[irving]

HELP. I need advice before Monday.

I am building a home. The foundation company took four months to pour the slab, then did so in the pouring rain. They poured it short, then came back and toped it later. My delima: The sides are uneven, the surface is not level, we have substantial cracking, the list goes on.

The concrete company who delivered the cement wants their money, the slab contractor wants his money. I say they are both to blame for the problems. The cement company should not have delivered the cement in the rain. I mean thunderstorms resulting in two of their trucks getting stuck in the mud for hours. They knew the rain was coming, in fact it was raining when they loaded the cement. Part of the bill for the cement was for cement that had to be dumped, because the trucks stuck in the mud were blocking the entrance, and some of the cement poured later was more expensive because it was a smaller pebble for the top coat.

The foundation company never re-set the forms, that had warped in the rain for months. And when they came back and toped it, no mesh or steel was used in the top 2".

The foundation company clearly screwed up, but what about the cement co. They delivered a product that they knew would be defective because of the rain.

Any thoughts?

 

[Teetorbilt]

This is all on the slab contractor and if what you say is true, his counter argument would fly like a brick here. Coming up 2 ins. shy on a pour is inexcuseable. Pouring during a torrential rain and adding a skimmer is equally inexcusable.
I would NOT build MY house or anyone elses on this platform.

 

[Mike Finley]

The concrete company was hired by the concrete contractor, the contractor was in charge and responsible for the pour and finishing, the buck stops with him, and he can take it up with the concrete company on his own time.

 

[KtotheJ]

Do Not build the house!

My advice is to stop dead in your tracks. Don't pay the contractor. In fact, he wants to make any money on it, I'd make him rip out the slab, repair/prep the area for new and then think about pouring. As I think about it more, pay someone to bust it up; pay someone to repair/reprep the basement; have it reinspected for prep for pour; and then hire someone else to pout the basement. Anything above and beyond the original contractors price can be settled in court. I believe the original contractor is liable for all additional expenses. I hope you have time to sit on this project (it seems you do if it went like that for four months.) Good luck!

Omni

 

[Teetorbilt]

You need to give the original contractor the ability to correct his mistakes prior to going legal. If he gets arrogent in any way, tell him that you will see him in court.
Concrete,steel and plywood have been in short supply lately due to the Chinese building, Iraq rebuilding and local housing demands due to interest rates.
Your contractor may not have been able to get the material or may claim so. 4 mos. is a very long time to be formed out and the pour is still shabby. Somebody is going to eat their shorts on this one and it shouldn't be you.
Contact your building dept. and apprise them of the situation, I would be suprised if they will allow you to build on it plus you get some extra ammo if you have to go to court.

 

[ABA Const]

like teeter suggested i would go to the contractor and give them the option to fix the work. personally i would make them rip out the foundation and start all over. that is just unacceptable to pour in the rainstorm and pour short. if you have cracking and out of level at this point it is not going to get any better. and it will effect everything else from this point on. the concrete company is not to blame they just deliver concrete and how are they to know that your house is a mud hole. the concrete construction company is at fault.

 

[Guest]

I know this is several months late.

But, what you need to do is hire a structural engineer to evaluate the foundation and design a solution. The fault is on the foundation contractor, however there may be more details that might question that. Why was there a four month delay? Was it POURING rain as you describe or did it simply start raining when they were pouring? It might be his responibility to avoid known rain storms, but if they were pouring and it started raining, he needs to be able to go to plan B, in which case a short pour and slab topping might be acceptable..as long as it is a structurally approved method.

The concrete company is not really at fault, they simply supply materials, it is up to the installer to determine if the conditions are suitable for instllation. The concrete company may not even know if you are filling a pit in the ground or pouring a slab or pouring footings.

 

[Tom R]

And as far as the concrete company knows, it could be raining on one end of town and not the other. It's up to the contractor to keep them 'abreast'. At my local yard, it's 'standard' to order at least several days in advance on a 'will-call' basis, which means I call and 'verify' if I still want it on the morning of the 'pour', according to the existing or calculated weather.