Slab ???

[hpdrifter]

I made a mistake. I used a friends advice(his contractor friend) for concrete contractor for 20x30'..
He said his footings would be 16" below grade. They weren't
When I called him on it, he said "it ain't going nowhere".
He did use select fill instead of sand. it got rained on and rained on so it should have been settled well into place before concrete pour.
Looked like plenty of rebar. 13" centers.
Slab probably 5.5" thick.
All of this is verbal so nothing in writing. My mistake.
Now slab is cracking about 2 months in.

I don't think I can touch him on contract issues, but shouldn't there be some 'merchantability" recourse?

[Pernell]

What psi concrete did he use? How deep were the footers? How big is the building? Did he put any footers across the middle? Are the cracks hair line? No matter how much steel or how deep the footers, concrete get hard and concrete cracks.

[Gclyde28]

Obviously no good way to fix a problem now but when you say cracking, are we talking hairline cracks or significant cracks opening up?

I wouldn't worry too much about hairline cracks. Concrete developing hairline cracks is inevitable.

What size rebar? I know you said the footing weren't 16" but how deep were they? How far out of the ground does the slab sit? Any interior beams or just a perimeter beam?

[manwitaplan]

Is there any expansion joints/ saw cuts? Is it cracking at the beams?

Take some pics. All concrete cracks.


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[CabezaBlanca]

It’s going to crack.

[Lone_Wolf]

We have a family friend that's a bit OCD, and he can make his life absolutely miserable. To the point that when they started to build on their property, he drove the contractor for the shed nut's that no other contractor would work on their house after word spread. If you saved some $$ and It's just hairline cracks and not major foundation issues I would say Lesson learned and let it go. You get what you pay for. If it's just a workshop or garage, big deal. You live, you learn.

[Twist]

Are you talking about a crack like this?

If so, that happens a lot. Unnerving and all but not uncommon. I’ve been around thousands of foundations over the last 30+ years and it’s happened to pretty much all of them early on in construction.

If you’re talking about cracks appearing and being able to feel a “ridge” between the edges, then yes that is a problem and is only going to get worse.

A lot of people would likely freak out though if they pulled up their flooring to replace it because cracks like the one I put up above are pretty common. There’s 3 more in the garage floor to the right of the one I posted above, all within 7’ of it. Foundation is 7+ years old and no settling issues.

Yet anyway.


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[hpdrifter]

no interior beams, he said code didn't require it.
4000 lb concrete
most are hairline, but two are opening up and one extends out to the edge and down to ground level whole other is wider than hairlne.
one corner is 14" above grade
footers are probably 10" or so.
3/8" rebar

I paid pretty good money for this, I think. $9 squ ft.

[hpdrifter]

Are you talking about a crack like this?

If so, that happens a lot. Unnerving and all but not uncommon. I’ve been around thousands of foundations over the last 30+ years and it’s happened to pretty much all of them early on in construction.

If you’re talking about cracks appearing and being able to feel a “ridge” between the edges, then yes that is a problem and is only going to get worse.

A lot of people would likely freak out though if they pulled up their flooring to replace it because cracks like the one I put up above are pretty common. There’s 3 more in the garage floor to the right of the one I posted above, all within 7’ of it. Foundation is 7+ years old and no settling issues.

Yet anyway.


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not that bad yet. can't feel ridges.
I've had my 62 year old slab down to concrete a couple of times and only have seen one crack, approaching your jpg.

[Twist]

not that bad yet. can't feel ridges.
I've had my 62 year old slab down to concrete a couple of times and only have seen one crack, approaching your jpg.

Don’t be overly worried about it just yet then. The house we sold before we go into this one was almost 50 years old and had several cracks in it like the one I pictured above. It still passed the buyers inspection with flying colors.

That said, definitely bring it to the attention of the contractor who did the work. Ask about a warranty, foundations are generally good for 10 years but it does sound like you used a friend of a friend.

Whatever he tells you the warranty is, have it independently inspected 6-12 months before the warranty is up and go from there.

[txheartshot]

Slab ???

Two types of concrete: concrete that’s cracked and concrete that’s going to crack. This is why I ALWAYS saw cut control joints in slabs, paving, and sidewalks. I always Soff Cut or “green saw” my concrete the same day that it’s placed. You can cut some relief joints after the fact, and the cracks could possibly close, but sawing joints now would help keep the existing cracks from getting worse. Your contractor didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, except not recommend sawing. If he told you 16” deep beams from top of grade, and only did 16” from top of slab, that’s on him. Is it possible that he said or meant from top of slab grade? Also, there are things that can and should be done in the heat of summer to slow down the evaporation rate right after the concrete is placed, i.e. wet curing, curing with wet blankets, or spraying with a curing compound. When concrete cures too fast, it shrinks & cracks, and gets brittle. If there’s no vapor barrier under the slab, that also allows water to soak into the ground, as well as evaporate from the top, which speeds up evaporation even more. Lots of variables come into play.


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[ATXRaider83]

What time of day was it poured. We will not pour anything past 10 am right now due to heat

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[hpdrifter]

What time of day was it poured. We will not pour anything past 10 am right now due to heat

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from 8:30 to 10 am, right after the rainy season.
poly was placed before pour.

I kept it misted until dark. Temp was about 84°

[mjhaverkamp]

We have two guarantees, our concrete will get hard and it will crack, guaranteed. Anyone that tells you their concrete will not crack RUN

[brokeno]

There are two types of concrete. Cracked and gonna crack.