Old timer told me to wet the ground before pouring and I always thought he was nuts

A 30 year veteran named Hank at my last shop kept telling me to hose down the dirt before mixing a slab, and I ignored him for like two years. First summer pour I did without that trick on a big pantry cabinet foundation cracked right down the middle three weeks later. Has anyone else found this step actually makes or breaks a floor cabinet base?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant1555d ago

Hank was definitely onto something. That pre-wetting trick is one of those things that sounds backwards until you see it work. It's like how you have to water a sponge before it'll soak up more water - dry ground just sucks the moisture right out of fresh concrete and leaves it weak. Same pattern shows up with cooking sometimes, like how you salt pasta water or temper a pan before searing a steak, the prep step that seems pointless is actually the one thing that stops everything from going wrong later.

singh.harper5d ago

Yeah @grant155 ever tried that trick with a dry paint roller? Same deal, you gotta wet it and squeeze it out first or it just eats all the paint and leaves streaks. Totally changed how I do touch ups around the house.

danielm805d agoTop Commenter

Honestly @singh.harper I was the same way, thought it was a waste of time til I tried it.