Line Cost. New flooring: install 2,500 sq.ft. of mid-grade 5/8 x 4-1/2 wide vinyl plank flooring and 500 linear feet of matching baseboard. $2.49. per sq.ft.
The drying shrinkage of concrete is analogous to the mechanism of drying of timber specimen. The loss of free water contained in hardened concrete, does not result in any appreciable dimension change. It is the loss of water held in gel pores that causes the change in the volume.
Figure 5. The more water you add on site, the weaker your concrete will be, and the more it will shrink and crack. Adding 2 gallons per yard will cut compressive strength by around 10% and increase shrinkage by close to 20%.