask you to lightly mist the slab in the first day or two to keep the surface from drying too fast. We'll tell you if that's needed.
- Sealer timing — For exposed aggregate, we come back to seal once the slab has cured (typically a few weeks later, depending on weather). Don't apply anything to the surface before then.
- Keep heavy loads off — No skip bins, no pallets of bricks, no motorcycle stands on a young slab. Spread any load that has to go on it, or wait the 28 days.
If you do your part and we do ours, pour day is the straightforward part of the job — the concrete arrives, we pour and finish it, and it cures into the slab you'll have for decades. The preparation is what makes it go that way.