WWMD: Contractor poured garage foundation too close to house. (Note: Fuck!)

"Never try." -Homer Simpson


We just had our the concrete pad under our old garage demolished, removed, and "replaced" with a new concrete pour.

Local code requires new pours to be 6" above grade, with a 5 foot long concrete ramp allowing entrance to the garage.

The cement crew misunderstood the plans/purchase-order supplied by the garage company because the garage company's drawing was vague and incomplete, it turns out. They put the new pour 4 feet too close to the house. It was supposed to be 11 feet back (the max available on our lot) from the house, but it's only 7 feet back. There's also a conspicuous 4 foot gap behind the foundation, which is not exactly space we'll use.

See attached not-to-scale digital scribblings.

I'm pretty bullshit. The garage will be right in your face the second you walk about the back door, and it will be difficult/impossible to park a car in the spot on the left side.

I hate to be a dick about stuff like this, especially when the only way to get the foundation 4 feet back (where it should be) is to demolish it and start again. But, I think the current setup is pretty fucked, and I think it will look fucked to anyone thinking of buying the house in the future. Not to mention the utility of the 2nd parking spot in this 2 car garage is now questionable.

Am I out of line telling them to tear it up and do it right? This garage is costing us about $13,000. Not exactly chump change. :mad:

I can't help, but I love the diagram. Hope you sort it out :)

edg

No...make them do it again.

Didn't you pay him to do the job right? I say, better to "be a dick now, than get dicked in the future". What happens when you go to sell the house, and you can't get a C.O. because of this? Try going back to the contractor then. Hardyhar!
Get the job done right, or sue. There are quite a few Utard lawyer maggots who, I'm sure, would be willing to help you out.

No your not out of line.

Its a big miss. Why was no one called on this untill the foundation is poured? Should have been obvious when the frames wentdown before the pour.

If the same contracter is doing the whole job (Building the
Garage) you have some leverage.

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Originally Posted by irul&ublo

No...make them do it again.

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Agreed. You're gonna have a fight on your hands but you are owed a correct pour. Good luck!

Is there any way they can pour additional concrete to make up the 4 feet on the back edge?

You're going to have to be a dick and this is likely going to be a huge pain in your ass. Sucks.

You hired a contractor to do the garage, they fucked up so they should fix it. You are not out of line at all, a contractor should know how to pour a foundation/slab.

knock down the house and move it four feet the other way. problem solved.


yeah, i've got nothing--make 'em do it again, you didn't pay for it to be done this way.

Is the Ramp 4' ? And the actual start of the Garage 11' from the back of your house? Cuz well?

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Originally Posted by The AD

Is there any way they can pour additional concrete to make up the 4 feet on the back edge?

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1) Could, but it's not likely to meet code
2) Also doesn't solve problem of the first 4 feet being too close to the house -- very difficult to cut that out cleanly.

Hopefully you have not paid them yet, thats your leverage. And if its not up to code you should'nt. DId the contractor pull the permit for you? How would it pass inspection? HIs problem.

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Originally Posted by slim

You're going to have to be a dick and this is likely going to be a huge pain in your ass. Sucks.

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From past experience this is most likely true. Not only a dick, but a continually nagging dick.

It sucks, can be a bitch but they screwed up and if it is not to code, they get to do it again, per your request and if that does not work, get the building inspector.

My parents just had a similar thing happen to their new house on the landscape side and the now have all new GREEN grass, and they pool piping is now down the proper 6" instead of the 2" the damn idiots originally put the piping. New trees too!


Commence phone call to contractor.

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Originally Posted by phUnk

The cement crew misunderstood the plans/purchase-order supplied by the garage company because the garage company's drawing was vague and incomplete, it turns out.

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Let these two sort it out- it's their problem, not yours. You paid $$$ for the correct job, not a half-assed one that you could've done yourself thank you very much. ;)

Dude, make them do it right, you paid for it(hopefully not "in full" yet)

Be a dick about it if you have to (Just pretend it's Blurred's Concrete Service, LLC.)

