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Problems with new construction driveway

5K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  stadry 
#1 ·
Hi everyone, I just had a new house built in October of 2012 and i am having problems with my driveway. The garage is in the rear and the driveway is 80'x12'x4" before the turn into garage. The 80'X12' part has cracked in 4 1/2 places all the way to the bottom of the slab, i called the builder and they patched it up but it has opened again in all sections again. There are only two control joints in that span and they are only a 1/4 inch deep, also i just noticed in a picture before the driveway was poured that they didnt use any sub base material only on the sidewalks and approach, i guess required by the city. They used wire mesh as support. Also another concern on the part that turns into the garage they put the concrete all the way up to the garage and touching the house with no material in between for expansion, they just used rebar to attach it to the foundation. The driveway was poured after the house was finished in December. The garage also has alot of cracks but i just painted it black so i would not see them. The weird thing is the builder is trying to lay the blame on the cement supplier for a faulty mix, i see it as bad workmenship by them, what do you guys think. I really dont know what to do, this is my first house and i am worried the driveway is going to fail. My moms two other properties have no concrete problems, her house is over 30 years old with no cracks in garage or drive, even in a new 20'x10' concrete patio done a few years ago by fly by night contractors and no cracks. Her other property had a driveway done by a old man and his son and no cracks also 5 years ago, he wasnt even a business just knew how to do it. Thanks Derek Mcallen TX
 

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#4 ·
Please go back and add your location to your profile, go to Quick Links to edit.
Just need to know what state you in for better advice. from the concrete guys on here.
 
#6 ·
Give the concrete guys a chance to wake up or get back from work tonight.
I can tell you that was not built like any driveway I've ever seen in my area, but your local soil conditions are not going to be the same so different methods may have been called for there.
We would have used an expansion strip not attach it to the house. That slab moves up and down as the soil conditions change with the rain.
We do not even use wire mesh in a slab that thin. Just reinforced concrete.
I'm not a concrete finisher, just the guy that builds the building and over see's the sub's doing there thing.
 
#7 ·
Not enough control joints in the driveway and they are not even close to be deep enough. Around here, the joints are all sawed much deeper late the same day (as soon as it can be worked on without surface damage) after the pour or very early the next morning. - A crack parallel to and close to a "control joint" is a sure sign of and ineffective joint that is not deep enough to work, but that was a shallow tooled joint put in for appearance purposes only.

Probably not a concrete mix strength problem unless it was ordered too wet or water was added. Even 3000 psi (3" slump) could work. Standard here for a driveway is 4000 psi (3" slump), because that is lowest strength a good supplier will even deliver for a driveway for durability purposes and eliminate issues later.

Dick
 
#10 ·
Added water will lessen the quality and increase the quality/strength. Was there a place on the delivery ticket for the drivers to note if water was added on site? - That sounds like an invoice and not a delivery ticket and the supplier and the contractor would have the acyual individual delivery tickets with signatures and added notes.

Dick
 
#11 · (Edited)
your bldr's blowin' smoke up your ***,,, but, at least, he does have his sub's back,,, had the control jnts been cut at proper time AND depth, there'd be no random cracks - dick's exactly right :thumbsup: from what you post, there are not enough joints NOR are they in the correct places,,, i expect someone came back the next day on the way to another job OR after they work'd another job,,, by then its WAY too late to cut jnts.

same thing in the garage,,, painted or not, you'll eventually have trouble to the point YOU may have to replace the floor,,, why use wire mesh ? its only 4" thick,,, it MUST be installed @ the vert mid-point of the slab + / - 5% - that's .2",,, you think the conc jabonies even know how to measure .2" after tramping thru all the mud pulling up the mesh w/hooks ? why use tie bars ? no specifying authority recommends steel in a normal driveway slab,,, however, IT its used, they do specify 2" above AND below it - that makes your driveway 4 1/2" thick, NOT 4"

hopefully you haven't paid for the work,,, any dummy could've done this work - you're paying for good work so hold his ***** to the fire :eek: there's no acceptable repair other'n replacement imn-s-hfo :whistling2:

as conc never cures at any predictable rate, joints are diamond sawed when the conc dictates - NOT when the contractor chooses to do it :no: wtr running into the garage is atrocious,,, the garage slab is NEVER tied into the driveway, either :no:

no matter how you slice it ( pls excuse pun ! ), this is a p-p job :censored:
 
#12 ·
The joint shown in the photos was tooled during constriction for appearance or convenience and not meant to be effective in the direction of the shrinkage and cracks.

