Concrete floor installation in Hilo HI - a slab planned around the covering you want

Yes, some cracking and a little curling, where the edges lift slightly as the slab dries, is normal on every concrete floor, and owners should hear that before the pour. A crack on its own isn't proof of bad design or bad work, so I tell you early that a few hairline cracks are normal, and the control joints we cut steer most cracks to the places we chose.

If an indoor slab will ever have a floor covering on it, it may well need a vapor retarder, a sheet laid under the concrete to slow moisture coming up from the ground. The catch is that one can raise the risk of plastic shrinkage cracking, small cracks that form when the fresh surface dries too fast, so it pays to settle your flooring plans before we pour. One maker's guidance says to weigh how moisture sensitive the planned finishes are and review where the retarder goes with everyone before work starts, and that's the talk we have at the estimate.

Most flooring makers require a moisture test on the slab before their product goes down, so the test result tells you when, not the calendar. Moisture coming out of concrete affects how coverings and coatings hold up, so leave time between the pour and the new floor, and check your flooring maker's instructions for the test they want.

Curing, which means keeping fresh concrete from drying out while it gains strength, should start as soon as possible after finishing. Ready-mix industry guidance calls for either spraying on a liquid curing compound or covering the floor with wet burlap kept continuously moist for at least 3 days.

The surface drying too fast causes them, and wind over 5 mph, low humidity and high air or concrete temperatures all speed that up. When conditions are poor, the same guidance has crews put up windbreaks and, where they can, sunshades, start a critical pour in the late afternoon or early evening, or pour early in the morning on very hot days. That's why we talk through pour timing when we set the date.

Your price comes from the size of the floor, the base work your ground needs and what goes under and on top of the slab, so I give you a number after I've seen the job. The estimate is written to show what's included and what isn't, so you can compare it fairly with anyone else's.