Browse Forums Paving & Concreting 1 Oct 11, 2014 8:32 am We had our pathways around the house and back patio concreted last week and I'm not sure about the job, mainly due to my lack of knowledge. They poured the concrete with coloured concrete and i thought it was meant to turn out dark grey, instead it was light in colour. My concrete kept telling me not to worry it will be perfect in the end. So what do you do but wait. We are now at the end and they have sealed it with a almost black colour sealer which looks good mostly, a little patch in parts. I am wondering do they seal with colour sealer when they stuff up or is it normal practice? Also, they were very very messy. We have coloured concrete all over our beautiful brand new light colour bricks. I am so upset about the mess, again he tells me not to worry he will fix it but needs the sealer to be dry completely. Can his really be cleaned. We have one final payment of $2800 to make and he is asking for a partial payment of this, and hey will comeback and clean up. I was planning on holding the whole lot until everything is fixed and we are happy. What do others think? It isn't my intention not to pay but in my mind the job has to be finalised first. Re: Not sure about concrete job 3Oct 11, 2014 3:45 pm I hate messy tradesmen. It is just laziness. Hand marks on walls, brickwork etc. Cement splashed everywhere. Have you paid ? If not - I'd simply say you'll pay once they clean up properly. If you're not happy with result - say so ! You said what you wanted. If they did something else then don't pay. Re: Not sure about concrete job 5Oct 11, 2014 5:30 pm Do you have a photo to the left of the second (bottom) photo? 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Not sure about concrete job 6Oct 11, 2014 10:18 pm That's what I thought too, I figure if I pay they will not be in too much of a hurry to clean and fix up. Left of the photo it ends. We are doing deck around that part of the house. Re: Not sure about concrete job 7Oct 11, 2014 10:45 pm I am looking at the height of the weep holes and the DPC in the second photo. The bricks will be level. Have you checked the slope away from the house and where the water will drain to? Abutting walls add considerably to run off during wind driven rain. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Not sure about concrete job 8Oct 12, 2014 8:19 am SaveH2O I am looking at the height of the weep holes and the DPC in the second photo. The bricks will be level. Have you checked the slope away from the house and where the water will drain to? Abutting walls add considerably to run off during wind driven rain. You're right H20 - the angle suggests the weep holes are going to be (might be) covered. Re: Not sure about concrete job 9Oct 12, 2014 9:21 am The DPC or flashing serving as a DPC must not be less than a minimum 75 mm above the finished surface level of adjacent paved, concreted or landscaped areas that slope away from the wall. Lower heights apply in low rainfall areas but UpsizeTime in not in a low rainfall area. The second photo shows that the concrete slopes down the path at quite a slope, I question why it does if it also slopes across the path as it needs to for compliance. NOTE: This thread has been posted in the wrong sub forum...it should be in Paving & Concreting. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Not sure about concrete job 10Oct 12, 2014 4:48 pm Saveh2o didn't realise there was a different forum for packing and concreting. I'm not worried about the slope as it doesn't go any higer than the point you see in the photo and we asked for it to go that angle as we didn't want it high around the corner due to the hiebht of the Air conditioner slab. Also, there is a drain on that side. Didn't want an additional cost of raising AC and didn't want concrete sloping towards house around the side of the house. Thanks all for your feedback, concreter comeung around tomorrow arvo so we will see what he says. Re: Not sure about concrete job 11Oct 12, 2014 4:49 pm Just noticed post was moved to the right thread thanks admin. Re: Not sure about concrete job 12Oct 12, 2014 6:38 pm UpsizeTime and didn't want concrete sloping towards house around the side of the house. The slope must be away from the house. There are a number of issues including the impact that non compliant paving has on your warranty. I hope that someone explained this and other matters to you before you arranged for the non compliant work to be done. It has me wondering as to just how common this situation (A/C slab height and subsequent paving) is. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Not sure about concrete job 13Oct 12, 2014 7:41 pm UpsizeTime Just noticed post was moved to the right thread thanks admin. You're welcome. Happened to be reading it. Feel free to just hit the report button if you need something moved so that we're notified and can take care of it for you Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Not sure about concrete job 14Oct 12, 2014 9:16 pm Saveh20, our concrete slope is fine, it is sloping away from the house. But, the AC level I think is standard for all houses and something we didn't even think about prior to now. They build it at house foundation height not garage height, when I questioned the builder they said that is standard. If we wanted it raised we have to pay alteration costs etc. the things you learn when you build. Re: Not sure about concrete job 15Oct 12, 2014 9:30 pm Painters use masking when painting and your concretes should have used masking to protect your brickwork from pigment stain. They know about it. Just laziness and lack of care. 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: Not sure about concrete job 17Oct 13, 2014 2:44 am UpsizeTime But, the AC level I think is standard for all houses and something we didn't even think about prior to now. It would appear innocuous to the new home owner during construction but post handover paving/concrete level compliance and resultant warranty issues are something that builders should consider during the builds and inform new home owners about. EDIT: If the AC slab was too low, why did the concrete have to be so high? It appears that the slope was made so that the path would drain lengthways to the drain shown in the first photo. The first photo also shows that water draining with the required slope away from the house would pool against the retaining wall. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Not sure about concrete job 18Oct 13, 2014 10:49 am Defective drainage and defective non compliant paving is one of the most common problems in new homes (in fact all homes) following behind poorly installed ceiling insulation. One of the first questions I ask owner is who did the paving and levels. 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: Not sure about concrete job 19Oct 13, 2014 1:16 pm UpsizeTime They poured the concrete with coloured concrete and i thought it was meant to turn out dark grey, instead it was light in colour. My concrete kept telling me not to worry it will be perfect in the end. So what do you do but wait. We are now at the end and they have sealed it with a almost black colour sealer which looks good mostly, a little patch in parts. I am wondering do they seal with colour sealer when they stuff up or is it normal practice? There are a few ways to produce coloured concrete one of which is superior to the others. One cheap way is to add colour oxide to the top layer of the plain concrete while it dries. The other is to paint it once dry. This is what looks like they've done with yours, painted it on. Looks great for a little while but eventually the colour can wear off leaving patches of plain concrete showing, once this happens it will need painting again. Also it is very slippery when it's wet. The best way is to mix the coloured oxides into standard cement mix (done at the concrete plant). This makes the colour permanent and it doesn't wear out. It should also be sealed after Re: Not sure about concrete job 20Oct 14, 2014 8:33 pm Thanks for all your comments. Firstly the levels are all fine and not the issue I was asking about. They have done what we asked as we wanted the initial point to start at the alfresco height. The water doesn't pool at the retaining wall it goes towards the drain points. I spoke to the concreter who thankfully agreed in all the points I have mentioned. He is going to come back and re seal to make sure it is even. With the bricks, he is annoyed at his employees and wants us to organise a brick cleaner and deduct the cost of cleaning from the final payment. Now just have to hope the colour comes of without wrecking something else. Last year I had a gas leak at my house. 3 days later, I have about 1 sqm of my exposed aggregate paving broken up. I am not sure how to go about getting it repaired… 0 10410 Regardless of wall hung toilet or floor pan toilet your feet will be right on drain, seems to me the waste should not be in that location given the design. Also are you… 6 7041 Thanks for much mate. 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