When Can You Drive on New Concrete?

The usual order

Concrete does not dry, it cures: the cement reacts with water and keeps gaining strength for weeks. That is why there are different answers for walking, driving and heavy loads.

As a general rule of thumb, foot traffic is usually fine after a day or so, cars after about a week, and concrete is commonly treated as reaching its design strength at around 28 days. Heavy vehicles, such as a loaded truck or a big caravan, should wait longer. Your concreter’s advice for your slab beats any general rule, because the mix, the thickness and the weather all change the timing. Ask them for the dates in writing.

Why Hervey Bay heat matters

Curing needs water. On a hot, dry or windy day, the surface of fresh concrete can lose water faster than the slab beneath it. That leads to fine surface cracks, a dusty or weak top layer, and a slab that never quite reaches the strength it should.

Concreters manage this in a few ways: pouring early in the morning, keeping the slab damp, covering it, or spraying a curing compound. A good quote mentions how the slab will be cured. If it does not, ask.

What you can do

• Keep cars, bins and trailers off until you are told otherwise.
• Do not hose the surface hard in the first days unless the concreter has asked you to keep it damp.
• Keep sprinklers carrying fertiliser or iron-rich bore water off new concrete, as they can stain it.
• Expect some fine hairline cracks. Control joints exist to make concrete crack in a straight line where it is meant to.

Next step

If you are planning a slab, see house and extension slabs or concrete driveways, or call 0489 955 511 to be put onto a licensed local concreter.