Poured my slab today horrible experience

[Jimmyspeach]

Well I just need a place to vent people

So I poured my slab today i would give myself a D-

Ok my total slab is 22x30 at 4 inches thick is like 7.6 or so yards the 22x30 is actually a bit heavy as I'm counting the stem walls in that calculation

Being its myself a former buddy and just a day laborer my plan was to pour the back half of it this weekend and do the other half next weekend

So basically 2 separate pours at 4 yards each with a cold joint between them tied in by rebar

I basically divided the floor in 4 quarters

2 quarters today and the final 2 next weekend

I had my screed support pitched a 1.5 percent toward the garage door again I wish I had pictures to show how I had it set up so keep in mind i was going from back of the garage forward the garage is 30 feet deep stopping at the half way point approximately 14 feet off the back wall

That was the plan for today

Well here we go

The 1st quarter went smooth as butter

As we were finishing up the 1st quarter the driver said

Are you pouring that other half today

Yes I replied

Well you didnt order enough because there is less than a yard left on the truck you might have enough to do another 4 feet or so but then I'm out
And to get another yard delivered on a Saturday it's gonna be $500

So if I were you I would just keep pouring this little bit so you dont have to order more
What the driver was saying was keep working toward the front of the garage instead of doing the 2nd quater in the back of the garage

Well to add to it I have my buddy saying yea pour this last little bit because i gotta go

You knew i was pouring today for over a week and you were nice enough to show up 5 minutes before the truck and now 39 minutes later you gotta go yea ok

So is stupidly listened to the driver and said ok just empty it out

Well u know math dosent lie

Problem is we kept running towards the front were my screed board stopped at 14 feet as a result I quickly threw up a screed board and forgot to pitch it


As a result approximately 10 feet of my slab has a negative pitch I did quickly remember as I got close to the door so the final 8 feet has a very nice pitch when it gets to the door

My frustration is I spent hours setting my plan for this garage pour I'm kicking my self because I listened to the driver who was completely wrong

Time is critical when the truck shows up and I succumbed to the pressure of allowing outside influences to alter my plan

I was so frustrated when I saw my calculation was spot on

I mean there was less than a wheel Barrow of mud left

I just yielded to the driver figuring he was a professional so he must know what he is talking about

Lesson learned

MATH DONT LIE trust your research and instincts

Find a buddy that wont cut u short for his latest fling

Thank the driver but trust your calculation

I'm probably gonna tear out the 10 foot section and replace it

Im So frustrated

Thanks for reading I just needed to vent

 

[LXCam]

That ***** bud. But I suggest ripping it out now while it’s green.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Tear it out while it's soft. Next week you'll need a week's worth of jack hammer time.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Yep, still soft and virginal now... get it out of there now. And have a "dump spot" for the remainder of the excess concrete on pour #2 that you can break out and get rid of later.

Sure, he's a professional... professional DRIVER, not a professional concrete man. He probably didn't want to get stuck with 3/4 yard of concrete in his truck, and didn't have a couple cans of coke to kill the set up reaction unti he got to his clean-out back at the plant.

 

[red61cj5]

I've seen concrete drivers so good they practically did the job for me. Then I've seen some that probably had to have the truck started for them. Luck of the draw.

 

[Jimmyspeach]

Ok I have been out in the garage with my level the 1st 14 feet have a nice pitch then there is a negative slope for 9 feet the negative drop is about 3/4 of an inch over that span

Mabe I can put in a floor drain ?

But the slab is dead level from side to side ????

The other concern is one section slopes toward the side wall of the garage and I see no way to fix that so I might start ripping that out tonight

 

[kaymccampbell]

Sooner is always better when it comes to concrete.

 

[Jc2043]

After a couple of bad experiences like this I’ve moved to hire a finisher off a local tilt-up construction crew to help me and my buddies. I do most of this kind of stuff myself but the critical timing and stress in a pour makes for bad decisions. Having this expert there helps get the timing correct and they know tricks when things go off plan. Plus you get that beautiful commercial finish.


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[nadogail]

IMHO, Concrete work that will be exposed to view should be left to professionals.

I can, or could when I was younger, dig holes and build forms. But now I am good at bringing water bottles and staying out of the way.

 

[matt_i]

Seems like there's a part thats OK and a part that's not.

Snap a line and make a cut (rent a saw, etc) and start breaking out the bad stuff.

You can edge-drill the good slab and insert some rebar pegs to keep the pieces aligned.

Done correctly you should have a good hard edge to screed from.

You might have to pay your buddy something so he's not catching hell at home working over at X's place for free all week when we have Y milion unfinished projects here

 

[topcok88]

Penny wise - dollar foolish.

There are a few things a person has a limited time frame to complete (material cost + time) like concrete. Save money in excavation, base prep, vapor barrier, chairs/rebar and forming. Call in the professionals to pour and finish.


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[mmb617]

I feel your pain. When I did my main garage I had no experience in concrete work and only my wife as a helper. I broke it up into 3 separate pours each 12'x24' to keep it manageable. As luck would have it the first section I did the driver knew a lot about concrete and gave me excellent advice. He even stayed around for a bit after the truck was empty to make sure I was doing OK. The job would not have turned out as good as it did without his input.

