how do you get it so wrong?

Talkiet:

 

mattwnz: Did your builder form a proper rebate in the garage slab for the garage door, to drain outwards?

 

 

Speaks for itself. They built to the wrong level... That's a bit of 3x2 for scale.

 

Cheers - N

 

 

 

Wow, that is going to cause quite a big bump as you drive the car in. You have to wonder if they haven't done that sort of driveway pour before, because at the side of the door in the distance, they look to the got the clearance height right as per the building code. However it doesn't look like they have sloped the centre part upwards, so it is closer to the height of door rebate. Can't think of any solution apart from a re-pour. You don't want them putting a sloped layer over the top, as that would look bad, and will likely crack.

Just relooking at it, I can see that there is a concrete sill below the door rebate, that they have lined the drive up with. I am guessing that is a sill for the bricks, if this wasn't a garage door. But I don't think that sill should even be there. So I guessing that the driveway company may argue that they couldn't lay it over that, as potentailly it could crack along that line.

mattwnz:

 

Talkiet:

 

mattwnz: Did your builder form a proper rebate in the garage slab for the garage door, to drain outwards?

 

 

Speaks for itself. They built to the wrong level... That's a bit of 3x2 for scale.

 

Cheers - N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, that is going to cause quite a big bump as you drive the car in. You have to wonder if they haven't done that sort of driveway pour before, because at the side of the door in the distance, they look to the got the clearance height right as per the building code. However it doesn't look like they have sloped the centre part upwards, so it is closer to the height of door rebate. Can't think of any solution apart from a re-pour. You don't want them putting a sloped layer over the top, as that would look bad, and will likely crack.

 

Yep, it's a decent sized screwup... I have a pretty low car that might have issues with that bump as is... And yeah, a wedge on top will be so thin it'll crack immediately.

Also, guess who paid extra for the steel reinforcing? This guy.

I'm no expert but yeah, it looks like they are going to have to remove the section back to the first stress cut at least and re-pour.

In any case, he's said he'll get back to me in the morning after looking at it this evening or first thing tomorrow. I'm reserving all judgement until then. It ain't the end of the world and it is fixable...

Cheers - N

mattwnz:

 

 

 

Just relooking at it, I can see that there is a concrete sill below the door rebate, that they have lined the drive up with. I am guessing that is a sill for the bricks, if this wasn't a garage door. But I don't think that sill should even be there. So I guessing that the driveway company may argue that they couldn't lay it over that, as potentailly it could crack along that line.

 

yea, thats interesting isnt it. i cant see this being straight forward.

 I knew everything was going far too smoothly :-(

Cheers - N

Talkiet:

 

 

 

In any case, he's said he'll get back to me in the morning after looking at it this evening or first thing tomorrow. I'm reserving all judgement until then. It ain't the end of the world and it is fixable...

 

Cheers - N

 

 

 

Yes it is fixable and not the end of the world .  I have seen  far worse errors on building sites, and they aren't that rare. It is one reason I think building costs are higher than they should be , to cover the cost of muckups.

mattwnz:

 

Just relooking at it, I can see that there is a concrete sill below the door rebate, that they have lined the drive up with. I am guessing that is a sill for the bricks, if this wasn't a garage door. But I don't think that sill should even be there. So I guessing that the driveway company may argue that they couldn't lay it over that, as potentailly it could crack along that line.

 

My current house (15 years old) has exactly the same profile of foundation as is pictured here (ie. there's a 'sill' that the first course of bricks would go onto)... In my current house the tarmac is laid on top of that up to the base level of the small lip... I think that is at least intuitively correct..

Cheers - N

Talkiet:

 

mattwnz:

 

Just relooking at it, I can see that there is a concrete sill below the door rebate, that they have lined the drive up with. I am guessing that is a sill for the bricks, if this wasn't a garage door. But I don't think that sill should even be there. So I guessing that the driveway company may argue that they couldn't lay it over that, as potentailly it could crack along that line.

 

 

My current house (15 years old) has exactly the same profile of foundation as is pictured here (ie. there's a 'sill' that the first course of bricks would go onto)... In my current house the tarmac is laid on top of that up to the base level of the small lip... I think that is at least intuitively correct..

 

 

 

Cheers - N

 

Even in front of the garage? Apart from it not needing to be there, due to you not having bricks in front of the garage, it seems to be a bit of a waste of concrete. I am guessing the builders do that though so they don't need to create a recess in the formwork at the doors, which saves time. Or maybe they are using concrete blocks around the foundation , which also makes it difficult. But if it wasn't there, I don't think they would have made that error, as obviously they have just aligned the drive to it. Not seen that occur before, so it is a new one to me.

Have discussed with concrete guy and he _appears_ to have accepted responsibility although he's gone to some extent to not admit fault... His proposed repair strategy is acceptable (remove concrete out to the first expansion joints and rel-lay) so I have sent an email asking for

- Confirmation of no additional charge

- Confirmation the height transitions will be smoothed, not angles

- Confirmation that the colour and texture match will be extremely good

- Date of proposed repair

And finally, have stated that I expect the repair to be virtually indistinguishable from a single pour, with no damage to the concrete at the expansion joints. I've asked that he tell me up front now whether my expectation is unreasonable and if he flags that then I'll need to consider whether it's worth pushing for a better repair (replacement of entire driveway).

Still, this is the only real issue so far and I'm about a month out from possession, so overall, very happy.

Cheers - N

 Didn't they wonder how you were supposed to drive up into the garage?

As it looks like normal grey concrete with an exposed aggregate on top, I would doubt you would be able to tell it is a different pour. Over a long period of time it all usually weathers to the same colour to anyway, unless they use a different mix..

My house is complete, I have the council Certificate of Compliance, Insurance is done, a Valuation that keeps the bank happy and the final payment for the building company is sitting in my account right now waiting for me to pay them on Tuesday when I take possession.

It's pretty exciting but would be better if the first job wasn't diamond grinding and epoxying the garage floor - I can't even really start to move in until after that's done and set...

Roll on Tuesday!

Cheers  - N

ps. The smart home stuff will go in after I am in there. Most lights, heaps of sensors, motorised curtains, blinds, projector screen, projector lift etc. Lots of toys :-)

The concrete driveway was repaired, to a good (but not totally perfect) standard, and I have to say the contractor did not impress me in their handling of the situation. They tried to dodge responsibility, push some cost back onto me and also made problems for the other contractors on site. It's not bad enough to publicly name and shame, but it would be bad enough to mention if I knew anyone else building a home in the Rolleston area.

The final result is pretty good though.

The repair strategy was a total excavation of concrete and reinforcing back to the first expansion cut - so it shouldn't be weakened in any meaningful way.

Cheers - N