Concrete pour and rain forecast

[fwillison]

44x60 slab to be poured tomorrow, but weather service calls for 50% chance of storms.
The concrete guy says he'll make the call in the morning.
I said I need to sign off before concrete goes on trucks. They didn't like that, but I figure if there is disaster, it'll mainly be my but in the sling.

I'm a bit paranoid, because I want a slick finish and the concrete will be my floor (unlike a house slab that will have flooring).

It it sniffs of any rain, I'm inclined to pull the plug and reschedule.
What do you guys think?

Fred
tulsa

 

[cj7365]

Ok whats wrong with pulling the plug now and wait for 0% chance of rain, whats the forecast for the week.

just reschedule if your worried

 

[Garage Dog]

Fred,

That is a good sized pour and I assume your contractor has the labor lined up to be there, he doesn't want to pull the plug now. But finishing a pour that size takes time, once you start it is hard turning back...

A bit of light rain is generally no problem (light rain, scattered showers) - if you have a major downpour in the middle of an all day project, you will have major head aches that are clear as mud to resolve.

Yeah, so they do the pour, you get a downpour, problems finishing because of water pooling on the slab and you don't like the finishing work - what now?

They poured the concrete to your specs, but the fact that you don't like the finish becomes a rather arbitrary judgement call. Add to that so problems aren't revealed until the slab is fully cured.

Follow the weather closely and do what you think is right... It is your money.

Problem with rain is: an hour one way or the other can be the difference between the contractor telling you he knew what he was doing and a total mess.

Sorry to say I don't like the odds.

BTW I re-read your post: FYI it should not be you **** in the sling, they are the professionals who you have a contract with (you do have a contract right?) to provide a certain service and product. If you are making the call and it is your risk on a slab with no roof over head, I would pull the plug now.

 

[Rookie2]

kill it. any rain on the concrete as its being finished and you'll see problems for a lifetime. You can't add water to the mix as it 'sets' even to finish it.

 

[01ss]

With the wonderful radar we have now-a-days I'd let that be my decision maker.

 

[dadsEH]

Wtf? Your lot can put a cruise missile in a letter box from 2000 miles away and you cant tell if its going to rain in the next 24?

 

[Red05GT]

We had a 32 x 56 barn floor poured last Friday. The weather forecast was for showers
at 7:30 am, then 12:30 and then all clear. It was inside a covered building, but we had
to remove panels in four locations across the back of the building for chutes, on the
front we had two overhead doors to pour through. Our schedule was for 8:30, the two
contractors in front of us canceled out so we moved up to 8:00 am. It showered and
rained until 10:30 although the weather radar was showing us in a window. We were
able to put up protection over the openings to keep out blowing rain, and the slab
turned out great. If it had of been an open pour, it would have been ruined. Weather
forecast are like a shot in the dark. Wait for a better day.

 

[NUTTSGT]

A 50% chance in pour that's open, I think I'd want to pass on it. A screwed up floor finish is not something easy to hide, cover or fix.

 

[fwillison]

I canceled it for today.
Unfortunately, looks like rain 20-70% chances each day this week.
But, I'll wait for a some decent weather. It's too expensive and pretty much unfixable if screwed up.

Fred

 

[Falcon67]

Wtf? Your lot can put a cruise missile in a letter box from 2000 miles away and you cant tell if its going to rain in the next 24?

'Cause we spent more engineering the missile than the weather.