I had a walkway done last weekend to bridge the gap between my driveway and front porch. It's just under 50 sq ft. There was loose pavers there before.
I've never seen a sidewalk that looked like this. There are no expansion joints between the walkway and the existing driveway, porch, and stucco. The job looks sloppy to me and I'm worried I may have selected the wrong contractor. He says it was done to code, but the Florida code I'm reading says that there should be construction joints.
Also, he says he used 1000 psi concrete. I can't find any evidence that concrete with a psi that low even exists. I don't see any mention of it at Home Depot or Google.
Is this work acceptable? Will I run into problems down the road? Am I better off ripping it out and redoing it?
I don’t know why you think someone here could predict the future of that slab or why you’d take a perfect strangers word on it and rip it out? Wouldn’t it make more sense just to leave it and see how many years use you get from it? What it’s joining up to doesn’t look like part of Buckingham palace so it’s appearance can’t be the issue and no one here knows if there’s rebar in there or not or the soil movement in your area. Yeah rip it out and do it over would be the thing I’d do, just for the fun of it.
By the way, you sound a lot like the guy that did the work for me. He offered to rip it out and do it "properly" this time for another $525. Blows my mind how some people can call themselves professionals, let alone get a license.
You're suggesting I leave it alone and see what happens. That's what I was hoping to do when I hired someone to begin with, but with the way it was done I now worry there could be a risk to the adjoining areas.
I am not a concrete guy , but have many years in the Stucco trade.
As for the sidewalk butting up against the Stucco substrate that is a NO , NO.
there needs to be a separation strip between the two. The Stucco should not be below the top of the sidewalk. Each item will move in a different direction & at different rates.
Thanks Clarence, I figured something along those lines.
Itrim, I'm not looking for someone to predict the future. Just wondering what might be typical in this type of situation. There is no rebar and no mesh in there. Just a 4 inch slab butt up against existing driveway, patio, and house. I know it's not the Buckingham palace, but the idea is to improve the property even if it's not already top notch...
I guess my main questions are really, would the lack of joints here be a red flag to an inspector? And is there any risk to the building, driveway, and patio?
The Red flag I see is that there is NO drainage exit for any moisture that may get behind the Stucco to Exit , also the termite bonding company may not like the bottom edge of the Stucco below the grade of the sidewalk.
The other areas where the stucco meet the sidewalk seem to be doing just fine and I guessing have been there for numerous years with no problems. If soil movement isn’t a big problem in your area joints may not be necessary or they can be scored in at any time if that’s where you want the slab to break. I think it looks great that he took the time to put a curve on that outside edge. Maybe a contractor skilled in concrete staining could do something to make it look all more uniform, I don’t know but I’d ask some.
As far as I know soil movement isn't an issue in my area, Southeast Florida. The other areas are fine, but I'm not sure how much impact the new slab will have on them.
I don't think the curve was a big deal. Just another piece of forming material with stakes. To be honest, while he was doing it, the curved part became badly deformed and he didn't do anything about it until I pointed it out. Also if you look in the last picture you can see the side isn't flush with the existing porch because the wood became angled out. It was too late for me to point it out when I noticed it. So that side isn't even perpendicular to the floor.
Easy guys let's keep the excitement down. Expansion joints are not for expansion, they are for control so if a crack start is will stop at the line or if the fill below fails and the slab sinks it will break at that line so less has to be fixed . Well both ends of this piece has a cold joint between old and new. that will serve the same purpose.
For a job like this you would not call the big construction company with a general contractor to look after it , so we find a contractor for that job. Normal stuff.
What most home owners don't understand is that they become the general contractor and they need to arm themselves with what needs to be done and how it should be done.
If the concrete guy had said the stucco should not be there, what should we do about it, what answer would he have got?
There is concrete behind that stucco and the little water that comes down behind the stucco will find it's way out.
This guy would have poured right up against the building, whether the stucco was there or not. I question whether that's the right way to do it though.
In my neighborhood there are tons of examples of the same job and all of them have some kind of separation at the driveway, patio, and house.
When the concrete is poured it's in a plastic state, and will shrink when it sets, the shrinkage will occur at one or both sides of the new concrete, and will more than likely not expand to the same dimension when it was in it's plastic state ,so no need to cut any joints.
There doesn't appear to be any expansion joints on the existing concrete. How is it holding up? I think it would look odd to have them only on this new piece.
The only thing I would be concerned about is the square inside corner. That is point where a crack is likely to form. You can make one cut from the inside corner to the outside corner at an angle or two square cuts from the corner out to relieve it.
4" is a normal thickness for a side walk.
Maybe expansion joint isn't the correct term. Construction joint? Basically, it looks funny to me that the new piece is poured right up against the existing piece without any sort of break. I would have expected a thin layer of material to be placed between the two until it sets so that there's no bond between new and old pieces.
There’s only one small little fact you haven’t taken into consideration, the trouble is it’s not a floor that plays into the structural integrity of the building in any way, it’s just a friggin cheap sidewalk repair. Maybe you should have a soil compression test done and then send some of the concrete to a materials testing laboratory if you think the installer searched all over town to find someone to sell him defective concrete with a totally alien psi, might be a conspiracy of federal proportions I’m thinking. Also are there any laws in Florida against strange people creeping over other people’s property taking pictures that you know of?
Maybe expansion joint isn't the correct term. Construction joint? Basically, it looks funny to me that the new piece is poured right up against the existing piece without any sort of break. I would have expected a thin layer of material to be placed between the two until it sets so that there's no bond between new and old pieces.
Personally I would want a bond between the two pieces so they stay at the same level. I am not a concrete contractor but I poured a fair amount of concrete sidewalks and pads. I would not have put a spacer in there.
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