Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 07, 2011 9:23 am Hey guys/gals, I am looking at changing my backyard this weekend and need some advise. At the moment i have a built up area sitting against the house which holds my 2200ltr water tank and clothes line. We are going to remove this area and convert into lawn. My question is i will be levelling out the lawn as it currently has a slope. This in turn will expose my slab as where the water tank sits is currently level with the base of my house. I guess it will expose the slab by around 5-600 deep. Will there be any issues with this at all? is there a maximum depth at which i can expose the slab? If there are jagged edges, can i just chip them away to level out the smoothness as we are possibily planning on covering with merbu? Any advice would be appreciated, Below is an old photo but hopefully you get the idea. You can just see the grey of the slab, and no my tank still doesn't look like this. Cheers, Jarrod Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 2Jul 07, 2011 9:44 am If you're leveling it out with the bottom of the fence then that's a BIG drop! I don't think that'll really be possible. As for removing some dirt, By the looks of it the dirt up against the slab at the moment looks too high anyway, it's meant to be down from the first course of bricks to avoid moisture getting in there, so you'd be fine removing a bit of soil from around there I think. Homestead Homes SA: The Lamont Bayswood Estate; Aldinga Beach Preliminary Signing: April 2010 Floorplans: 13 June 2010 Building Contract: 19 June 2010 Selections: 28 Sept 2010 Scraped; Trenching: 21 Jan 2011 Slab Poured: 28 Jan 2011 Framing: 17 Feb 2011 | Completed 24 Feb 2011 Roof & Gutters: 02 Mar 2011 Bricks: 03 Mar 2011 Wire-up: 12 Mar 2011 Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 4Jul 07, 2011 10:04 am rockabilly_kid If you're leveling it out with the bottom of the fence then that's a BIG drop! I don't think that'll really be possible. As for removing some dirt, By the looks of it the dirt up against the slab at the moment looks too high anyway, it's meant to be down from the first course of bricks to avoid moisture getting in there, so you'd be fine removing a bit of soil from around there I think. As mentioned this is an old photo, but yes it will be a big drop. I have a garden bed sitting against the fence now so it is definatly higher. I have all weep?? hole exposed in the brick work above the slab so that aviods the moisture build up hopefully. Thinking i shold raise the height of my garden bed to make all this possible and eaiser? Thoughts? Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 5Jul 07, 2011 12:26 pm I was under the impression you aren't meant to expose the slab. Ground level should cover the slab but not go past the top of the first course of bricks as the weep holes are in the second course. This dirt around your slab will have the termite protection in it, not something you want to remove. I received a booklet at handover, I think it's by HIA. It has care and maintenance regarding your slab of what you should and shouldn't do. Did you get one of these from your builder at handover? Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36205 Land Settled - 19 Jul Site Scrape - 23 Aug Slab - 2 Oct Frame - 27 Oct Locked Out - 1 Dec Handover - 11 Mar Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 6Jul 07, 2011 1:02 pm Janelle I was under the impression you aren't meant to expose the slab. Ground level should cover the slab but not go past the top of the first course of bricks as the weep holes are in the second course. This dirt around your slab will have the termite protection in it, not something you want to remove. I received a booklet at handover, I think it's by HIA. It has care and maintenance regarding your slab of what you should and shouldn't do. Did you get one of these from your builder at handover? Gee, ok, will have to check this out. Can anyone confirm the above at all? Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 7Jul 07, 2011 2:50 pm I'd leave the slope. Then all the water runs away from your house and into your garden. You could take a couple of inches from the house side and throw it on the fence side to reduce the slop a bit, but I wouldn't do to much. You want to avoid water getting onto your slab. Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 8Jul 07, 2011 5:10 pm I wouldn't be excavating around your slab if it was me.....certainly not half a metre. Hard to tell without knowing your house, but from the pic am I right to assume your whole backyard is like that (ie the house sitting up on a mound and sloping down into the yard)? Personally I would put a "verandah" around the house with a step down to a grassed area - cut back to around the width of the tank from the house, put in a retaining wall and deck/pave the area around the house and grass the area in front of the retaining wall. Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 9Jul 07, 2011 5:28 pm At the most I wouldn't expose more than about 150mm of concrete The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 10Jul 07, 2011 7:30 pm Everyones an expert... but no one seems to know the answer The house is sitting on top of a 'sand pad' the slab everyone is talking about is likely 100mm or less in thickness. However the 'Footing' will extend approximately 300mm below bottom of slab. I am not going to try and answer what may or may not be OK you would likely need to 'underpin' the footing, ifyou want to expose it. ask an engineer. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 11Jul 07, 2011 8:50 pm onc_artisan ... Listen to this man. His words are wise. Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 12Jul 08, 2011 9:03 am onc_artisan Everyones an expert... but no one seems to know the answer The house is sitting on top of a 'sand pad' the slab everyone is talking about is likely 100mm or less in thickness. However the 'Footing' will extend approximately 300mm below bottom of slab. I am not going to try and answer what may or may not be OK you would likely need to 'underpin' the footing, ifyou want to expose it. ask an engineer. Thanks Onc. I think that an old photo has not helped as we NOW have grass, garden bed and a back yard. The way it sits at the moment is a retaining wall where the tank sits. This has been built up to the height of where the tank sits and stretches from the edge of the brickwork all the way to the fence. Make sense The slope you see from the edge of the tank is still there, just with grass over it and may be a little less. We are now just thinking of moving the retaining wall back as close to the house as possible and creating a vegie garden. Will save having to worry about exposing the slab and then we get to level out the grass no problem. Will try and give a better photo today if i can. Re: Exposing my slab - issues? 13Jul 08, 2011 11:03 am Hopefully the photos will show what we are trying to do. That whole raised section we want to remove and move back against the wall to increase our lawn area. Thinking of vegie patch due to the comments above...thoughts.... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 12 5297 Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder. 9 30233 I am looking at building a house. Has anyone used Construkt Homes (based in Adelaide)? Does anyone have experience with this builder? 0 6398 |