The Home Almanac

Vol. I, MMXXVIThe Canadian home, in season655 stations, every province and territory

Concrete & Sealer Calculator

Cubic yards and bags for a slab or footing, or gallons of sealer for a surface, with the temperature window and the months it is warm enough to pour and cure where you live.

Set your place for the pouring season.

Pouring and curing

Concrete volume is area times thickness. We convert to cubic yards, the unit ready-mix is ordered in, and to sixty- and eighty-pound bag counts for small pours. Order a little extra for uneven sub-base and waste. Temperature matters as much as the mix: fresh concrete should stay above about five degrees Celsius (forty Fahrenheit) for its first day and cure best between ten and twenty-seven Celsius. In cold weather it sets slowly and can freeze before it gains strength; in heat it can flash-set, so pour early and keep it damp.

A planning estimate. Mix design, sub-base, and reinforcement are job-specific; follow the bag or supplier specifications, which govern.