New garage time!

buckeyefarmer · Jun 19, 2020

My front porch has control joints but still has cracks elsewhere.

Basement has no control joints and I’m not aware of any cracks. Mostly covered in carpet now so can’t see if there are

Kyle_in_Tex · Jun 19, 2020

Interesting discussion. Down here, like Eddie says, they don't cut slabs for the homes.

fatjay · Jun 19, 2020

I’m certainly no expert, but I’m with Eddie on this one. Hard clay, stomped crushed stone, rebar and wire in the middle, driest mix possible, foam on the sides, and a joint across the middle, plus it will never get below 55F. I’ve kept it submerged in water the past 3 days and will continue until Monday. As far as I can tell I’ve taken every possible precaution. Once I have a roof over it it’s being painted with epoxy.

The whole thing ended up being 7-8” thick as well. Time will tell, I’ll report back if any cracks do appear.

MossRoad · Jun 19, 2020

fatjay said:
I’m certainly no expert, but I’m with Eddie on this one. Hard clay, stomped crushed stone, rebar and wire in the middle, driest mix possible, foam on the sides, and a joint across the middle, plus it will never get below 55F. I’ve kept it submerged in water the past 3 days and will continue until Monday. As far as I can tell I’ve taken every possible precaution. Once I have a roof over it it’s being painted with epoxy.

The whole thing ended up being 7-8” thick as well. Time will tell, I’ll report back if any cracks do appear.

I didn't see a picture of a joint in the middle. How did you do it?

EddieWalker · Jun 20, 2020

MossRoad said:
I didn't see a picture of a joint in the middle. How did you do it?

He poured it in two days.

ovrszd · Jun 20, 2020

I took it to mean what means of making the splice? Just pour up against the other pour or some sort of expansion material. But I might be overthinking the question.....

MossRoad · Jun 20, 2020

EddieWalker said:
He poured it in two days.

MossRoad said:
I didn't see a picture of a joint in the middle. How did you do it?

ovrszd said:
I took it to mean what means of making the splice? Just pour up against the other pour or some sort of expansion material. But I might be overthinking the question.....

That's what I thought. And, I'm not sure that pouring new concrete against hard concrete would qualify as a controlled crack area unless there is some depth to a cut made into the concrete along that joint line. Unless a cut is made, it will be hard as a rock. It's not like it's laying there against it. It's adhered to it with the concrete. Granted, there's no rocks spanning the line between the two pours, but I still wonder.

Anyhow, if it does crack, he's got plenty of rebar to keep things together and prevent shifting, raising, lowering, etc... that would affect the piping. All-in-all, he's gonna be happy. Let's check back in 20 years and do a core sample of the jointed area. :laughing:

dragoneggs · Jun 21, 2020

I don't know if the seam is clean/straight between pours and I am guessing not very. But this would be a great place for a controlled crack location. That said, I think OP did a great job with the reinforcement... far better than most, and if he is on hard pan with the gravel base, he could very well live to never see a crack.

EddieWalker · Jun 21, 2020

In my opinion, and it's just that. I don't think that concrete moves very much. On two slabs this size, it would be just about impossible to measure the amount of movement that is happening. I'm thinking there will be a lot of zeros in that measurement!!! Since the movement will be so slight, that seam will provide the relief that the slab needs. If this was a driveway, exposed to the sun during summer, and freezing temps in winter, I would want something more substantial between the slabs because the movement would be a lot more. In this case, taking everything into consideration, I think he's fine just the way it is.

ovrszd · Jun 21, 2020

Yep, probably true. I'm thinking the surface finish is going to be a much bigger issue in the future than cracks.

EddieWalker · Jun 21, 2020

ovrszd said:
Yep, probably true. I'm thinking the surface finish is going to be a much bigger issue in the future than cracks.

I'm so bad at finishing concrete, that I always plan on putting tile over it to hide how bad it looks. I've even rented grinders to make it nicer, but that's always a waste of time for me.

4570Man · Jun 21, 2020

EddieWalker said:
I'm so bad at finishing concrete, that I always plan on putting tile over it to hide how bad it looks. I've even rented grinders to make it nicer, but that's always a waste of time for me.

It would be way cheaper to hire someone to finish the concrete.

EddieWalker · Jun 21, 2020

4570Man said:
It would be way cheaper to hire someone to finish the concrete.

I hire it out for houses, additions and jobs that the concrete will be visible. For my own place, I usually do it myself and then cover it in tile. For jobs that I'm doing for clients, if I'm covering the floor with tile, or some other material, I do the finish work there too.

MossRoad · Jun 21, 2020

4570Man said:
It would be way cheaper to hire someone to finish the concrete.

Estimates for my garage addition came in around $6500. I'm doing it myself for $3000.... and it looks like it! :laughing: However, no one is going to see it and it's just a storage room, so it's a good learning experience for us.

ovrszd · Jun 21, 2020

MossRoad said:
Estimates for my garage addition came in around $6500. I'm doing it myself for $3000.... and it looks like it! :laughing: However, no one is going to see it and it's just a storage room, so it's a good learning experience for us.

These numbers are misleading.

How much would it have cost to hire a crew strictly to pour and finish it? That's where the value is. It's just manual labor to prep it.

OP probably could have hired a one man finisher for $500. So now it's down to $500 to have a smooth finish. Probably the same for your pour.

Alan W. · Jun 21, 2020

Around here just to pour and slick finish with a power trowel is $1 per square foot.

EddieWalker · Jun 21, 2020

Buck a foot here too.

buckeyefarmer · Jun 21, 2020

Think I paid more that that when I did my barn slab 10 yrs ago. . I prepped it, ordered concrete, they just poured and finished.

MossRoad · Jun 21, 2020

ovrszd said:
These numbers are misleading.

How much would it have cost to hire a crew strictly to pour and finish it? That's where the value is. It's just manual labor to prep it.

OP probably could have hired a one man finisher for $500. So now it's down to $500 to have a smooth finish. Probably the same for your pour.

Good point. I'd have to have the guy come back 3 times, because we're doing 3 pours.

fatjay · Jun 22, 2020

The whole reason I decided to do it myself was because the quote I got was $8200 for just the slab. And they refused to do a jump for the doors, just have a gradual angle. Concrete was 3k and rebar was $300ish(it's been a while but it was in that neighborhood). They weren't willing to do chairs and they wanted pex on bottom and rebar sitting on it. They werne't supplying pex or wire. $3300 + 600 for 2 guys hired labor for 2 days is $3900 vs $8200. It's fairly good, and I don't think you could get $4300 worth of better.