Reliable Realtor

A Practice We Are Quietly Losing — and the Price We Will Pay

As an experienced civil engineer who has spent years on construction sites across Nigeria, one practice worries me more than most when I visit projects today: the gradual neglect of proper concrete curing.

Curing is no longer failing because we don’t know its importance.
It is failing because we are in a hurry.

What Is Curing — and Why It Matters
Curing is the controlled maintenance of moisture and temperature in freshly placed concrete to allow proper hydration of cement. This hydration is what gives concrete its:

Design strength

Durability

Abrasion resistance

Reduced permeability

Long service life

Concrete does not gain strength by drying; it gains strength by staying moist long enough for cement hydration to continue.

Once curing stops too early, strength development stops with it — permanently.

Common Types of Curing
Over the years, the industry has relied on several effective curing methods, including:

●Water Curing
●Ponding
●Sprinkling
●Wet coverings (jute bags, sand, burlap)
●Membrane Curing
●Curing compounds sprayed on concrete surfaces
●Plastic sheets or polyethylene covers
●Steam Curing
●Mostly for precast elements
●Accelerated Curing

Used cautiously where early strength is required

Each method has its place — but none should be skipped entirely.

How Curing Should Be Done (In Practice)
Proper curing begins immediately after final setting, not “when we remember.”

Minimum curing periods (general guidance):

Ordinary Portland Cement: 7 days (minimum)

Blended cements: 10–14 days recommended

Hot weather conditions: Even longer or more intensive curing

Curing must be:

●Continuous
●Adequate
●Supervised
●Not symbolic.
●Not rushed.
●Not assumed.

The Consequences of Poor or No Curing
When curing is neglected, the effects are not always immediate — and that is what makes it dangerous.

Common long-term consequences include:

Reduced compressive strength (up to 40% loss)

Surface dusting and scaling

Early cracking and shrinkage

Increased permeability

Reinforcement corrosion

Shortened structural lifespan

Costly repairs far earlier than expected

In simple terms:
We end up building structures that look finished but are never truly complete.

Why Curing Is Becoming “Old Fashioned” in Nigeria
On many sites today, curing is sacrificed for:

Tight project deadlines

Pressure from clients to “move fast”

High labor costs

Poor supervision

Lack of enforcement and quality culture

We want to cast today, strip tomorrow, load next week, and hand over next month.

Concrete, unfortunately, does not respect our schedules.

What This Culture Is Costing Us
By prioritizing speed over process, we are:

Embedding premature failure into our infrastructure

Increasing maintenance costs for future generations

Undermining public confidence in construction quality

Creating safety risks that may only show years later

A building collapse rarely starts the day it falls — it often starts the day curing was skipped.

A Professional Call to Action
Curing is not an optional activity.
It is not a tradition.
It is engineering.

As professionals, we must:

Insist on proper curing in specifications

Educate clients and contractors

Enforce curing on site

Refuse to normalize shortcuts

Because every time we rush curing, we are not saving time —
we are borrowing failure from the future.

Let’s bring curing back to where it belongs:
at the center of quality construction.

Abdulazeez Sodiq Horlakunlhe