When is the Best Time to Install Concrete in Kansas City?

If you need to install concrete, you may think it’s a pretty straightforward process, but it is a bit more complicated. For one thing, the weather can have a significant impact on how your concrete turns out.

Even pouring a small amount of concrete in severe weather will change the outcome of your project. Unless you live someplace that is mild year-round, you should aim for spring or fall.

When Is the Best Time to Install Concrete?

Installing concrete is a big job so you want to make sure you do it in fairly ideal conditions. And while that can seem like a big ask you can help yourself and your concrete out by choosing to do it in the spring or the fall.

Too Hot

If you are pouring concrete for a patio or a driveway in the heat of the summer, you will find problems. The water in the concrete can evaporate too quickly, leaving the top of the concrete hard but the bottom of it still soft.

Plus, contractors are very often working with a very full schedule in the summer months, so it may be more expensive to install concrete, if you can get a hold of them, at all.

Too Cold

If you are going to install concrete in the depths of winter, you will find it hard going, as well. The freezing temperatures will also freeze the water in the concrete, causing it to expand.

This can leave cracks, bubbles, or holes to appear. That’s because the concrete freezes before it dries completely. It can also be more difficult to work with, plus who wants to install concrete in a blizzard?

Install Concrete in Mild Weather

Weather is hard to predict, but you want to try to get your concrete installed in the spring or early fall. You want to try to avoid the rainy season, the ice, snow, and extreme heat.

There is a misconception about pouring concrete in the summer, that the hot weather will help it dry faster. But it will dry too fast on top, cause cracks, and it will weaken your concrete.

Choose the later part of the spring, once the rainy season is over but the sun isn’t too high and too hot. Cloudy days are ideal for allowing concrete to dry properly.

The early fall is also a good time. The temperature is dropping, the snow isn’t here yet, and the team can work better in milder weather. Before the leaves start flying is best, or you will have them embedded in your concrete.

In Case of Emergency

It may not always be possible to pick the perfect day to install your concrete. You may not be able to book your contractor for the time you want or are ready to do the job.

You may have had some problems and need to have a repair or install concrete during the hot seasons or the freezing months. Most contractors will be able to accommodate that, as they have ways to make the concrete work in all weather.

Call The Professionals to Install Your Concrete

Pouring concrete should never be a DIY job. You want it done right the first time. Book your contractor early to make sure you can get the job completed in the best weather to ensure the concrete dried properly.

Call Johnson Concrete for all your concrete installation needs. Driveways, patios, commercial and residential, we are your full-service concrete contractor in Kansas City.