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Concrete Cold Joint
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Concrete Cold Joint Explained
Concrete, in general, is poured in sections. By pouring concrete
in sections instead of simply as one complete entity, a
number of advantages are gained. First, the sections are
able to grow and shrink based on temperature, humidity, and
other factors. Secondly, sections can be done one at a time,
avoiding the necessity to pour the entire structure all at
once. This second advantage might not seem important,
unless you realize that due to the nature of concrete, sections
that are not poured all at once will be susceptible to the formation of a flaw known as a concrete cold
joint.
A concrete cold joint occurs when a section of concrete has been poured in part, and is left to
dry before the rest of the concrete is poured. The dried concrete will not completely bind with the
wet concrete poured on top of it, and the extent of the damage this might cause depends on the length
of time between pours. At the very minimum, a concrete cold joint is an eye sore. Cold joints will
appear as lines in the concrete, indicating where the first pour ended, and the second began. In more
severe cold joints, where there has been more time between the first and second pour allowing for the
concrete to more completely dry, there may be more space which would allow for things such as
water to accumulate, causing a lot of different potential problems.
In the less severe cases, a cold joint is nothing to worry about; the integrity of the structure in
question will not be significantly affected, and in the least severe of cases, water will not be able to
leak through the wall. When I mentioned that the integrity of the wall would not be affected, that was
given the assumption that the cement is embed with reinforcement bars (rebar), specifically where
the two different pours of concrete intersect. If this is the case, the damage done by the cold joint will
be virtually negligible. If the aesthetic problem of the line created by the cold joint is enough reason
for concern, then something will need to be placed over the concrete to conceal it.
In more severe cases where concrete has been left to dry long enough to allow a concrete cold
joint into which water can enter, there are more reasons for concern. First, the issue of water leaking
into the concrete is reason for concern in itself. Water will not only get into the concrete, but will leak
all the way through potentially causing damage to whatever is on the other side of the concrete. By
using reinforcement bars in the same fashion as mentioned above, the integrity of the concrete will
not be significantly affected. However, over time, the gap left by the concrete cold joint will be a
target for erosion, namely by the water entering, possibly freezing, melting, etc…
The lesson that should be learned from this is that whenever possible, an entire section of
concrete should be poured at one time to completely avoid the issue with concrete cold joint
altogether.
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