Poured Concrete Foundation Question???

[Zedder]

They are getting ready to pour our foundation walls, so I went over to the site today to check out a few of the other houses in the project that have already been poured. Most of them have at least one area where it appears that the concrete was not mixed properly and you can see the aggregate on the outside surface (the other side of the wall looks "normal"). I've attached a pic to show what I mean. Is this a problem? If so, can it be fixed? I have no building experience and appreciate any help that members can provide FWIW, the walls are 10 inches thick...

[427king]

I believe that is called "honeycombing" and it should be repaired or filled in with a coat of hydraulic cement ,THEN sealed with rubberized coating . Just went through the same thing.

[Zedder]

Thanks 427King...Like I said, I have no clue about this stuff, but just about every foundation I looked at today had at least one area like that. They do seal the foundations with some sort of tar-like stuff and then cover that with a membrane that looks like black "bubble wrap".

[Salvatore]

Not really a big deal. Sometimes that happens when the forms are a little loose in that area or the mixture does not get vibrated in that area as good. One thing about having a house built is that you see everything good and bad and alot of stuff doesn't matter but if you see it you get nervous. Good luck with the project, and try not to beat yourself up to bad. It will all work out. Sam

[iluv69s]

Hey Mark, I own a civil engineering firm and small construction co....I also helped build a college football stadium that was all poured concrete...this is very common..typical engineered structures are overdesigned and overbuilt just for such instances...if the void(s) are relatively small I would not worry about it..if they are large, i would definitely point them out to the contractor...We did fill the voids by hand at the stadium, but that was more of a cosmetic fix...at this point, filling the voids is going to add little structural value...just make sure that the area is sealed/waterproofed very well....but typically, it is just that the concrete was not vibrated well enough in that area...it's usually nothing to worry about!!

Congrats and Good Luck on the new house!!

P.S. are you putting in a basement access to store the Z'sss????
Max

also ...didn't you have a 67 cowl plenum a little while back?? did you sell it?? it was kinda rich for me right then, but are you interested in any trades/cash?? is there anything you need for your cars??

[Zedder]

Thanks guys...I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Yeah Sam, it's great to see it getting built, but there is no doubt that I will sweat some of the small stuff that I see! It doesn't help that I have no clue about construction

No Max, I couldn't swing anything larger than a 3 bay garage (and still feed my family) given the costs around here. Most houses on our street are in the Million $$ range and we actually have one of the largest lot at 65 x 115 ft! So I got a 20 x 20 garage with 12 foot ceilings that can accomodate 2 lifts in the future for 4 cars total and a smaller 9 x 20 ft separate bay for the tools, bikes, garden stuff etc. I've attached a pic for you to see the layout. It does have a walk out basement which we can use for a really nice family room in the future.

Yes, I sold the cowl plenum and just about all of my car related stuff to various members on the site. I only have a few things left that I will list in the next week or two. I am going in another direction with my car hobby, so I don't think I'll need too much garage space. Thanks again guys