How to pour concrete......correctly?

[Jays72T]

I am no expert but know this is not how you pour a small landing for some stairs.




It looks like they set the form and poured right on top of the grass, no leveling, pebble base, tamping it down, etc...

Going to have a talk with my contractor tomorrow about this but how would you do this correctly?

[unclebilly]

That is a mess.

I can't see how that is anchored to prevent it from sliding, maybe under the concrete there is a pile that they dug down to the clay or hard pan? Normally you don't go over the top soil like this appears to be.

[URY914]

That's no contractor.

Go to Youtube for hundreds of videos on how to do this.

[javadog]

Your first task is to fire the contractor. If that's how he forms and pours concrete, he's too stupid, lazy or cheap to do anything correctly.

The first point I'm going to make is that before you start construction on the site, you need to get all of the site grading done. There are too many bad contractors that build first, then grade the site later.

Next, I don't have access to your soil testing report, if you have one, so I can't comment on what soil conditions you have there or what the structure looks like, any of the loads, etc. So this is just going to be generic advice.

The first thing you want to do is strip the topsoil to remove all organic matter down to inorganic materials that could be used as a base. Depending on the type of soil that you have on that site, you may wish to go deeper and replace soils that are not suitable with those that can be compacted. Whether the replacement is aggregate, sand or something else is up to you. This is then compacted thoroughly and forms are built on top of that. The form tops need to be at whatever elevation is appropriate for the design, the bottoms need to be sitting on the prepared subbase and ideally are a few inches lower than the finish grade needs to be when you're done. The base of the poured concrete needs to be level, the top can either be level or have a slight slope to allow for water drainage. After the concrete is poured, cured and the forms are stripped, then you can regrade the area around it to bring the finish grade back to the correct elevation.

If you have soil that is prone to movement from either varying moisture content or frost, then you want to extend the slab deeper, perhaps as deep as below the frost line in that area.

I don't particularly like that column I see in the background, I bet if I were to look at that site in person I'd find quite a number of things that are not done correctly.

[id10t]

Hell I even did a better job than that adding a lower step to my front door area of the house. I even managed to get a semi-circle shape on the outside.

Either the contractor screwed up and sent out two new guys to do it, or your contractor is more of an id10t than I am.

And whoever delivered the concrete probably drove away in the big truck laughing his ass off.

[craigster59]

I see a jackhammer rental in your future.....

[DaveE]

Was that a REAL contractor or a "my buddy does this on the side" contractor? Wow.


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[Bugsinrugs]

Looks like concrete vomit.

[masraum]

I don't know the right way to do it, but I definitely know the way that you don't do it, and that's what that is. Wow, that's not even half-assed. That aspires to be half-assed after many more years of learning and experience.

[HardDrive]

Holy sheep dung. That is some stunning incompetence right there....

[Jays72T]

Originally Posted by craigster59

I see a jackhammer rental in your future.....

Somebody's future for sure....


No word yet.

[javadog]

You really need to consider firing this guy. I have no idea what else he's done, but there's absolutely no excuse for that concrete pour.

[scottmandue]

Hold my beer while I pour this concrete!

I'm pretty handy with plumbing, electrical, and carpentry... know nothing about concrete (other than helping my dad pour the driveway at our house when I was a teen) but I have been on hundreds of job sites and know what a concrete pour is supposed to look like... and that is not it.

[Superman]

What javadog said. No organic material underneath. The slab will be only as good as its sub-base. I'd bet there is no reinforcing in there, and it's on a slope. It will soon crack or slide, or both.

Elevation of the top of the slap should meet spec, if there is a 'plan' for the steps, which I question here. If not, then this project will fail at or before completion.

[Skytrooper]

ew, damn that's bad work. That will slide and shift with the seasons. The last concrete I did was the floor in my extra garage. I did the whole job in 2002 and there still isn't a crack or any issue...and I am here in the northeast.

[look 171]

I wouldn't have done it that way but I msut ask, what's going on top of that lil' pad? It just maybe fine for its intended purpose and cost associated with the job. Maybe its just a pad for a couple of trashcans?

[crb07]

The post holding up the deck, I assume it is the deck, should be up a bit higher. Maybe the picture is distorting the elevation, but, it is better to have the wood above the ground and hopefully not sitting in water.

[svandamme]

That's exactly how i would do it.

But i'm no contractor, and i know for fact that i can't build anything level to save my own life.

[rfuerst911sc]

I would hope the post in the background has a diving board attached to it , and that the " contractor " is going to take a nosedive onto that slab he poured !!! Did you really pay someone to perform that pour ???

[Jays72T]

Some funny posts, thanks for making me laugh about it and thanks for the help.

Contractor has not contacted me about it so no info yet but know he subbed it out.

The pad is for some stairs to come off the deck, here are some more pics.