Cold Weather Research Findings for Residential Concrete Foundation Walls

James R. Baty, Technical Director, Sauter Baty Associates, Mount Vernon, IA
The current model for cold weather concreting operations is based on the Thermos Concept--make the concrete hot and then keep it hot. The bulk of the technical aspects of the current ACI 306 document are based on work done over 30 years ago. The practice of cold weather concreting has changed significantly since that time. The changes in cement chemistry and fineness, the widespread use of slower-reacting materials in the interest of sustainability, as well as the ubiquity of the Internet and electronic sensors needs to be incorporated into the revisions to the guide to cold weather concreting as well as to the specification currently under development.

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My foundation was poured at 20 degrees fahrenheit and it went down to 5 degrees overnight. With a simple blanket on top, the thermometer at mid wall on the exterior of the form was consistently near 40 degrees.