[TheForge] OT: My floor is poured: the saga

[Andrew Vida]

On 9/5/14, 3:13 PM, jerry Frost wrote:
> It is if he stopped for coffee or lunch. Once concrete starts to set it sets
> pretty quickly. A concrete company that screws up a pour like this will have
> people blaming others, it's the guy in the mixing tower, the guy in the
> truck, the finishers, etc.
Well, the one person they cannot blame is me.  The pumpers and finishers 
were also blameless.  The mix appeared normal until about 1/2 hour in, 
after about 5 or so yards were put down.  All of a sudden it started 
hardening up very quickly and the finisher was not happy.  I didn't 
realize how bad it was until a while later.

These bastards are going to tell me to go scratch and then I will have 
to take up my iron bars - there's the smithing content. :)
>
> When you say it got hot, how hot?
The 7 yards remaining in the truck was putting off very visible vapors 
in 90*+, 90%+ humidity.  It was not hot in the basement, so they cannot 
claim that we should have known.  Everything seemed perfect until the 
very sudden and rapid change in the character of the mix.  Prior to 
that, I was shoveling concrete up into the low spots because it was 
flowing well.

>   Concrete should get warm as it sets but
> even a 24" footing should be too cool for a bath. If a slab is getting hot,
> say steaming on a cool day it's a hot mix, either WAY past pour time or a
> hot mix from the batch plant.
>
> How'd your footings come out?

Sagged slab - integral footing.  3 runs of #5 rebar all four sides about 
2-3 inches from the bottom, right where it belonged.  Engineer friend 
said one would have sufficed and that three makes for a very strong 
footing.  Footings average about 16" deep x 24 wide.  Floor is about 5" 
average with a few thinner areas, perhaps 3.5"... still plenty, 
especially with the mesh in it.

My only concern now is whether it is too far out of level for a mason to 
lay block, if I choose to go that route, which at this point I may 
because the forms are now up to about $5K and there is no possible way.  
I'd planned on $500-$600, using the clay as the outer form, but the 
imbeciles at Marco scotched that big time.