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Pro tip: 20 years of finishing and I just learned I was cutting my control joints too late
I was on a garage slab in Amarillo back in March and the homeowner's brother came out to watch. He's been pouring for 30 years and asked me when I planned to cut the joints, and I said the next morning like I always do. He shook his head and asked if I liked cracks, then walked me through cutting as soon as the concrete can take it, usually 4 to 12 hours in. I was always taught to wait overnight so the blade wouldn't tear the edges, but he showed me how to test with a thumb nail and a quick hit with a soft cut saw. So for two decades I was letting slabs shrink overnight and then blaming the mix when hairline cracks showed up a month later. The worst part is I remember a guy at a supply yard in Lubbock telling me the same thing around 2011 and I ignored it because my old boss did it the slow way. We cut that Amarillo slab at 7 hours after the last pass and it was the cleanest joint line I've had in years. So my question is, does anyone here cut by the clock or do you all go by feel on the surface?
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