Hi everyone,
I'm sorry but I'm going to have to rant a little bit in here. But I do have a major question and Home1 seems to be the place to go for answers!
How much water/dampness is ok in trenches before they can put down the waterproof and reo, and then again how much water is ok in there for them to be able to pour our slab?
Adelaide has had a lot of on again, off again rain. Each time it stops, we are told that the block is too wet, then after a few dry days, the puddles dry up, and then they leave it until it starts raining again. Our trenches were cut 2 weeks ago. IN THE POURING RAIN. If these guys didn't like water in their trenches, then that should have been a bit of a hint, right?
All I want to know, is how serious are they, or are we being feed a bit of a line? Apparently they have had an engineer out to look at it and everything. He's a very clever person to leave no footprints or marks of his coming and going. Something else that the builder's liaison said today makes me think that we are being fed a load of bull.... Should I demand to see the engineer's report as well? I think I'd like to.
Of course, these builders have us totally over a barrel. We want our house, so we won't pull any stunts, but this is getting to the ridiculous point and I am at the end of a very stressed rope at the moment
Please, some advice, anyone??
Oh, that is so frustrating
I have no idea about what you need to know, but would like to know it myself. What type of slab are you having, sounds like a raft slab??
BTW, I was also wondering about pouring into plastic that is loaded with water. The concrete does push out the water, but I suspect that some of it ends up being mixed in with the concrete. Fresh concrete and water make me shiver
ideally before being poured the trenches need to be solid, and have no give when you walk over it. Personally i would leave it up to them. Also engineers dont like to get dirty. I am pretty sure the issues are obvious with out getting to close.
ideally before being poured the trenches need to be solid, and have no give when you walk over it. Personally i would leave it up to them. Also engineers dont like to get dirty. I am pretty sure the issues are obvious with out getting to close.
So based on that, it's safe for me to assume that at least in the Hills there are NO slabs being poured at all at the moment? As the weather has been universal?
And for safety of the slab, would there be a paper report from the engineer to refer to? I just have been misled already (fairly obviously), so I actually need proof that the investigation is real.
Also, does that reflect on the contractor cutting the trenches in the rain, when they knew full well thanks to a very accurate forecast, that more rain was due over the next few days?
Was there any piering done when the trenches were excavated?
You cant help the weather. your just unlucky.. ive seen slabs delayed for over 2 months because of the wet.
there may be other slabs being poured, some sites dry faster, or there may be waffle pod slabs which dont have any trenches to fill with water, they tend to dry up faster as well.
ideally before being poured the trenches need to be solid, and have no give when you walk over it. Personally i would leave it up to them. Also engineers dont like to get dirty. I am pretty sure the issues are obvious with out getting to close.
So based on that, it's safe for me to assume that at least in the Hills there are NO slabs being poured at all at the moment? As the weather has been universal?
And for safety of the slab, would there be a paper report from the engineer to refer to? I just have been misled already (fairly obviously), so I actually need proof that the investigation is real.
Also, does that reflect on the contractor cutting the trenches in the rain, when they knew full well thanks to a very accurate forecast, that more rain was due over the next few days?
I am not too sure how the soil is over there. However here the top layer can be soft. However when excavated the trenches can still be hard on the bottom. So its not entirely a problem. You obviously can't have pooled water in them before you poor. My neighbor had been rained on after the trenches were finished and the surveyor made him dig the sides of the trench and also the bottoms before pouring.
B STAR, are you saying that there should be
no water in the black plastic which lines the trenches and the slab area when the concrete is poured?
Personally I would be more concerned if there was water underneath the plastic, creating soft ground. I am not sure how much water is exceptable, above the plastic. I guess it would have to be minimal and not large puddles.
Ok, fair enough ... although ...
Oh hang on, aren't slabs (eg. waffles on some piers) supposed to be "suspended" and therefore don't rely on the ground to hold them? What would happen to a slab if the ground is soft??