Issues With Concrete Floor Pour In Pole Barn

[jserr68594]

Last November I had concrete poured in my 60 by 40 pole building. I had posted about the issues at that time, but the contractor blamed some of this issues on curing, so I wanted to revisit the issue now. The overall finish has a crazing appearance. Also, as shown in the pictures, there is an area of concrete that dried lighter in color by the overhead door and you can tell it was finished by hand and not by power trowel as the rest of the floor was.

I am also seeing water run in under the overhead doors. It appears as if the slope to floor drains starts at the overheads causing the water that lands at the exterior floor edges to run in.

This is my first time ever having concrete poured and I do not know what is considered normal for sure. I want to make sure that I am not being too picky. What do you guys think? Is this work acceptable or should I be bringing it to the attention of the contractor? Thanks in advance!

 

[Renegade1LI]

It really comes down to if you’re happy with it, is that what you agreed to with the contractor? If he made mistakes in the slope that’s an issue, not sure why you’re getting water on the inside of your doors,are they sealed correctly? Is the exterior grade sloping away from the shop? Is the concrete finish flat and smooth? Any cracking? You’re going to get a lot of opinions here, you need to be satisfied with what you bought.

 

[finn]

Ask the contractor to grind the surface with a diamond wheel to slope the sill area under the door such that there’s a reverse slope, ie, away from the slab, and towards the outside.

I did that to one 14’ wide door and the floor is dry now. Probably took twenty minutes with a 4 1/2” grinder and a $20 cup.

 

[Snip]

My floor( 40x66 x 5.5") looks very much like yours but mine is about a year older. On mine the contractor put about a 1" slope over about 8" from just about where the for would hit, no water coming under it. Like Finn suggested maybe having somebody do a little grinding from the door out should remedy that issue. You might see some of the aggregate afterwards, not the end of the world.
I also have the same "crazing" thru out my slab but am not concerned as it is pretty uniform. I have no cracks other than the "crazing". I spec'ed a 4k mix with fiber and we rolled a petroleum based sealer on it a day or three after. I have some spots that are little darker than others but as a whole it is doing the job. Spills clean up easy.
The edges of the saw cuts chipping out is something I also have ( not sure why though), worse at intersections(I really should have the contractor stop by and see why). Like you this is bothersome to me. IIRC in another floor discussion one of the vendors had a product to fill the saw cuts with sand and a pourable epoxy to help with the "break-back" issue, may be other solution or fillers.
I guess the bottom line here , for me anyway, It's a working shop floor and is overall the floor is pretty flat, and very smooth. Yes the edges flaking bother me somewhat but I can fill with something if needed down the road. Maybe there is some help from the contractor if I call him. But after hearing some of the horror stories about how some of the floors on here turned out and the hassles the owners were treated to I just stand there in the shop with an ice cold adult beverage in my hand, look at my floor and smile.

 

[redneckwheelan2]

I do concrete for a living and it looks like the discolored section of floor didn't get sealed, the crazing cracks isn't a structural issue it's only a visual issue. Usually happens if the concrete gets temperature shocked in the first couple hours after it's finished, say if the concrete was around 80 degrees and you did a wet cure on it with water that's say 50 degrees, there's a chance of it crazing or vice versa cold concrete and hot sealer or water can cause it too. Or just a dramatic air temp change and windy.
The door ways should have been cut down but it's still not as common to do it on a pole barn as a attached garage. Some people want doorways left level some don't.
And most sawcuts will chip like that during the cutting process if you wait to long to cut the concrete is likely to have already cracked by the time you can sawcut and not have sawcuts ravel

 

[Mikeske]

This is what my floor looks like throughout my pole building. It is my shop and the pour was done 12 years ago. It has always had the mottled appearance since curing and I actually do not care. This building went the first 15 year with a dirt floor and I had the work done after the building was up. It was at that time when I had the money for the concrete guys. It works and that is all I cared about.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Was the discolored area the last truck? was there a wait for the last load? Looks like a different mix or cement from a different silo, just curious if you are really concerned there are a few tests you can have done. Cheapest is a winsor probe, next have a couple of core samples taken and third would be a petragraphic analysis. Is the finish flat and smooth? Can’t tell if it’s rough from the pic.

 

[olytdi]

I would like to hear how to arrange the pour such that the area under where the overhead doors meet and seal at the floor, are sloped properly. How is this done and how far back into the doorway from the building's front edge should the slope originate?

 

[mikedodge]

It should be sloping out of the doors not in. Is the rest of the land sloping towards the building? It's hard to tell from that pic. If it is it might not be the contractors fault at all and you need to put some draining in to keep the water away.
Either way to me id want it corrected because it's not usable when the floor gets wet like that.

 

[Firebrick43]

Is the door on the windward side? If so the wind can drive water even with a outward slope floor. That is why there should always be a lip about 1/4 to 3/8 high right behind the door.

The best solution I have found is to use a diamond cut off style blade and cut a groove a 1/4" deep along the length of the door and then at an angle getting deeper out the edge of the apron. That will drain all the water away from the door and keep it out of the pole shed.

Nearly all power troweled concrete looks crazed like that when wet.

The concrete under the rat board isn't great but doesn't hurt a thing.

The difference is appearance/finish at the door probably isn't because it was hand troweled but because either the sun was hitting there as it was setting causing it to kick off before the got the trowel on it. Or possibly was the last to be poured and was getting stiff coming off the truck.

I would say unless you have a written contract with surface specs included, your barking up a tree and the racoon left a long time ago.

 

[matt_i]

I plan to remediate a similar problem with water pushing under the door with concrete ~20yo and I didn't pour it, I want to snap some lines, get a good set of PPE on to exclude dust and grind a 1/4" deep rabbet for the door seal to fit into. I've seen 1/2" in other jobs but want to start slow as its a big jump for cushion-tired vehicles.

I also have the crazed surface if you look closely, but its holding up perfectly to loaded forklifts putting ~19,000 lbs of load into the slab in a couple of concentrated points. IOW the beauty is more than skin-deep.