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A parking garage inspector in Atlanta made me check my mix water
Last Tuesday I was pouring a slab for a loading dock and this older guy who inspects garages for a living walks up. He said your crew is using the same water hose they used to clean the chute, that's how you get honeycomb on load-bearing columns. He showed me a photo from a job where they did exactly that and the core sample looked like Swiss cheese. I never even thought about what's sitting in those hoses after a washout. Has anyone else had a customer or inspector call out something you thought was standard practice?
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hugo2382mo ago
Man, inspectors love to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. That concrete mix has enough water in it already, a little extra from a hose ain't gonna turn your whole column into Swiss cheese. Plus, who's actually running the hose long enough to fill the forms with washout water? You're pouring a slab, not mixing soup. Real talk, if the mix is good and you vibe it right, a few drops of leftover chute water isn't the difference between a solid pour and a honeycomb mess. That old guy probably just wanted to feel important and show off his boring photo collection. I'd tell him thanks for the tip and keep it moving, cause half these garage inspectors just copy the same stuff they heard from the last guy.
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abby_robinson582mo ago
Aw man, I get where you're coming from but I gotta say, I've seen that extra water wreck a pour before. One time my crew was running behind and the finisher thought he'd speed things up with a hose, next thing we know the top of the slab was all dusty and weak. It ain't about a few drops, it's about people not knowing when to stop. I used to blow off inspectors too until one caught me doing the same thing and showed me the actual holes in a failed column. But yeah, some of them do just love hearing themselves talk, so I get the eye roll.
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