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When placing concrete in temperatures below 40°F, you need to make sure it doesn’t freeze before it sets up. Freezing prevents hydration in the mix and will leave you with soft concrete. While there are many different methods to protect your concrete in these conditions, using cold weather concrete admixtures is the easiest and most cost-effective.

Product Solutions

Accelerate the Set Time with Cold Weather Concrete Admixtures

When working with concrete in cooler temperatures, the main priority is making sure it sets before it freezes. Unfortunately, cold weather tends to slow down the rate of hydration in the mix. Adding a concrete accelerator, such as Fritz-Pak’s NCA, speeds up the hydration process to make the concrete set up faster. NCA is one of our most popular cold weather concrete admixtures because, unlike other accelerating admixtures, it does not contain corrosive chemicals.

Protect Against Freeze-Thaw Damage with Air Entrainers

If you’re pouring concrete in cold weather, it stands to reason that the concrete will face exposure to cold temperatures in the future. You want to be sure the mix design will protect the concrete from freeze-thaw damage throughout its lifecycle. The best way to do this is by adding an entraining admixture to the concrete before placement. Most concrete mixes produced in colder climates require a higher percentage of air content, but air content can change during transport. That’s why using Fritz-Pak’s Air Plus or Super Air plus as cold weather concrete admixtures to increase the air content on the job site can significantly increase the durability of your concrete.

Lower Water Requirements with Superplasticizers

One of the main concerns when placing concrete in cold weather is keeping the water in the mix from freezing. The more water in the mix, the higher the likelihood that the mix will freeze before it sets properly. That’s why Fritz-Pak recommends using our Supercizer 1 or Supercizer 5 to lower the water requirements of your cold weather mixes. These cold weather concrete admixtures improve the flow without extra water and decrease the risk that the mix will freeze. Additionally, Supercizer 1 and Supercizer 5 do not slow down the setting time of the mix, which would be counterproductive for cold weather concreting.