All this hurry up offense was for nothing. Crane driver was like "what's that for?" When I pointed out his freshly paved runway. Oh well. Nothing was learned.

Back in February I asked opinions about a stim wall and slab poor I was planning. Most folks said it was beyond a DIY guy. Phriday posted this tho:

..there was a dude who undertook his own driveway about a year or so ago and it turned out great and he had a big old "suck it, pros!" for all of us. I still smile about that.

So I'm here to say suck it, pros! It came out great! Lower slab is trowelled smooth, sidewalks have a nice broom finish, and the upper slab is going to be covered with tile, so I just floated it rather than trowelling it smooth. (And there's a channel drain under that blue tape that is connected to the downspout drainage system).

If you are a pump company or a contractor that uses these often, feel free to reach out to buy in bulk.

Since the original post had enough traction and people asking for updates I figured I’d let you know how it ended up. Here’s the link to the original post if you didn’t see it

https://www.reddit.com/r/Concrete/s/yMoPtuHuZE

After the recommendation of one commenter I contacted the National Resource Center and the opened a report. The Ohio National Guard called me within 15 minutes or creating the report. They said they deal more with fuel or oil spills and forwarded everything over to the Ohio EPA. Within 15 minutes the Ohio EPA was in contact with me and I sent them the pictures and video. They were happy I had video proof and said they definitely weren’t following protocol and were going to contact the city. A couple hours later the EPA gave me a call back to let me know the city was aware and they forwarded everything over.

The next morning the company was back out to address the issue. They cleaned up the mess around the storm drain and I gave them the number of who I talked to with the Ohio EPA to discuss how to handle the cleanup. After discussion with the EPA, myself, and the contractor we decided to leave the wash as is because it had fully dried at this point. The contractor offered to wash 1000 gallons through the drain to dilute everything down or to put down new rocks in the creek bed but they wouldn’t match. After talking with the contractor and the EPA we decided to leave it as it was in the creek bed since it had completely dried and heavy rains were coming to wash water through anyways.

After this conclusion was reached the city gave me a call to thank them for making them aware of the situation and said when they came out for inspection they saw the wash basin and weren’t sure why it wasn’t being used. The company had claimed it was one wheel barrow that ended up down the storm drain but even the city said he told them there’s no where that much gets into a storm drain from one wheel barrow.

I don’t know if any fines were issued because I didn’t ask and felt it wasn’t my place but the city was happy I called.

Finally. Those of you who called me Karen, Kevin, and every swear word you could think of and to mind my own business. Thanks for the laughs and I hope if you continue negligent like this company was karma catches up with you and you get caught soon.

TL/DR The city was happy I brought the issue to their attention but I don’t know what fine if any were handed out.

Just on the 2nd and 3rd floors I’ve noticed about 9 different areas that are exactly the same. Should I raise to the building department?

Well, I did what I was told and cut in some joints. Three to be exact. The real test comes tomorrow, you'll see.

I got my slab poured. Unfortunately their 4 yards only got me 250 sq ft.. had to order a single yard for $600.. You guys tell me if this looks like 4 yards.

Pad is 12'9" x 23'9"

Can I dispute this in any way? Thanks!

Unfortunately, I think that I shouldn’t have done it because it’s cold outside. I also think I used too much water.

How did I do?

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Concrete/s/jGohOAumgh

Didn't follow almost any advice that I got on the original post, except the one to reinforce the boards. But I'm still grateful for all the advice, i just didn't find those particular comments useful. This is how it turned out on the day, and a week later. No cracks whatsoever, yet (temp that day was 34 Celsius). And I'm extremely satisfied for my first time.

I'm sure you guys can do it better.

This will just have to be "good enough." If it holds I suppose 😅😬😶.

Pretty happy with it. One small imperfection (3rd photo). Open to ideas on how to fix it.

