Spent 2 hours fixing a slab because someone didn't wet the subgrade first

Saw a crew rush through a residential patio in Phoenix last week and now the whole thing's cracked down the middle, and I'm wondering how many of you have had to tear out work because the ground wasn't damp enough before you poured?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_stone23d ago

It's funny you mention that, I was just reading a thread the other day about a crew in Arizona who skipped the wetting step entirely and ended up with a slab that looked like a jigsaw puzzle a week later. It's crazy how something so simple can mess up your whole day.

linda30523d ago

Let's be real, pouring concrete in Arizona's dry heat those guys probably had plenty of other factors working against them like mix design or ground prep. Wetting the subgrade can actually cause more problems if you don't get it uniform, leading to soft spots and uneven settling. Lot of old-timers I've talked to swear by a dry, compacted base, and their slabs hold up fine for decades.