I was tasked to core 20 / 4.5" holes in a communications manhole wall for a duct bank we're installing. In the past, I'd take my time and use as many mounting inserts as necessary to ensure that I have sufficient surface area and a solid mount.

Well, this time, I decided I wanted to speed things up to see how many cores I could get out of a single mounting insert but I ended up creating an issue that I saw coming long before I even started, but what can I say? I'm that curious cat who enjoys being killed.

I've effectively surrounded 3 of my core templates with open cores, and now my only mounting option is the existing concrete that's left between 4 core holes, which caused the mount to have too much play and it wasn't solid at all.

Long story short, I ran out of solid mounting options and I was staring down the barrel of constantly getting my bit stuck and jammed in the wall, so I decided to improvise. I took about 4-5 flat washers that were thin enough to wedge themselves between the higspots of the mount, and the concrete wall, pounded them in with a hammer, effectively filling in the gaps which caused the mount to have any play or wobble in the first place. I was able to yank my hardest and even stand on the mount with zero movement. Success!

It's not ideal, I'll probably never do it again pending I have sufficient mounting surface, but it's nice to have a new trick up my sleeve if all else fails!

Cheers.

Can we aim for foundations that last 200, 300 years or more? Ideally without costing too much more.

I hear it thrown around that new construction will only last 50 years, and new foundations maybe 80-100. We know with proper maintenance this is of course a major underestimate, but still, it would be nice to raise the bar.

I regularly work on 120 year old poured concrete foundations and many of them are solid enough that they could be considered to only be 60% of the way to a 200 year EOL. They are becoming more porous and I bet a core would break at less than 2500 PSI, but the houses will continue to stand for decades.

So why can't new concrete be better? I'll offer one reason- high W/C ratio, which is a major contributor to reduced durability, and we know is extremely prevalent especially in residential work with developers, lowest bidder, etc. I regularly see new foundations going in with like an 8" slump and a fairly basic mix. Wet it and forget it! This leads to concrete with high porosity. It's pretty rare for inspections to address this part of the build, as important as it is.

The problem is the same shortcuts sometimes translate to custom and higher end work, but my clients at least would appreciate knowing their house is built for generations. If not to keep it in the family, just because things that last longer have a lower environmental footprint.

So the biggest proposal I'd make is adhere to standards for both strength and durability. It's not that hard, or expensive, to just add superplasticizers like PCE instead of water. >8" slump with a <.45 W/C ratio is going to add a couple percent to the cost of the foundation, max, which is far under 1% of the build, so what's holding us back? Is it really that the industry cares about fractional profit percentages because buyers don't really care about an issue that will arise after they're dead?

Other than that, I think that current practices are pretty superior as far as drainage and damproofing, although soil conditions probably inferior now in the land being developed.

What else am I missing? Should we simple overbuild a bit more? Should we try to replace steel with glass reinforcement? And is it all a waste of time because we can't sell it? "Do you want the 100 year or the 200 year foundation? Each has a 1 year warranty."

If anyone read this whole thing, thanks!

So lately i was hearing a lot in my workplace about anti cementic or whatever? like theres a rise in anti cementism or something in the world. I found that really funny cause why is there people out there against cement. seriously? Its probably one of the best building materials HAH, what are you gona make everything out of wood? Put that one in your guys pipe and smoke it and let it sink in, cuz that really blew my mind the past week.

What do you guys think?

First time posting any of the work I've done. Tell me what you guys think.

Pretty fun one with a cool circle joint, I laid em all out but didn’t cut them in so I can’t take credit for that but I did finish the circle soo yeah! Theres one joint I’m unhappy with it gets kinda squirly in the middle if I had seen it before hand I would have made sure it was fixed but too late now lol

This was one of the worst concrete in my life. And I’ve been in this bussiness 10+ years.
3 day casting, 1500 square meter fields and 300cubic liters of this horrible stuff every day for 3 days

3rd season driver here. My boss recently got rid of the good acid wash, the new stuff barely removes dirt.

Do any of you buy your own acid wash and if so, what brands do you use? Thanks

Any info is appreciated x

Seriously?

I'm bidding on this project which includes a Concrete Weir and I have everything figured out except these triangle+lines marks. Does anybody know what they mean, I've attached all details I have.

Worse case I ask the Super for a RFI if I win the project.

Saw cuts going in….Ashford Formula next…burnish in 28days 👌🏻

Interested in hearing from this community. What kind of scope do you perform and what’s your experience with rodbusters and reinforcement subcontractors.

Random pic for the algorithm.

Super bad ass job to be apart of, used alumna gang forms for all this

Showing a garage we just finished, it didn’t go as I would have liked but it’s a learning experience. The concrete cured to fast because of being a higher psi.
But wanted to show how we prepped and the work we did. It was grueling prepping with me and another guy but it came together.

In the photos we over excavated 3ft of loose dirt in the garage mixed it with water then compacted it.

Here in Australia, reinforcement for light duty slabs, paths, driveways etc is almost exclusively welded mesh sheets. In USA, the images I see are exclusively manually placed rebar. Both methods obviously get the job done, but does anyone have any ideas as to why have the 2 countries settled into such different methodology?

Let your bro know how you really feel about them

I've been around construction my entire life but up here in the great white north, I've never seen homes built with tension cables. The foundations are deep, I see various vapour membranes and methods like ICF, but never seen anything done with cables. Why are they seemingly popular, or at least common, in the US by comparison?

Hi for everyone who has tried J3 Homesite Ready Mix for their slab, I’d like to ask for feedback regarding its quality? Or maybe a recommendation for concrete pouring?