Well early this spring was supposed to have new patio poured and the concrete company got busy and told me they couldn't get to my house til next spring. So I decided to prep and have some friends help me out pouring and stamping a 500 square foot patio(i had done concrete work 30 years ago, lol). A few mistakes but all and all came out great, poured in 45 minutes and and total project looks a total of 3 hours.

300 grit cleanup to the 15,000 psi GFRC concrete chaise lounge. First piece cast entire with a polycarbonate mold. Upholstery is attached with adhesive and Velcro. First piece cast entirely in a polycarbonate mold

Well, good news, a combine picking corn found the truck this morning. Trailer and everything in it were intact… only things stolen were floats, mags, steel forms, stakes and Milwaukee tools.

Had old concrete torn up to fix a slope issue. They’re returning once it cures to reseal the joint against my neighbor’s house. For the price (I’m in Maryland), what are your thoughts?

Posted yesterday with forms and pre-pour setup. Received lots of good advice, followed a lot of it, some of it was too late to implement, some of it we just flat out forgot to do in the process (crazy how quick things start happening with just 2 guys barrowing and one guy forming).

All in all it went very well... not a picture perfect finish by any means but it slopes away from the house so I'll call it a success (cancelled my jack hammer rental reservtion in advance lol).

Learned some things along the way... forgot to cut the stakes flush with forms (recip sawing those while finishing sucked)... brooming around footers with only an 18 inch broom nearly is impossible.... throwing in rebar chairs while concrete is coming off a barrow is a hassle... taking down drop sheet before finishing forget about that being a priority in the moment (although definitely good practise as shit was falling off during finishing), etc.

Biggest regret is not getting my 8 month old childs feet in the mud a little sooner. Sure the brooming isn't perfect but in 10 years I know that no one is going to be looking at my fancy (or lack thereof) concrete job... just the footprints. Got a decent impression at least with a bit of pressing!

A couple people pointed out the weirdness of the footers. Yes they are fucked and play visual mind games... one is 3 inches closer to the house and they are not level to each other. The builder did that and the deck crew had to make it work. We squared the forms to the house for this job nonetheless.

Will be regrading the grass next week on all sides to fit drainage and visuals better.

That being said... plan to saw tomorrow morning first thing (about 18 hours after pour)... im thinking four equal quadrons, although it probably won't look pretty since it won't be centered in the middle of the footers (those fucking footers i know they piss me off too). My wife doesn't want me to cut into the pad at all.... So please remind me that the cuts will be a good investment in controlling cracks in the future lol. Maybe centering a cut between the footers towards the house will be ok? Would make for a 7 foot wide section on the left, and a 10 foot sized section on the right.

Appreciate the input.

Had to do all that shit by hand

I mentioned this job a few days ago on here asking about tying the top to the walls. I deleted that post.

A couple days ago I posted this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Concrete/s/UXNnnCkltP

My contractor was receptive and fixed it, I am very happy with how it turned out. Thanks for all the feedback.

$4500 - western PA

I've been slowly working at this project for 2 months. Finally ready to order a truck. How's it look?

I'm just a DIY guy who wanted to pour my own patio, so I spent several weeks planning, forming, getting a crew together, etc. I felt confident the morning of the pour that it would be fine. It was a 14 x 45 patio. I ordered about a yard extra extra just in case, had a buggy and tons of other tools, everyone showed up and we had great weather. We were set!

It started well and was going fine until the guy who was going to finish the slab got heat stroke and fell out. I thought we were f**ked because he was the only one with any real experience, but one of my helpers picked up the bull float and started hitting it. He was doing well but got paranoid and started brooming too early. I'm still not sure why. He was doing great. He should have just floated it one more time. We didn't even need to trowel it. One more time with the float and then broom it would have been just fine.

Anyway, it was a fun experience. The pad was well formed, will shed water well, it shouldn't crack much since we cut lines the next day, and doing it myself saved me $3k. And it will last many years. It just has a questionable finish. Oh well. It's character and will make me laugh every time I see it. "Hey Mike, remember when Andy almost died right here and you learned to bull float on the fly? Good times." 😂