Thin 3/8 pink foam insulation sheet - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

sponge racing · 02-09-2009, 10:02 PM

Heys guys, My foundation contractor just poured a 12in wall for the foundation and before he backfilled he tared the perimiter of the wall below grade and also put a 3/8 in pink foam insulation board up against it. He says it will be better that the dirt does not touch the cement wall this way. Are there any arising problems by doing this. The foundation is up out of the ground about 3 feet and 5 feet deep. Thanks alot.

Chris Johnson · 02-09-2009, 10:19 PM

It's a protection board, it works.

Personally I would have used a protection board and drainage membrane, but your soils could dictate differently.

skyhook · 02-09-2009, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sponge racing

Heys guys, My foundation contractor just poured a 12in wall for the foundation and before he backfilled he tared the perimiter of the wall below grade and also put a 3/8 in pink foam insulation board up against it. He says it will be better that the dirt does not touch the cement wall this way. Are there any arising problems by doing this. The foundation is up out of the ground about 3 feet and 5 feet deep. Thanks alot.

He's doing a good job, and since you don't know the difference between cement and concrete, why are you doubting his work ?

CJKarl · 02-10-2009, 08:41 PM

I recommend only using the 6/16" pink foam. Good luck.

sponge racing · 02-11-2009, 10:06 PM

Thanks for the usefull replys... Cement/concrete hmm school me.

Tscarborough · 02-11-2009, 10:12 PM

Cement is a generic term denoting anything that holds other things together. Portland cement is the commonly used material to form concrete, which is composed of portland cement, sand, and aggregate, as well as chemical additives for specific purposes and uses.

tkle · 02-11-2009, 11:02 PM

You pour water and you place concrete.

jvcstone · 02-12-2009, 05:48 PM

Haven't seen the 6/16 stuff, but keep lots of the 9/16 around. Put it between the carved stone pieces to keep them from banging and chipping during shipping.

TKLE, some of the "cement" contractors around here add so much (mas agua) water, they could "place" it through a 2 inch pipe.

Many years ago when I was the soil geologist for an engineering company, one of our field tecs decided the crete was too wet (8 inch slump) and told the contractor to stop the pour. Contractor responded by placing about a half yard of the wet stuff around the poor guys feet and legs and began to beat him around the head and shoulders with a piece of rebar. He learned real quick that it's a lot easier to have a contractor eat the slab later if the sample cylinders fail the compression test than get between a man and lunch.

JVC

JVC

Tscarborough · 02-12-2009, 06:12 PM

I have seen Pops run off several testing techs over the years when they tried to control his pours. As he told them, "I'll place it, you sample it, and the lab can test it". He also ran techs off for not knowing how to create cylinders and do a proper slump test.

In 40 years of him doing (large commercial tilt-wall and monolithic) concrete, I only know of two slabs he had to tear out. One was in Houston and the trucks got tied up in traffic halfway through, so we tore that out before it even set. The other was a form blowout.