Hi all, we had a big storm here in Adelaide last night and I went to check our block this morning. It more closely resembled a small lake rather than a freshly laid slab!
I've taken some photos and attached them to give a clear picture of how bad it was, but there were numerous sections of water that had pooled right up against the edge of the slab. It was only laid on 23/12 and I was worried when I saw there was rain on the way given that I'd noticed the majority of the perimeter of the slab was sloping inwards towards the slab.
I'd spent hours up there yesterday to try and correct the slope but looks like it was to no avail. The strip footing in the outdoor room area were all at least 2 inches under water and the first photo (in the corner) was at least 4 inches deep. I've gone up there after work tonight and tried to drain away as much as possible and put some rubble against the slab to try and create a slope away from the slab but I'm concerned some damage might already be done.
The soil up there is predominantly heavy clay so drainage isn't the best to start with, but I can't help but think the problem was mainly caused by the incorrect slope in towards the slab rather than away from it.
Our builder is closed until second week of January but I'm guessing they'll likely tell me to stop worrying. It's years down the track that I'm worried about.
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This puddle is at least 4-5 inches deep.
Start recording everything, take a lot of photos, start chronology of events, you may need all of this.
Get a good building consultant to help you tackle the builder.
Building expert is 110% spot on. Take his advice as gospel. The builder is at fault and the slope is required to be away from the slab, regardless of what time of year, weather forecast or anything else. Take lots of photos as advised and maybe, just maybe there is a emergency contact for builder. If so call it.
Is the slope the natural level of the land or something the builder has done so far? If it's the natural level unless you stipulated in the contract that the builder was to rectify it prior to the build starting I would imagine they wouldn't do it off their own back? Our land sloped down to the west side of our block towards the house so we have rectified that after handover with landscaping and drainage to the garage perimeter. We are on sand so pooling wasn't an issue prior to this.
Being on sand is a different set of circumstances and water won't dam as it can with clay soils that expand and contract so much that slab heave may occur. Water in all cases should be directed away from slab not to and under slabs. NCC dictates this.
Good posts Goody (and B-E).
bpglendale, you are quite possibly/probably on Bay of Biscay and have good reason for concern.
Looks like you've built on fill judging by your neighbour'd boubdary. I had a similar situation at slab stage however shortly after they connected all the drainage pipes and this was no longer an issue. Not sure if this is the case for you. They will also batter the soil/fill to fall away before handover.
They will also batter the soil/fill to fall away before handover.
It is suppose to be done at the start of construction.