Failed concrete question

[Jeepnford]

I had a 40x60 slab poured for a new shop late last year. Apparently a little too late. Anyway, the concrete plant didn’t use air entrainment because they were told the concrete was going indoors, which was true, just not that day. The concrete was poured and the last section got wet and of course that night it rained, got much colder than predicted and it spalled. Looks horrible. The concrete guy and the plant are pointing fingers, mines pointed at the finisher. The finisher thinks he can overlay it. I have serious doubts. I imagine I’ll end up in small claims court before much longer. I don’t know anyone who’s had an overlay. For those of you in the know, is an overlay viable or is my contractor just trying to delay the inevitable? I’m really disappointed it’s going this way, I‘ve used the concrete guy several times with top quality work but he sure dropped the ball on this one.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hate to say it, but this might be a good time to hire legal help and pay for an engineer to determine fault.

 

[Egon]

It would sound like that on that last section the rain diluted the cement in the concrete near the surface.

A surface coat may work if it is thick enough. Greater than two inches or so.

 

[3Ts]

IDK, but it might be worthwhile considering something other than a concrete top coat. Maybe something like the epoxy garage floor material. That should keep it all together and provide a smooth finish.
My situation is with a concrete slab that was poured with way to much water. It looked like mud coming out of the truck and had no body to it. Whenever my wife swept the floor she could not ever get it clean because the broom would turn the concrete to powder. We've lived with it for 2 years and now are having an epoxy top coat put on this week. According to all the claims, this should fix our biggest concerns. BTW this is the floor to her studio and is a separate building. I'll post a picture or two when they're done.

 

[Bigkrank]

We have a 120 X 300 shop where I work built in the late 80's that had the concrete work done not so perfect. Over the years with all the heavy traffic and moving 40 ton machines around on it a lot of it failed. We sawed up and replaced areas. Some new owners bought it about 8 years ago and we wanted to replace areas where the surface was cracking and at different heights. They said no because they used a company at their other locations that grinds it down and puts an epoxy finish on it.

I thought they were crazy but the repair looks today as good as when it was done even with moving 40 ton machines over it and heavy towmotor traffic. They ended up having a different company come in and grind the whole shop and do the floor with a different product. Looks good so far but the bill was close to $300,000.

 

[RNeumann]

Is it just spalled or does it have cracks all the way through from the freeze? Add a pic or two.

I don’t know what small claims is going to do....what do you want? Do you want the whole thing replaced? Or do you just want money for having to deal with it? It would seem a complete R and R would be a PITA and could be more trouble than it’s worth.

Who purchased the concrete- you or the contractor? Was the concrete guy a licensed contractor? If so, what state are you in and how long does that state require the contractor to warranty their work- some are one year while others are ten?

I’d be inclined to overlay it if it didn’t fail structurally. If done properly, with a good product it won’t be an issue. They overlay concrete bridges in the highway in my area...those see way more abuse than your little shop will.

BTW- your concrete guy was good before and he’s still good! It’s not a perfect world.....especially in construction!

 

[crashz]

When you say it got colder than expected, did you have freezing temps? Did the surface freeze? Also, you state that the last section got wet. Was it pouring rain at the time of the placement? Once the concrete sets to a firm surface (within 2 hours), water actually helps with the curing.

But if excess water was used to liquefy and speed up the actual pour, that's not good. Neither if water was add to to concrete that was in the drum too long and beginning to set. Concrete should be placed 90 mins after batching.

Most private jobs typically do not require a QC inspector but it helps. At a minimum the time of batching should be noted, time of placement, temp of concrete, slump and total water added. And at the end of the day, test cylinders are proof positive that you have the correct strength concrete. Without that, there is no way of recourse on the concrete supplier.

 

[HillStreet]

I built a house 25 years ago and the concrete guys poured the basement slab in January, with propane heaters running. They let the cream float and left it like that. This floor emitted dust and spalled for 10 years till I sold it. Demand a redo, concrete contractors should know concrete, should be watching weather, should place/consolidate/finish accordingly.

 

[Jeepnford]

Yes, below freezing. There’s some scattered pops scattered throughout I can probably live with. The one section is terrible. The plant added calcium, water was added on site, and I think the last load was in the truck too long. I’m 30 min from the plant. I don’t want a total redo, just the one area I’d like addressed. It’s right inside one of the overhead doors, I wouldn’t be able to run a creeper across it. I don’t live in a metro area, I don’t know of any contractors that any sort of license other than a local city business license. This is on the family farm in a county with no restrictions. I’ll try to get some pictures later.

 

[Streetcar]

It sounds like a finishing issue. Only a portion of the surface is bad. For years no air entraining was used. A penetrating sealer can be used to repair surface, but good product is not cheap and cheap products are not good.pictures would help