I Couldn't Believe My Eyes

A couple months ago this concrete driveway was installed at a house under construction across the street from my mother's home.

I was visiting my mother that evening near dark as the cement workers finished the job. They worked all day laying the wet concrete and smoothing the surface to make it just perfect. As the crew cleaned their tools and loaded their equipment for departure from the job site, a couple workmen placed a yellow and black tape across the entrance to keep traffic off the freshly poured cement.

Early the next morning, I returned to visit my mother again. It was still dark as I rounded the curve on the approach to my mother's home. I was startled when I saw a pick-up truck parked on the freshly poured cement driveway which was finished only twelve hours earlier. I thought: "this truck driver surely saw the taped barrier and knew not to drive on it". "Surely this truck made tracks on this not yet cured cement". It was too dark for me to see tracks as I turned into the driveway across the street.

I later inspected the driveway for permanent tracks and couldn't believe it when I saw no trace of tire tracks on the green cement. When I worked on building sites during my youth, we couldn't walk or drive on concrete for several days after it was poured.

What is different today that enables fast curing of concrete?

Return here on Wednesday, December 13 for an update.

Have a good day!