Tell the contractor they fucked the pooch on this and you want it totally replaced. Be a dick, they will balk but you have their money. Demand a complete removal and replacement and bring them to the barganing table. You have the concrete, and you have their money, they did not deliver what was promised, so they need to do what it takes to make it right. Odds are they will be willing to sawcut and demo the ramp and extra 4' and pour you a new ramp and complete the 4' gap behind the existing slab. If they offer this, make sure they drill and epoxy dowels in the connection.

DO NOT PAY THEM UNTIL YOU ARE HAPPY.

As an electrical consultant I see fucked up stuff all the time, any time I see something wrong I make them do it over again. If the wrong product is installed and can not easily be removed I make sure the client gets a credit for the fuck up. I've seen architects tell the contractor to jack hammer out huge concrete fuckups. Sounds like your contractor fucked up. If it was spelled out on a drawing then they should rip it out and do it again. If you can live with it, try to get the pour for free.

Were you replacing the old slab in the same place, and was it perfectly clear to the contractor?

If so, make them tear it up. Shoddy work is shoddy work, you shouldn't have to live with it because they have to spend more money.

AD is right, nag the shit out of them, and document everything from now on. Send out a fax immediately after each conversation.

Just keep calling. And definitely don't feel bad about getting on them. This is the way construction works; people try to get away with as much as possible.

Don't settle for a half ass fix on this. Demand that they demo and replace the whole damn thing.

If my father's company had fucked up a pour on a freeway bridge, CalTrans would have forced him to do the same thing. Sure he would have eaten it in the shorts, but that's part of being a contractor. There's risk involved in every job. It's part of the game. It's their fault and so they should pay the price, not you.

If you have to sue him, make sure you include a demand for attorneys' fees!;)

Thanks everyone.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I'm all for making them tear it out but on the other hand, if the plans were vague, the contractor could argue that the slab was poured correctly just not where you wanted it because you were not clear about the location. That said I would fight to have it replaced and if you need to compromise then have them pour the additional 4 feet (that should not be a code problem for a slab on grade) and have him SAW CUT the front edge 4 feet back and then jackhammer out and remove it.

Do not accept the current slab. Force them to fix it.

Is it just a slab or is this an actual foundatyion?

If it's just a a slab perhaps they can add the four feet on to the back whcih would allow you to push the garage back without having to rip up the whole slab. You also gain a bit of paved space in front of the garge which can be good or bad.

First, did you hire a general contractor to do the whole job? If so, they are the ones you have to lean on to make it right - They have some responsibility to review the work/do quality control, coordinate subs, and they hold the $ on thier subs, etc

However, if YOU are the general contractor, and you are paying these subs directly, you still should expect it to be made right, but you also need to take some of the responsibility for this fuckup - You would been responsible to supervise and coordinate the work

Otherwise, what DJSapp said

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Originally Posted by WWCD

...and document everything from now on. Send out a fax immediately after each conversation.

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This is very important. Don't let them screw you over on some minor detail because you didn't have documentation of it.

Tell them to just rip the back foundation wall out and extend it and make the garage company pay for the extra materials. That gives you a bigger garage.

It's a win-win.


Make sure the building department will sign off on it.

Oh yeah, and enroll in an evasive driving tactics course on parking in your garage without hitting your house.

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

1) Could, but it's not likely to meet code
2) Also doesn't solve problem of the first 4 feet being too close to the house -- very difficult to cut that out cleanly.

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Nah, both can be done easily. May require drilling and installing rebar or bolts in the rear to tie the slab and pouring a second footing on the front but both can be done and both should be within code. Leaves you with a seam in the garage, though - can you live with that?

Of course a real man would have poured his own slab...

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Originally Posted by grrrr

Nah, both can be done easily. May require drilling and installing rebar or bolts in the rear to tie the slab and pouring a second footing on the front but both can be done and both should be within code. Leaves you with a seam in the garage, though - can you live with that?

