We are building a new house in Gothenburg. When they were going to cast the concrete slab between the upper and lower floor, it was slightly too cold and windy, so instead of smoothing and finishing the surface nicely, the workers, in a bit of a panic, had to put on insulation so that the entire slab wouldn't freeze and crack. They didn't have enough insulation and had to patch the last part by using leftover polystyrene boards and some heavier polystyrene boards with cement boards on top. During the night, some of the insulation also blew off. Today, in my eyes, the surface doesn't look quite right. There are some pictures here:
http://www.cfd-online.com/Users/jola/Hus/Bilder/Fruset/
It's hard to show the level differences, but where the heavy boards were placed, large squares have sunken down a few millimeters. There are also lots of seams, depressions/holes, footprints, etc., in the concrete. Around the drains, it really doesn't look good, which is clearly visible in the pictures. The outer edge of the slab is also quite cracked, which is now mostly covered by base plates in most places and is mostly visible under the patio and balcony doors.
This is probably the first and only time I will build a house, and I have no experience to assess how bad this is and what demands I should make on the builders. What should be done to fix this? How bad do you think it looks in the pictures? I’d appreciate any advice!
Best regards,
Jonas
http://www.cfd-online.com/Users/jola/Hus/Bilder/Fruset/
It's hard to show the level differences, but where the heavy boards were placed, large squares have sunken down a few millimeters. There are also lots of seams, depressions/holes, footprints, etc., in the concrete. Around the drains, it really doesn't look good, which is clearly visible in the pictures. The outer edge of the slab is also quite cracked, which is now mostly covered by base plates in most places and is mostly visible under the patio and balcony doors.
This is probably the first and only time I will build a house, and I have no experience to assess how bad this is and what demands I should make on the builders. What should be done to fix this? How bad do you think it looks in the pictures? I’d appreciate any advice!
Best regards,
Jonas
Diversearbetare
· Göteborg
· 11 227 posts
Hey neighbor! 
It certainly looks uneven, but not worse than just sanding down the backs and maybe applying a leveling compound or putty.
It certainly looks uneven, but not worse than just sanding down the backs and maybe applying a leveling compound or putty.
Thomas59
Construction veteran
· Stockholms län
· 3 321 posts
Thomas59
Construction veteran
- Stockholms län
- 3,321 posts
The floor drain seemed to be deep and nice:S.
If you apply self-leveling compound/waterproofing there, you'll have problems with the drain collar.
Even without self-leveling compound, you won't get an approved connection with waterproofing, but maybe there shouldn't be any waterproofing?
My experience doesn't extend to casting slabs, so maybe it's okay, just not very nice?
Raising ring anyone?
If you apply self-leveling compound/waterproofing there, you'll have problems with the drain collar.
Even without self-leveling compound, you won't get an approved connection with waterproofing, but maybe there shouldn't be any waterproofing?
My experience doesn't extend to casting slabs, so maybe it's okay, just not very nice?
Raising ring anyone?
It was nice to hear that everyone seems to think it's not a problem to fix the surface of the joist, even if it looks a little uneven.
It's fun communicating with the neighbor through the forum, but now Johan has seen it live too d^_^b With putty and maybe sanding, I hope it will turn out well in the end.
Does anyone have a different opinion that it won't be a problem to fix the frozen joist?
It's fun communicating with the neighbor through the forum, but now Johan has seen it live too d^_^b With putty and maybe sanding, I hope it will turn out well in the end.
Does anyone have a different opinion that it won't be a problem to fix the frozen joist?
I'm not going to say anything about the floor drain, but the rest doesn't look worse than what my floor did.
However, the leveling compound failed there (probably too short a time between primer and compound) so I had to remove it again, meaning even more sanding, but I sanded and sanded and sanded...
There were some small holes afterwards as I applied leveling compound, max one cm in diameter and a few mm deep. After that, there were 4-5 layers of Byggmax floor paint. (the walls would be painted several times, so I didn't bother masking)
However, the leveling compound failed there (probably too short a time between primer and compound) so I had to remove it again, meaning even more sanding, but I sanded and sanded and sanded...
There were some small holes afterwards as I applied leveling compound, max one cm in diameter and a few mm deep. After that, there were 4-5 layers of Byggmax floor paint. (the walls would be painted several times, so I didn't bother masking)
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