Wire is not bad if the contractor is very conscientious about managing the crew. It (the wire) is usually spaced too closely for goofs with big feet and not the ability to think. Rebar at 14" or so on center gives enough room for the guys to tip toe around and can be supported without sagging too much.

Dick
 
#15 ·
Call the ready-mix supplier and have one of their Quality Control guys come take a look. They should be able to educate you on some of the problems with the driveway. For one, they put in maybe 5% of the control joints that are needed to successully contain cracks.

As for the water, it doesn't look like you have gutters on the eaves, which would help immensly with that situation.........
 
#16 ·
a) Whoever built your driveway should have excavated deeper, then added-in a 4" deep crushed-stone base.

b) Your control joints should have been deeper and every 8'.

c) The redi-mix should have been 4000 p.s.i.

d) The wire-mesh really should not have been used unless your driveway was poured at a minimum of 5". (Too risky that the mesh will either I] sink too far too the ground to be effective as support, or II] rise too far to the surface where it could create a void via rust that opens up a crack or hole from underneath the surface over time.)

e) The rebar may create voids if it is within 2" or less of your finished-concrete-surface.

f) Some cracking is unavoidable, as all concrete does crack. Since your cracks go all the way through to the bottom, you (or your contractor or a new contractor,) should cut symmetric control joints on both ends of the cracked-area, rip-out the defect(s) and repour the area.

g) How much did you pay for the job or was it included in the purchase price of your home? You should contact your home-builder or the whoever poured your driveway about any warranty that may exist -- a warranty should be included provided you paid a standard / fair-market price for your materials and labor.

h) If you paid a low / discount / cheap / below-market rate for your concrete-driveway, you cannot expect the same results as if you had paid the fair-market-rate. Presently the national-average in 2013 for a new concrete driveway, including demolition of the old driveway, excavation, crushed-stone-base, and new concrete including warranty is about $9 per square foot , though you can get a lower rate if there is no demo or no excavation or a larger square-footage area of driveway to be poured, or if there is additional concrete work included with the driveway (i.e. sidewalks, steps, swimming-pool deck, garage, garage-floor, basement-floor, foundation, etc...) [All these factors will help to potentially lower the per-square-foot cost somewhat, but, remember, you get what you pay for, and usually the lowest price is usually NOT the lowest price in the end after you must make additional repairs or adjustments. Better to pay more to have the job done right the first time. The problem is most people usually go for the lowest price -- which usually ends up costing them more money in the end.
 
#17 ·
The price was included in the home and i paid about $3500 extra out of my money for the extra material needed for the extra cement because its a side driveway. The builder first told me me that driveways and garages dont have warranty only the house, but after complaining they came at put tamms patch on the cracks, they looked ugly and opened again in under a month. So i had them come back and try to cover up the patch areas with acid stain, thats another disaster, they tried spraying it with the clear coat canister and oversprayed everything and is not even and lots of drip marks. So i had a sit down with them yesterday and had the concrete guy on the phone in the office and questioned him about the no fill dirt under the slab and why there was on the approach and sidewalks, he said that its required by the state and that they never use any on the actual driveways because its virgin dirt and not needed and never has in 30 years, then i asked him about the control joints and he really didnt understand what they were for or just playing stupid because according to him and the cement supplier that went out to look at it the cracks are caused by air when its poured. That is the exact opposite of what i have been learning on why cracks happen. I told the builder on how the control joints were missing and they wrote it down. Later that day the concrete guy came out and said he was going to cut some more in with the machine, sand down the patch work over the cracks and restain the driveway with a smaller sprayer and a brush to make it even. I asked him about neutralizing the acid with baking soda and he was like no just need to rinse it off and let dry and spray with sealer. Asked about the control joints he seemed like he didnt understand what they were for even though he said he just did a 100 foot driveway with them spaced 20 feet apart the day before. Either they forgot to come back or they are just that stupid. When i moved it they had forgot to come back and seal the stamped patio and walkway and i was tracking in the powder stuff they put on it for color for a month into the house before i called and said how the hell do you clean this stuff off i cant get it off, the guy was ohh we forgot we will go seal it.
 
#18 ·
The sad part is my mom paid a father and son to pour a 50x10x4 driveway for $1500 at one of her properties, i thought that thing was going to fall apart since it was so cheap. 5 years later and i drove and parked a 12000 pound box truck on it and not one crack, there are some pit holes and since we moved out and nothing is parked on it a very slight hairline crack. That guy must of new hos stuff.
 
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