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Shoutout to the old timer in Bakersfield who showed me the sugar trick for cold weather pours
Had a pour scheduled for 4am last Tuesday and the overnight low was supposed to hit 29 degrees. I was stressed because we had 14 yards to get down and my normal accelerator dose wasn't cutting it on the last few cold jobs. An old finisher named Ray who I've worked with a few times mentioned to me that he tosses about 2 pounds of plain white sugar into the wash water for his finishing tools when it's below freezing, says it keeps the paste from setting up on the trowel blades long enough to actually work the surface. I thought he was messing with me at first but tried it on a small test section and sure enough the cream stayed open an extra 10 or 15 minutes. We used it on the whole pour and only had one small edge that got away from us. Cost me like 3 bucks for a bag of sugar versus the 40 dollar jug of accelerator I usually burn through. Anyone else hear about this trick or am I late to the party?
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briannguyen13d ago
Two pounds though? That seems like a lot for a 14 yard pour. I get that sugar slows down the set time, that part makes sense, but you're messing with the mix chemistry at that point. Sugar is a real retarder, not just some trick for keeping cream wet on your tools. Too much and you can tank your early strength or end up with a soft surface that dusts later. I'd want to know the actual dose per yard before I start dumping a bag in my wash water. One small edge getting away from you on a cold pour isn't exactly proof it was the sugar either.
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