is this garage base laid right?

lukem · 1 Mar 2009

my eldery mother has decided to get a new garage n she needed a bigger base so she got a bilder into lay it n i saw it a week later. it doesnt look like it would support a car too me its very loose and can b easily dug away wih a peice of wood. is this normal? the builder said he has a sealer to go on top after garage is built but still doesnt look right and my mum is panicked. theres some pictures i took of it in the folder would appreaciate n e help or advice

luke

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^woody^ · 1 Mar 2009

No amount of sealer is going to stop that surface wearing away in a short time. It is correct that sealer can be applied to some concrete floors to keep the dust down, but I suspect that the builder is spinning a yarn in this case

The concrete should have been tamped or trowelled to give a much harder, smoother, less granular surface.

If those pictures are indicative of the rest of the surface, then it is a substandard job and needs to be rectified before parting with any money.

noseall · 1 Mar 2009

Please, please, please luke, for the love of all things sacred do not type in TEXT SPEAK!

It's infuriating.

Is that floor supposed to be a finished concrete floor slab?

lukem · 1 Mar 2009

im sorry i try not to type in short hand but it sometimes sneaks into the conversation. it is supposed to be finished with the exception of the sealer hes putting on top which he said he will do after the people come to erect the garage. the darker bit is because he had to come back and add an extra 2 feet onto it because he had only made it 14 feet when she had asked for 16 feet. also its only around 2 inches deep should it be deeper? underneath it is the old smaller concrete base from the original garage i dont think they dug that up. gosh i would like to apologize im not very good at explaining things. thanx again for any help.

i thikn its supposed to be a slab, she asked for a base for a garage so i would assume its a slab.

hotrod · 1 Mar 2009

Hi luke, what your builder has done is woefully inadequate. The slab should be minimum 100mm (4") with an well compacted sub-base. It needs re-doing unfortunately. As for tamping and floating......

hth

Alastairreid · 1 Mar 2009

i dont know how they done that!!! but that aint no slab!! 2" deep. hope you havent paid them.
who is building the garage?
that rubbish will need lifted and done properly.

Thermo · 1 Mar 2009

waste of time effort and money that will break up in no time once a car goes over it. Do NOT pay any more money. Tell them your concerns and ask them what they will do about it.

wavetrain · 2 Mar 2009

Luke did he mix the concrete himself? If so, you have no idea of the proportion of cement he used.

The cement costs for concrete are a significant amount of the total cost, so cowboys will often reduce the amount in the mix to save money and also time as weak mixes of concrete are quicker and easier to work in the cement mixer.

Jasonb · 2 Mar 2009

Looks like hes laid a bit of screed over the top, cant see any coarse aggregate, also looks like it way laid as a dryish mix as you would screed

Jason

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is this garage base laid right?

hotrod

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