can I safely use concrete on the ground in this weather?

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Hi all,

this is my first post on here so I apologise if I have posted in the wrong section or if this question has been asked before (I looked!).

I am making a gravel driveway in my garden in London at the moment and having dug out the area over christmas I want to start laying the kerb/edging. My intention is to use a standard BS bullnose road kerb (125x15x915) which I will bed in about 100-150mm of lean concrete and haunch in a further 100mm or so of stronger (c20 type) concrete.

Last week when I finished digging out the plot the ground was very wet and so it had tuned rather muddy, now the plot is frozen solid and rather than sinking into it I can just walk over the surface without getting dirty!

My first concern is that even if I get the concrete to set at full strength, what will happen when the ground thaws out? will the concrete be unstable? I'm sure it is only a very thin layer of ground which has frozen so would it be enough to pour hot water over the ground first to thaw it out? Heat gun?

My second concern is that I wont be able to get the concrete to set at decent strength. I can use hessian or bubble wrap to keep the surface of the concrete warm but how do I stop the cold coming up from underneath and ruining the strength of the bedding?

Would I be better waiting until the weather has warmed up a little? It is about 0 degrees out now but seems to get down to about -3 at night and up to about 3 in the day.

Is there anything else I can do to make puring the concrete possible in this weather?

thanks for your help,

Nick
 
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Forget the concrete until the ground thaws and the weather is a little warmer.

What you need to understand is the ground is in an expanded state whilst frozen and will retract back when thawed. Quite possibly the worst scenario for laying concrete.
 
just on the frozen ground issue.i had to repair my fence on monday and much to my surprise the ground was soft and i had an easy task of hammering in a few fence post holes.i couldnt believe it.

dont concrete yet though.
 
just on the frozen ground issue.i had to repair my fence on monday and much to my surprise the ground was soft and i had an easy task of hammering in a few fence post holes.i couldnt believe it.

dont concrete yet though.

Concrete at depth will be ok as Jack.F will only penetrate so far down even during the lowest of temp's. I wouldn't lay any surface concrete in this weather, not for a gold pig.
 
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just on the frozen ground issue.i had to repair my fence on monday and much to my surprise the ground was soft and i had an easy task of hammering in a few fence post holes.i couldnt believe it.

dont concrete yet though.

Ayup Chuck, where can I get these post holes that can be hammered in. ;)
 
hi,

thanks for the responses. I thought that might be the case.

I guess there are ways round it such as pumping hot water through pipes buried in the ground but it's unnecessary for a small project like this. I suppose I'll have to wait untill the weather warms up.

It's a shame because it's much more pleasant working in the hole when the ground is frozen than when it's back to a quagmire!

Nick
 

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