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Nobody's perfect, but some builders are more imperfect than others. A veteran troubleshooter describes some memorable on-the-job mistakes.
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Forming and pouring four 2,500-square-foot houses is all in a day's work for this tract builder.
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Q. I need to pour a thickened-edge slab foundation for a two-story garage apartment across a recently dug 2-foot-wide utility trench. The backfill over the trench has subsided, and I'm concerned that the foundation may sag and crack at that point. Can I add rebar to the slab to span this area, or...
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Q. I have a client who wants me to build a 30x40-foot unheated barn-garage with a slab floor. The area where the building will sit is very flat, with no lower terrain nearby, so it's not feasible to build a typical 4-foot stem wall with a daylight drain. Frost depth is 48 inches around here...
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Q. What's the right type of mesh to use in a mud-bed tile floor? Should I use a self-furring lath (like the type used in stucco work) so that it centers itself in the mud?
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Pneumatically applied concrete isn't just for big commercial projects. A specialty concrete contractor describes the process and explains how it can save time and effort for home builders
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Q. We are building a new home on a slab foundation that is already poured. The customer uses a wheelchair and wants a curbless shower in a bathroom with a tiled floor. Is it possible to keep the bathroom floor level with the finish floors in the other roo
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Q. We need to pour a 24x24-foot concrete slab for an attached garage next to a precast foundation. The precast walls are 9 feet and 4 feet tall (see photo). Unfortunately, the trench overdig is 7 feet deep and as much as 4 feet wide in some places. We would prefer to avoid backfilling and tamping...
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Q. What's the best way to vapor-seal a basement slab before tiling over it?
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Q. How should a garage slab be sloped for drainage toward the overhead door? At 1/4 inch per foot on a 24x26-foot foundation, the height difference from front to back would be more than 6 inches. Do I need to grade the sand and gravel sub-base at the same slope so the slab can have a uniform 4-inch...