Slab Not Square?

irving

I have a potential new customer who has a problem. The original contractor poured a slab for a bathroom addition 14' by 10'. The slab is not square to the house. It is off by 5" at the furthest point. Can we frame up, attach and place 5' wide slab to existing then frame wall on that small area? Any one have any experience with this?

Bob Kovacs

What part of the country are you in? There's likely a footing under the slab edge, which could vary from a 6" turned-down edge is warmer climates, to a 4' deep frost wall in others. You'd need to address getting bearing of the wall back to that footing if you're going to extend the slab, which will increase with difficulty as the footing gets deeper.

Bob

jmic

Irving,
Are your measurements 5" different or are you 5" out of square? What size studs you using for walls 2x4 or 2x6? So the outer wall is not running parallel to the back of the home?

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Joe

irving

Using 2"x4" studs. If you run down the wall where it connects with the house it is flush then takes an angle so at 14' out it is off 4 o5". The footing is parallel to the slab on the outside and 12" in to the center. Seems to me one answer is to pour another footing for the slice of slab to rest on. Then use a higher psi cement. My question is, is the slab too narrow for strength?

jmic

Irving,
If I understand what you're asking, can't you form the outside of whats there and pour it right to the top or the slab so it's all one pour?

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Joe

irving

There is an existing slab. In order for us to build the addition square to the house, we need to add about 5" to one side of the slab. A load-bearing wall will then rest on this 5" wide section.

Cole

Consult an engineer.

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jmic

Irving ,
Do you have frost walls under slab or just slab to work with? What part of the country are you located?

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Joe

jproffer

Maybe this won't work at all, but why not just build the bathroom 5" narrower and cover the exposed concrete with _______________. (whatever the lady of the house desires)

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irving

No frost wall. Located in Texas.

mdshunk

When I read the thread title "Slab not square", I thought to myself, "I never saw one that was". Every house slab is out a tad. Then I read that a 14x10 is out 5". That's criminal.

sheeter

Irving,

One must ask themselves if a contractor can't pour a simple 10' X 14' slab remotely close to square, what else did they do wrong? I'm not familiar with Texas codes, but is it a monolithic slab where the perimeter of the slab is the footing? Did the previous contractor check the compaction of the soil before he poured it? JProffer has a good idea about building it smaller. Adding a 5" strip of concrete would probably break away after erecting the load bearing walls. One option may be to bolt a piece of angle iron onto the side of the slab, a 6" X 6" X 1/2" aught to be good enough. Or you could saw cut the slab back 2' and repour it, squaring it up. You are in a tough predicament, that your customers opinion of your finished project will be influenced by a shotty slab.

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Sheeter
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CJKarl

I'd haunt the guy untill he fixed it.

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Teetorbilt

CJ is right, it's the slab contractors job to make it right.

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Ted W

So it's just the slab/footing? Nothing built on it yet? If so, I'd bust out the slab and start from scratch. What Sheeter says is right on - they probably didn't check the soil compaction or anything else. If you build on it you're responsible for the results. When the floor bulges, sinks, cracks... it is your phone that will be ringing, not that other guy's. If the customer doesn't want to pay the extra for a new slab, I personally wouldn't want anything to do with it. But that's just me.

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POOLMANinCT

i concur w/ teetor mds & cjkarl.

btw nothing ticks me off more than any outbuilding that is not sque to a house... yup im officially crazy

ray