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How long should you leave concrete forms on?

After pouring and finishing the slab, you should wait 24-48 hours before removing concrete forms. You can remove the formwork once the concrete has enough strength to keep it from cracking. Concrete naturally contracts as it cures, so it should pull away from the forms and make them easier to remove.

homedepot.com - When to Remove Concrete Forms - The Home Depot

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How to Cure Concrete

Concrete forms can be removed 24-48 hours after the concrete has been poured and finished. The use of water curing and curing compounds are two ways to ensure that a fresh concrete slab retains enough moisture to achieve its desired strength and durability. Concrete curing can take seven days to reach 70% of its strength. Water curing involves keeping the concrete surface moist, so it does not dry out before the concrete has adequately cured. Water curing leads to stronger concrete but requires more steps than using a curing compound. Do not begin wet curing your concrete until after the surface water evaporates from the top of the slab. This can take about an hour. Cover the slab with a light-colored fabric sheet of burlap or cotton. Make sure all the concrete is covered. Use a hose or sprinkler to soak the surface of the fabric. Do not soak the fabric enough to form puddles. Spread a plastic sheet over the fabric to lock in the moisture and encourage curing. Secure the plastic at the corners to keep it from blowing away. Rewet the fabric once a day for seven days. If you have no plastic sheet, rewet the fabric whenever it dries out, which can be more than once a day. Remove the fabric after seven days and allow the concrete to dry normally. Curing compounds are soluble emulsions that ensure that the concrete retains moisture long enough to cure. Wait until the surface water on the fresh concrete has evaporated from the top of the slab. Apply an even layer of the compound across the entire surface with a paint roller or sprayer.

Allow the compound seven days to cure.

Depending on the brand, you may need to remove the compound residue with a wire brush. Curing is most effective at temperatures above 50 degrees, so spring and summer can be the best times of year to pour concrete. If temperatures drop below 50 degrees, consider covering the slab in concrete insulating blankets to keep the curing process from slowing down or stopping. Pro Tip: When wet-curing concrete, pre-soak new fabric with clean water to prevent solvents or contaminants from staining concrete. Make sure the fabric has been thoroughly rinsed before covering your concrete surface.

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Do you need wire mesh for small concrete slab?

cement.org - Can fibers replace wire mesh or welded wire fabric in a concrete ...

To answer this question, it is first necessary to establish why wire mesh or fibers would be used in a concrete slab. One of the main reasons is for crack control. PCA, however, states that cracks in slabs on ground can be controlled with uniform subgrade support and proper joint spacing (as a function of slab thickness). See Table 6-3 from PCA’s Concrete Floors on Ground, EB075.

Reinforcement for Floors on Ground

Is reinforcement necessary?

NO With uniform support and short joint spacing.

YES When long joint spacing is required or when joints are unacceptable in floor use. Although short joint spacings alleviate the need for reinforcement, wire mesh will allow for increased distance between joints if correctly placed in the upper portion of the slab, at least two inches below the surface. In these slabs with longer joint spacings, the purpose of wire mesh is to hold random intermediate cracks tight. Plastic fibers should not be expected to replace wire mesh in a slab on ground. However, although not affecting joint spacing, plastic fibers are used to reduce plastic shrinkage cracking. Plastic shrinkage cracks are those that occur immediately following concrete placement, before the concrete has hardened. Plastic fibers are commonly dosed at 0.1 percent by volume for slabs on grade; this is equivalent to 1.5 pounds per cubic yard. Although polypropylene fibers are among the most common for controlling plastic shrinkage cracking, there are many types of fibers in addition to polypropylene, including other plastic materials, such as nylon. Fibers serve different purposes based on the characteristics of the material from which they are made. For instance, steel fibers provide high flexural strengths and impact resistance and are found in heavy-duty industrial floors.