Hi guys and gals, Im Steve, first time poster here posting on behalf of my 21yo Son.
I hope you don't mind the opening long post but we really need some input from experienced heads and figured i'd provide as much detail as possible.
So my eldest Son is having his first home built, a 2 storey townhouse and its barely begun, which is a story in its own right as its been about 2 months late with the start, and when I called in to check out the progress this morning I came across something which has me worried.
The slab was poured about 2 weeks ago, its part of a group of 8 townhouses in a row and was the last section poured. The first thing I noticed was the obvious colouration difference between the first 6 and the last two, my Sons slab is very pale, whereas the first six have a very grey look to them, I've done a little concreting in my time, nothing on this scale, but to me it looks like a very weak mix.
So yesterday they stood up the first frames, two steel square frames, one at the front which is the opening for the garage, the other at the rear where the sliding door on to the patio area is, this is where I discovered the real concern.
In order to attach the frames they've drilled 2 holes of about an inch or so round for each leg into the foundation which have then been filled with a type of paste and then a threaded rod inserted.
These holes have been drilled less than an inch from the edge of the slab and have resulted in the concrete fracturing and completely falling away, both bolts are completely loose in their holes to the point where you can actually lift one all but clear of the concrete if not for the now hardened paste, there is nothing holding that whole side secured to the slab and if I wanted to I could push the whole frame away from the edge.
We live in Adelaide, the slab was poured on the 30/10/19 and the BOM has the temp in the city as 34* on that day, we're well north and usually see temps around 2* warmer at any given time, it was the hottest max temp for the week and was followed by an equally hot day.
I spoke to the contractor levelling up the site a fortnight prior and he told me the builder wanted all slabs poured by close of play on 30/10/19.
My Wife drove past it on the afternoon they had poured and there was a worker standing there hosing it down with water, don't know if this is relevant or not.
I took a photo of the outside of the area to show the fractured concrete and then took two short video's of me being able to move the two bolts from the back where its visible in the slab and from the front where the nut is above the frame footing.
I sent all the footage to my Son who immediately contacted his build consultant who asked for them to be forwarded which my son did along with a sternly worded message and refusal to accept it or make any further payments until its been rectified and signed off as acceptable by him.
The question is, firstly, to any concreters or builders who work in this aspect of the construction, what can be done to fix it and secondly to anyone who's had this experience, is my Son within his rights to refuse to accept it as is and request it fixed.
Any advice would be much appreciated as he is quite angry about the poor workmanship.
Some pics to show the state of play..
This shows the damage on both sides
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A close up of the right side of the steel frame
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The threaded rod, the only thing stopping me from removing it altogether was a small blob of paste which im told is called Chemset
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This is the largest piece of the concrete which has fallen out of the cavity
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