I live in Northern Virginia and I'm in the process of designing a single car garage addition and would like to break ground sooner than later. However, at least one builder I met with said he will not pour concrete in the winter because of the low temperatures in my area. It is typically in the 20's and 30's for December and January, but can get down in the teens and single digits in late January and February. Is it okay to pour when it's in the 20's or 30's or should I hold off until the spring? I obviously want to get things started asap, but don't want to compromise the integrity of the construction just because I couldn't wait a couple months. Maybe I can have the excavation and other demolition done in the winter months, then pour once it starts to warm up again. Of course then I will have a 2 ft deep trench snaking through my side yard for a couple months.

Hi, I made a 2'x1' form and poured 1 bag of quickcrete concrete into it and ran through the finishing steps. screed, darby and float. It was not as easy I thought it would be. I could bring up cream Ok but it seems like the aggregate was too close to the surface and made it difficult to get a smooth surface even though I brought up plenty of cream and I was angling the float. Seemed like the cream was thin also - in videos it looks like the cream is pretty stiff. On videos it looks effortless and I don't see the floats catching on any aggregate. I hoping it's because maybe the bagged concrete is not optimized for finishing? for my project I will be getting the concrete by trailer. I have done this before but only for rough slabs that were covered with stone or brick. Thanks