Lignite Disaster In Exterior Flatwork In Illinois

MXB

I'm looking for advice.

Long story as short as possible here.

I've been a concrete contractor for 15 years. In 2005 we were contracted by a general to complete foundations and flatwork for homes. Starting in April of 2006, we started receiving complaints of the driveways and public sidewalks running through them of the tops coming off. Upon closer examination and meetings with the ready mix supplier, it appeared that "too much lignite" was in the sand mixed into the concrete. Lignite is pourous rocks found in sand. When exposed to cold temps, these rocks absorbed moisture and popped the tops off the flatwork.

The general insisted that we tear out and replace these drives and any other damaged concrete. This damage was not caused by salt or deicers.

The ready mix supplier agreed that the lignite was the problem and agreed to pay for the concrete to replace 32 drives and sidewalks. We had to pay out of our pockets for labor, dumping fees, etc.

This is what we found out. Ready mix supplier bought some "cheap sand" from a material hauler that bought it from a quarry that went out of business abruptly during the time when we were installing all these homes. Fishy I know. No one would ever tell us the name of the quarry.

After 4 drives were replaced, the ready mix supplier told us to go scratch. Said he wasn't going to go broke over this. And he was angry that we started using another ready mix supplier, as we didn't trust his product any longer.

I contacted 2 attorneys that said we had a case against the ready mix supplier. The problem was that we could not "destroy the evidence" and begin tearing out these drives right away. It would have to go through court, be awarded to us, etc. The general was not happy to hear that it could take years to start. He paid for quality work, he wanted it done yesterday. This general typically gives us 750,000 a year in work. It seemed like a no brainer to keep this guy happy. We did try to make claims against our liability insurance, and the ready mix suppliers. All claims were denied.

In 2007 & 2008, we tore out and replaced 28 drives, sidewalks, aprons, garage sections etc at our own expense.

The estimated cost to us was $124,000.00.

Of course with these economic times, our 750,000 contractor went to 180,000 with no big improvements until the economy improves.

We also lost revenue of "paying" jobs while this was going on.

We do have pieces of every drive we tore out. We do have evidence.

What recourse do we have? Recently we were told by our new ready mix company, now that its been over a year, that we would have won in court. Now people tell us this. I couldn't find anyone that would talk to me about lignite in sand in concrete 2 years ago.

I want my money back. What would you do?

neolitic

Have been through similar
on a much smaller scale.
The routine was to have testing
done and documented by a
reputable testing company,
before demolition.
This held up in court.
Don't know what to say
about where you are now.

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MXB

The ready mix supplier had the portland cement people come out and take samples. The concrete strength tested out at 4000 psi or higher.

The ready mix supplier's attitude was this. It is strong and won't go anywhere. It just doesn't look nice.

I did fail to write something.

Some of the driveways were worse than others. This guy actually had a employee, with a drill, drilling out small sections of the lignite. He patched these cores after.

It looked like bird crap all over the driveway.

"it just doesn't look nice" What a businessman huh?

neolitic

I've heard pretty much the same.
What can you expect from him?
Sounds like he wasn't above buying
the cheapest aggregate he could find.
"Concretmasonry" is a member with
just the kind of experience you are
looking for, I'm sure he'll pick up on
this.
We have some others I'm sure will
chime in as well.
Hang around.

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CR2

You had to let the affected party(GC) take action and sue your company, then , your insurance company would take over and represent you, investigate and do everything necessary to find the culprit and the liable party, which by what you described was the ready mix provider, instead of letting it go legal and all the way, almost sure you were not liable and thinking more about the volume of work this guy represented, you just interfered whit the process by jumping in ,and replacing some concrete(destroying evidence); which makes the situation more complicated.
I guess you had a case, but you jeopardized it; whishing to do the right thing and thinking on the GC's and your best interest, you took on your shoulders the reponsibility to correct the problem and now, once again, you have to put on you shoulders (or pockets) the cost of legal representation against the concrete provider, this will be a longer and more difficult process and I think with nothing guaranteed, but only lawyers can say.
Good Luck!

MXB

Wow,

Thanks for the comment.

It really sucks as the GC was SO hot and heavy for us to make it right he practically forced it down our throats and wouldn't let us take time to do it the right way. Now that all the dust has settled and we see the dollar volume, we want it back.

Everything takes longer with lawyers.