I have an unhappy customer, I laid a concrete paving slab path for them in October 2011, at the time they loved it and it looked really good, if I can find a pic of it at finish I will up load. Well I had a call from them about a month ago saying the surface was coming away from the slabs, at first I thought maybe through some wear the riven surface was dulling down, When to have a look and it looked as it does in the pics. This was all sent to our supplier, who then forwarded it all to the manufacturer. To cut a long story short the rep from said manufacturer has said it is damage caused due to de-icing salt, which I do not agree with.
We have been offered 50% of the original purchase price back from the manufacturer as the slabs are two years old as a good will gesture! Again not happy!
Basically can I get a few opinions on what has caused the damage, as a side not the customers have another patio but 20 years old they do use salt on so they can get to the bins, that has no damage!
Apologies if thats too many pics, I will have to upload some of our other jobs!
Ouzel Landscapes - Garden Design and Landscape construction.
Serving; Milton Keynes, Bedford, Buckingham
and the surrounding areas.
Need to get Brucieboy on the case, he's the resident concrete expert.
Looks like salt damage as Tony says, salt melts the ice, concrete absorbs water (more than usual because salt is hygroscopic), water freezes and expands, slabs get damaged.
Yeah I sort of cocked up on the title! I think I pasted a link and didnt realise!
They are burford duo by pavestone I think, maybe another pavestone product.
Tony this Job was in Luton, but our supplier is in Tring.
I shall stand corrected, didnt think that salt damage was ever this bad! Thats why I ruled it out, mainly due to the slab on the step as that has basically disintegrated completely.
They did have another contractor have a look, clients friend who is a builder, he reckoned it could have been a lack of cement in the mix, the center portion of the slab is a much lighter grey almost white. The slabs where also a special order as there was none about when we wanted them apparently.
Ouzel Landscapes - Garden Design and Landscape construction.
Serving; Milton Keynes, Bedford, Buckingham
and the surrounding areas.
kieran are they from fencrete?
i have never seen slabs disintegrate that bad in my life
pinewoods in harpenden are selling old council greys 2by 2 and 3 by 2 for £1 each no vat,they are 40-50 years old and still fine
must be a manafacturers fail as well as salt
LLL
Tony, Nope they are From King Acres, But the manufacturers are Pavestone. It was the shear amount of damage that made me rule it out, I have seen it where the surface crumbles a little but nothing like this.
Also if its of any help all the slabs came from the same pack.
I know pinewoods never used them, but Im going to need some 2x3s soon for home so will be going there!
Ouzel Landscapes - Garden Design and Landscape construction.
Serving; Milton Keynes, Bedford, Buckingham
and the surrounding areas.
pinewoods although a small independent are surprisingly good on all sorts of stuff
they sell aggregate and top soil by volume
I foolishly asked the bucket man for a metre of topsoil,the whole back of the cabstar was full like an xmas tree
also they buy old council greys for 50 p each no VAT
I recall them saying they had enough 3 by 2s for now
shame about fencrete but i guess they didnt keep up with the times,we used to buy all our fence posts and gravel boards from them when we were based in stanbridge road
I had a bad batch of copings off them maybe 10 years ago and never went back
LLL
Same flags as I saw in Harpenden! In defence of Pavestone, they clearly state they are a 'utilitarian' product manufactured to a keen budget, but they are incredibly susceptible to salt, more so than almost any other concrete flag I've ever seen.
It's *very* dificult to prove the client used salt, as it washes away so readily, but it is so clasically salt damage that if they pushed this all the way to court, they'd not stand a chance. There are thousands of images available showing almost identical damage induced by exposure to salt in general and de-icing salt in particular. The manufacturer has no responsibility, nor does the supplier. You, as contractor, supplied in good faith and it is "post-installation maintenance contrary to manufacturer's recommendations" that has caused the damage, as we say in official reports.
Thank you for that last snippet Tony Mc, I shall be printing off the discussion, if that is ok with everyone? So that will help out, I dont mind relaying it from the point of labour its a days work just to keep the client happy, but will ask them to pay out for the rest of the material cost. Hopefully that will sit ok.
Tony lll Done that one before but with sharp! the van didnt like it, that was from lovedays back to hemel!
Ouzel Landscapes - Garden Design and Landscape construction.
Serving; Milton Keynes, Bedford, Buckingham
and the surrounding areas.
we use lovedays a lot,charlie is an easy bloke to deal with and they dont bullshit you
i can get gear £2 a tonne cheaper but no good having 3 men hanging around waiting for it
LLL
