Today:
Well I always tell my third graders that they learn more from their mistakes than they do their successes. Well, I guess I learned a lot today!
We were able to get the concrete poured, bull floated, and smoothed with the aluminum floats in one hour. Things were looking great... until we tried to use the edger. After the final smoothing we only waited about 15 minutes so that the water on top would evaporate. Out of the 30 feet I poured, I was only able to edge 20 feet. By that point the edger was just tearing up the sides and I was doing more harm than good.
When we assessed the situation we decided to start tearing up the last 8 feet of walkway (while it was still kind of soft) so that we could repour on another day. My advice to any novice trying to pour for the first time, only pour 20 feet at a time, but only try 15 feet if the temps are above the 80s.
Going Foward:
Tomorrow I will take a diamond blade to the walkway right before the bad section. I'll remove the forms and the plastic sheeting. I'll also keep it wet through the rest of the week. It is supposed to rain on and off for a few days so I will put the plastic back on when it rains. When everything hardens, I will take a diamond blade to cut in the control joints since the concrete was drying too fast today.
New Question:
How should I butt up today's pour with next week's pour? Since I'm taking a diamond blade to the edge, should I use one of those black fiber transition strips between the two pours?