Friday, November 12, 2010

So the problem with the ingredients.. (of concrete)

So i'm glad the story ended well. We got very worried when the company couldn't supply anymore concrete when they ran out. What happened was the first mix which came (9 yards) was pump able by the pump machine. However they did not put any concrete retarder in it. This slows the curing of concrete in these warm temperatures so you have time to work with it. So this was a serious problem #1. However we managed to pump the concrete into the footings. When the second truck came we added the retarder on site, however the mix then became un-pumpable. We tried several times and its consistency wasn't suitable for our use. We sent it back and our pump man was on the phone with the ready mix (concrete) company. The guy said since we sent back the batch he didn't have enough concrete to finish the job. Yes, this seems crazy, but this is the truth.

Our pump man called his contact at Yamada to see if they could quickly sell us two loads of 11 yards to finish our jump before what we poured got to hard. Fortunately they were able to send us two batches so we could finish. However we had to wait over an hour for the truck to arrive which means the footings were starting to solidify. We used a vibrator to help us mix the new concrete into the old one. However there is probably somewhat of a cold pour between the foundation and the slab top. I do not think it will affect much since where we want waterproofing is between the tank top and down. This is all new, continuous concrete and so water can not penetrate anywhere.

Overnight we had many good rains and water is standing on our slab, even a couple of hours after we have finished our finishing. This is very good since as most people know concrete cures better under water and when not allowed to dry out.

No comments:

Post a Comment