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Tell them to get one of these and remove the ramp + 4'

http://www.masonry-saw.com/graphics/...d_c_cc2500.jpg

drill and expoy these into the slab

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/images/ppcl08f1.jpg

pour the rest of your concrete and tell them they should be happy they're not ripping the whole thing out. PM me if you have questions, I've done a lot of this for the city of LA

Technically it is just a slab, not a true foundation. Sorry for my confusion.

We have already paid about half the money (on a credit card) to "Generic Shed Company" for lack of a better name. They hire the cement guys and the cement guys work off of the plans that GSC provides them.

If they dug their heels in and really wanted to play "Fuck You" I guess we could always get Visa to back us up until we were satisfied. That was the only reason we put the deposit on a card instead of cash, honestly.

It sounds like I would be OK with a compromise of chopping the front part of the slab off, pouring an additional 4 feet of slab in the rear (heh,) and then following going the drill & epoxy route, assuming that would be up to code.

I can't wait until they concede and schedule it to all be done in 2008.

Being a homeowner is sick.

Yikes! Not fun.

The great thing is that now you have a reason to be pissed off and act like an ass pretty much whenever you want until the job is done - and probably a few months after.

It's called a monoslab when the footing, stem wall, and slab are all poured at the same time.

Sheeeat, why didn't you say so?

Extend slab in back, set left side door back 4 feet so you can negotiate in and out easily. Pick up four extra feet on right side. I'd have them put the roof over the left side though, to add a quaint appeal for resale value, though.

And I will be by to bless it with a PM Gear sticker next time I'm in town.

Fuck this talk shit. Hire someone to break somekneecaps.

if its up to code etc as is but just in the wrong spot, one compromise could be to SAW CUT the back stemwall out and pour it again 4ft back essentially giving you a 4ft bigger garage (which would only affect the count on everything built on it; lumber, trusses/rafters, siding, roofing etc) but you'd come away with more gear space and a deeper rightside parking stall which would ease the entry (heh) on the left... & if it stays as is you could consider a breezeway connect to the house...?
yeah, shame no one caught it when it was formed
edit: hmmm just read page2.... good luck and what splat said

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Originally Posted by phUnk

I hate to be a dick about stuff like this,

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Expecting to get what you paid for is not being a dick.

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Am I out of line telling them to tear it up and do it right? :mad:

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No, not out of line at all. I haven't read the other responses yet, but if the contractor screwed up, he should make it right. After reading your description, I think he should tear it out and repour it.

I have a small business and do contract work from time to time. I have a reputation for getting it right the first time and always giving the customer exactly what they want. I may sound like a hard ass when I say that you should expect exactly what you paid for and nothing less, but I have deal with the fallout from guys like you are dealing with. It's not that hard. If you can't read a blueprint and follow instructions, you have no business being a contractor.

Talk to the owner, get what you paid for. It's not being a hard ass, it's expecting them to do what they said they would do.

phUnk it seems to me that you are in the right. If my company had fucked this up we would fix it witout question, but we may be the exception to the rule. My .02, go for the complete new slab with the doweled on compromise as the back up. It is a good way to go with the hand you have been dealt, assuming that it is code compliant. If you let them go with the doweled slab, it may eliminate the 2008 scenario.

Good luck man. Sorry about it, that sucks, but the existing situation as detailed is simply unacceptable.

That sucks man.

Just curious... how come you didn't notice this when they were setting the forms up to pour the slab? Something like, "Hey fucksticks... wrong spot."

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Originally Posted by MonkeyMan

That sucks man.

Just curious... how come you didn't notice this when they were setting the forms up to pour the slab? Something like, "Hey fucksticks... wrong spot."

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I hung around in the morning to answer any questions the foreman had, but then I had to go to work.

Stupid work.

If they're being giant cocks be sure to point out that you put the deposit on the Visa card and you'll fight to get it back. Schedule another company to come by for an estimate on the garage when your talking to giant shed inc. about how to fic it.