The Home Ownership Thread

[Piobaire]

Yeah concrete only cracks do to the environment its in.

The #1 reason concrete cracks is because it shrinks as it cures.

 

[double00]

^ yeah managing cure rate is a thing, i've seen some of the local driveway guys keep that stuff wet for what seems like 3 days as it sets

 

[jcman311]

The #1 reason concrete cracks is because it shrinks as it cures.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I've heard that it usually means too much water was used in the mix.

 

[Numbernine]

The mix is critical. On big pours they sample every batch for testing when it arrives on site .

 

[imatlas]

I’ve seen dozens of them in open houses over the years and I’d say close to 100% have had cracks.

 

[Numbernine]

Concrete technology has changed a lot . When I was a pup, on big jobs like powerhouse turbine floors, they would cover with 2inches of sand and keep it soaked down for a couple of months. Now they use prestressed cable and floating decks with light weight concrete that has fibers instead of sand.

 

[Piobaire]

My wife knows way more about this **** than any of us given she's a certified PE and mainly designed and PM'ed huge transportation projects. I would ask her to confirm but that would hardly be manly.

Can confirm 9 though as she's told me stories about her CM rejecting whole truck loads of cement.

 

[jbarwick]

Woke up this morning to the inevitable. We had a tree next to the driveway that forked quite a ways up and one branch was over the driveway. Well it was now across the driveway and needed cut up but I did not have a chainsaw. Drove the Outback down our steep slope and ran to Lowe's for a chainsaw. Bought an electric 16" and came back to cut it up. This was my first time ever operating a chainsaw or in that case putting one together. Took about an hour to put it together then cut up the limb. The thickest parts were probably 18" maybe a little more.

Was actually pretty fun and I can see where clueless people would cut a limb without thinking about it and get knocked out due to the tension limbs can carry. A positive outcome is that I can use the logs as a barrier for another project I have been delaying.

My wife told her parents and my FIL said, "I left you my ax for just this reason!" I had a good laugh at that.

 

[Numbernine]

I learned about this stuff because if you've ever worked in an environment where a couple dozen guys are going at it with jackhammers all day long you gonna ask why the **** are they doin' that

 

[beargonefishing]

I bought some big scissor hedge trimmers once. They were very ******* sharp. After about 3 minutes of use I was like "**** this" and bought an electric hedge trimmer.

 

[double00]

if you've never seen Locke is an interesting concept drama about concrete, Tom Hardy stars.

 

[Numbernine]

if you've never seen Locke is an interesting concept drama about concrete, Tom Hardy stars.

I have and I found it fascinating. He did a similar thing in Dunkirk.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

What do you know, monthly maintenance just went up 13% and hit with a $5,000 assessment. Same time every year it seems.

 

[double00]

i sometimes think we should have found a unit in a downtown building rather than a suburban lot, reading the above helps that a little