You know what?? I figured that I miss all the shots I don’t take, and thought I’d give it a try. I built a makeshift tent from two tarps held by a steel tamper and a handtruck held down with buckets of water. I have an automated home, so I put one of the temperature/humidity sensors out there and hung in the lower area of the tent with a coat hanger. I set a ceramic space heater on a couple bricks, and fired it up.
The results? It’s currently sitting at 65F with 43% humidity, which is less than inside our home. I think the thermostat is even oscillating, so I’m going to go out there and turn it up. I’ll have a graph of the temperature and humidity all throughout the night, but this is hotter and drier than a summer night! And it’s in the 30s outside!
Here’s a screenshot of the data from me bringing the sensor outside, handling it, and letting it be in the tent:
So yeah, this is going to work great. I’m letting the pavers warm up and dry out overnight, then sometime midday, I’m definitely doing the poly sand. I’ll make sure I get it cleaned up and ready to leave alone, then I’ll cover it just like I did. Seriously, this is going to work better than waiting for the spring.