 

[Retroman]

I am not sure your math is right a 22' x 30' = 660 sf divided by 80 sf per yard gives you 8.25 yards for the flat work alone plus the stem walls. We always figure 10% waste for grading etc. Remember an extra half a yard will cost you around $50.00 another shortload may cost you $250 or more plus labor if your paying any help.

You should have stuck with your plan started pouring the second back section went as far as you could and set another header if the concrete ran out before you reached your preset header. Things like this happen in the heat of the moment probably would have been worth it to find and pay a couple finishers. They could have poured the whole thing and saved you some short load charges on the mud. you saved all you were going to save on this job by doing the grading and forming.

 

[Pziddy29]

Your initial calculation of 7.6 yards was low. I think that threw your whole project off from the start. Should be roughly 8.27 yards with 10% for waste without stem walls. Also note when the ground isnt level you want to take a measurement at the highest and lowest point in the frame and take the average thickness to make sure you have enough concrete for the pour. I feel your pain that does ****. You buddy bailing didn't help either. Also not sure if you ever plan of putting a lift in the garage but if so you want to have a minimum of 6 inches as far as thickness goes. I overbuilt my floor for this reason. I had my uncle help me pour the concrete. It took time but it was done right. Its good to have someone on hand with experience other than the truck driver you just met. Post some pictures. A Picture can speak a thousand words. Total cost for concrete roughly $900.

Long story short. That *****, but it could of been worse. Don't beat yourself up about it. Not worth it one bit. Have a beer and keep on moving.

 

[Jimmyspeach]

The reason I'm doing it myself is the only concrete guy I trust is booked for the year

He said he is behind 20 houses he does great work and when he did my house he was $7000 cheaper than anyone else Jim is a great person nice guy and very reasonable

He did give me a few numbers but they were booked up as well problem is they do lots of new construction and business is booming my slab just isnt worth their time

I called other concrete contractors

1 showed up looking like a complete slob. Hard pass

2 wanted $2,500 down and was booked out 4 weeks so he wants me to give him money and start in 4 weeks hard pass

3 showed up said $6500 never emailed me a quote or followed up

4 booked an appointment to estimate the job and never showed

Well I said I would just do it myself

Unfortunately in 2017 I was the victim of a bad contractor

Long story short I paid an electrical contractor $5000 to wire my house he botched the job i fired him and found a great electrician to rewire the house correctly and paid him $3,500

The slap in the face is contractor number 1 sued my wife and I saying it was an hourly bid and we owed him an additional $5000 for the job

I hired an attorney and won my case but that cost me another $2,500 could have got a judgement against him but for what I will never collect it so I just forgive but dont forget and move on

So I said I'm done with contractors

I have 3 I trust if they dont do it I will just do it myself

My total cost for the concrete, equipment rental and misc for this job have been approximately $3600

Still I'm miles ahead of what a contractor would have charged

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Could have gone worse. I had paying this kind of “tuition”.

 

[liliysdad]

How much were you paying your buddy? I would assume more than your day laborer, right?

Sounds like you should have waited for your trusted concrete guy.

 

[ConCretin]

You already know where you went wrong so rather than pile on or tell you what you should have done, I’ll just offer this. Believe me when I tell you this kind of thing happens to all of us. Make some cuts, rip out what you don’t like and start again. You’ll be glad you did and still probably save some money over hiring it out.

A few hours labor will be forgotten soon enough and you definitely won’t make those mistakes again.

 

[Jc2043]

Sounds like you had good reason to go it alone. Best luck on the rest of the pour.


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[Lassen Forge]

So, what's the outcome? Got a "sluff pond" ready when they oversend the concrete again? How's busting out the slop going? Curious minds want to know!!!!

 

[240sxguy]

Where are you in WI? It does seem like they're building houses in a huge hurry around this area, and aren't interested in "Small jobs".

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I flubbed up with my 16' x 22' slab. I ordered 1/2 hard too much and it ended up being 1/2 hard too little. I didn't have enough gravel down in the field, it is pushing 5.5" deep in some areas where it was supposed to be 4" and the thicker perimeter may have been a little wider than the 16" I was shooting for. My heart sank when the last little but trickled down the shoot into my rented power buggy knowing it needed another full load at least to fill the form. My hired flatwork guy knew just what to do, I had to box a 4.5' x 4' section off which would have to be finished later. The only plus side was teaching my boys how to mix 22 bags of quikrete 2 at a time in a wheelbarrow then screed, float and finish it.

 

[Tim Kennedy]

4 inches thick = .33 --- so... [22x30x.33] divided by 27 [# of cubic feet in a cubic yard]
660x.33
217.8 cubic feet divided by 27

8.06 yds add 10% [.806] if you want for waste as noted in another post

8.866

order 9 yards --- period

 

[spudley]

4 inches thick = .33 --- so... [22x30x.33] divided by 27 [# of cubic feet in a cubic yard]
660x.33
217.8 cubic feet divided by 27

8.06 yds add 10% [.806] if you want for waste as noted in another post

8.866

order 9 yards --- period

In post #1 he stated he has stem walls so his true inside measure is more likely 20.7 x 28.7 figuring an 8" wide stem wall. Door openings need to be added back, but his calculations are real close, apparently too close for the driver.

He was only doing 1/2 the pour so he ordered 4 yards and had a wheelbarrow left over.

The issue isn't his calculation.