Browse Forums General Discussion 1 May 17, 2014 8:15 pm Hi, I am just wondering if any of you noticed the house you built have warped concrete floor? The house I am building currently the foundation is just poured and when I visit the site it looked kind of "warped", some area are higher than other area (is it suppose to be perfectly flat?), its noticeble and since I am building a two story house I am kind of spooked by the uneveness of the whole slab. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this? "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 2May 18, 2014 2:38 am So, nobody has notice their concrete slab is warped? I drove around today and noticed several houses under construction also has similar "warped" or rippled slab. I am just wondering now if this is normal, or if it will affect the structure in some way? "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 3May 18, 2014 7:21 am I must say I haven't noticed this. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 4May 18, 2014 7:22 am Its a fact that most slabs are finished by the eye of the concretor. You will rarely see a straight edge on site that spans the entire width of the house (unless its a VERY narrow house) As long as the frames are properly packed under the studs the structure should be OK. 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: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 5May 18, 2014 7:28 am bashworth Its a fact that most slabs are finished by the eye of the concretor. You will rarely see a straight edge on site that spans the entire width of the house (unless its a VERY narrow house) As long as the frames are properly packed under the studs the structure should be OK. A good time to look is after rain ... you might see pooling if there are indents etc. I didn't mean it was perfect - just that I haven't really seen a ripple surface that was VERY obvious. I was watching the guy next door - they used special equipment to make sure of surface - not sure of name - but BW might know. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 6May 18, 2014 10:08 am Dr House Hi, I am just wondering if any of you noticed the house you built have warped concrete floor? The house I am building currently the foundation is just poured and when I visit the site it looked kind of "warped", some area are higher than other area (is it suppose to be perfectly flat?), its noticeble and since I am building a two story house I am kind of spooked by the uneveness of the whole slab. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this? If its just the footing (foundation) you are talking about then yes there will be steps up and down that generally follow the level of the land. The finish on the footing will be pretty rough its just skreeded level then left alone. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 7May 19, 2014 7:41 am Sorry - I thought he meant the slab surface - ie the flat surface. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 8May 19, 2014 10:09 am Dr House Hi, I am just wondering if any of you noticed the house you built have warped concrete floor? The house I am building currently the foundation is just poured and when I visit the site it looked kind of "warped", some area are higher than other area (is it suppose to be perfectly flat?), its noticeble and since I am building a two story house I am kind of spooked by the uneveness of the whole slab. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this? Have you got a picture? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 9May 21, 2014 3:00 am I try to line up the shot and the lines are parallel lines using neighbour's roof line as reference. As you can see, there is a bit of "sagging" towards the right. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Not sure if it is a bit of optical illusion but there is a slight gradient to the land - and the slab looks kind of uneven and not straight. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ What do you guys think? "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 10May 21, 2014 5:56 am All an illusion because of the slope on the land, otherwise all the water would be running off it. As for the areas that are holding water, i wouldnt be concerned, unless the water is ankle deep. Ive never seen a perfectlyy flat slab in all my years of building houses and the standards say there is no requirment for it to be. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 11May 21, 2014 7:01 am Dr House I try to line up the shot and the lines are parallel lines using neighbour's roof line as reference. As you can see, there is a bit of "sagging" towards the right. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Not sure if it is a bit of optical illusion but there is a slight gradient to the land - and the slab looks kind of uneven and not straight. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ What do you guys think? Your neighbour's roof line is not a reliable reference. On the face of it you slab appears OK but you won't know for sure until you do a spot levels check. Visual check is unreliable unless your slab is way out. If someone is doing independent frame inspection for you they may be able to check the levels for you then. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 12May 21, 2014 7:39 am Dr House I try to line up the shot and the lines are parallel lines using neighbour's roof line as reference. As you can see, there is a bit of "sagging" towards the right. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Not sure if it is a bit of optical illusion but there is a slight gradient to the land - and the slab looks kind of uneven and not straight. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ What do you guys think? 1. You don't know whether the neighbour's roof is level (the guttering won't be) 2. If you aren't exactly at 90 degrees to your neighbour's house, you will have perspective altering your perception of "level" 3. Your camera lens will distort the image 4. You could be holding the camera at an angle, adding to distortion of perspective 5. You can't determine whether your slab is level by looking at the horizon, the fence line, your neighbour's house, the dirt on your block. The only reliable method is calibrated devices designed for determining levels - spirit levels, laser lines, survey equipment, string lines. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 13May 21, 2014 8:54 am You're bound to find some slight deviations somewhere. We found doing our screen doors for the cedar stacker doors to al fresco that there was a slight deviation - which was allowed for. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 14May 21, 2014 5:24 pm Thanks guys! I voiced my concern to the site supervisor and he said he would check again. They said they did the "string check" basically holding a string from corner to corner and see how much deviation there were and they said it was all within the allowance. "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 15May 21, 2014 5:27 pm BTW, just wondering - do they compact the site before building? Our site was "compacted" with engineer's certificate but when I visit the site before cutting and after the slab was laid the dirt seems very loose and soft - I was thinking the site would be compacted to be "rock hard" since we are building a 2 stories house and I don't like the look of the dirt that's soft and loose as my foundation. Is this normal? Or am I worrying too much? "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 17May 21, 2014 10:59 pm Personally I think you need to take an extended holiday and come back when your house is finished. You're going to give yourself a brain aneurism with the way you are stressing over everything. You're going to fall through your walls, the slab isn't level, the frame spacing is uneven, your soil is too loose. Take a deep breath and relax! Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 18May 22, 2014 5:31 am I guess you are thinking way too much and worry about too many things. It's the start only. Suggest you to get independent building inspector to check everything for you at each stage. Otherwise you will have nerves breakdown before the house is up by half.. lol Try to relax, making sure everything is done correctly is good.. but worry about too much if something goes wrong is not. By the way, don't judge things from eye sight and photos. The way you took the photos as reference to whether something is straight doesn't work unless you have very specific lens for these purpose. Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 19May 26, 2014 7:24 am Why dont you take lazer levels on you slab and use a reference point (bench mark) from a service pit lid (eg electricity pit )on your path.Then you will a record of the performance of you slab into the future and you can identify if it is out of tolerance now.I think from memory concretors are allowed a 10mm differential slab levels Re: Warped / "ripple" concrete foundation / slab 20May 26, 2014 5:37 pm insider Why dont you take lazer levels on you slab and use a reference point (bench mark) from a service pit lid (eg electricity pit )on your path.Then you will a record of the performance of you slab into the future and you can identify if it is out of tolerance now.I think from memory concretors are allowed a 10mm differential slab levels sorry insider your wrong on both counts, We have a Victorian style ripple iron fence out the front that has some moulded timber capping. Probably 15+ years old and has cracked and splintered in parts...not really… 0 2488 It's hard to comment as the photos area bit dark ( you might need a new 15 - just got one and wow ) Jokes aside, I can see one member that is cracked. I would find a… 2 2197 The concreter will take and reuse. In my case I bought structural LVLs and scraped them back and used them as joists. 1 5149 |