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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:48 pm
by lutonlagerlout
that mix should be ok although not the finest
i have one of those mixers and they dont hold 7 builders buckets of anything,its my 2nd reserve mixer but does the job
are there no "we mix you lay" type companies in sheffield??
you get a much better mix and it works out roughly the same as buying ballast and cement seperate
looking good though
cheers LLL 
Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 pm
by M@tt
yeah i did 7 buckets and it spat most of it out onto the floor first go when i fired it up
I did 3 ballast to 1/2 cement after that which seemed to work ok. Is that ratio correct ie volume or should it have been weight?
also any thoughts on the dusty finish to the base? or is it perfectly normal?
i'm going to get a proper mixer company for the rest of it but i thought i'd do the small base bit by hand as it was such a small amount i thought it would be too small amount for a mixer company.
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:30 am
by lutonlagerlout
that ratio is fine matt,but even small amounts of concrete i tend to use mixer companies
they do us C30 for £120 per metre plus vat which is more like 2:1 concrete and goes off rock hard
your mix looks a little wet there which can affect the ultimate strength of the concrete
the dust can be swept off and the floor sealed later
LLL
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:06 pm
by M@tt
a bit of advice is require please
i basically got some "professionals" in do do the actual pour and powerfloat as i was concerend i'd balsed it up but it appears that they've done a pretty half arsed job!.
On removing the shuttering i found large holes in the base indicating it hadn't been tamped down properly and the main problem is that when i removed the car lift recess shuttering there were holes there as well and also a couple of hose bricks chucked into the mix!!
It's doubtful the guy will come back and remedy his work so i'm after some advice as to what mix i could use to remedy the holes and sides of the car lift recess
cheers
Matt
Apparently the mix was reallly lean and a nightmare to work, so he kept telling me in his excuse after excuse of why the job wasn't very high quality
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:55 pm
by mickg
when the concrete was being poured they should of lightly tapped the shuttering with a hammer to remove any voids, maybe they did but not enough by the look of the end result
small holes could be filled in with a neat cement and water slurry and a block of 3 x 2 wood cut to fit the size of your hand rubbing the slurry in a circular motion until it dries
but seeing as there are large voids I would be tempted to contact one of the paving jointing companies to see if they have a product what will fill theses voids without any cracking
easipoint
nccstreetscape
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:16 am
by lutonlagerlout
if the mix was too lean why didnt they wet it up?
mickg's advice is spot on,I have seen indian men doing it on big jobs when the shutter gets struck,mind you thats the next day
in fairness the levels and finish look ok and if they didnt have a vibrator,they couldnt use it
LLL
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 9:44 am
by seanandruby
The bricks ( presumably for holding the mesh ) are to close to the edge. What is a ''professional'' concrete laying company doing without a poker unit ??? There will be voids like that all over the slab, where it has'nt been pokered. The edges are very boney and need to be chipped back slightly with a chipping hammer and filled in using sand cement and a bonding solution . Mix some bonding agent first and paint it over the concrete to be repaired. Depending on the finish you want, we use different mixes. You can get bags off material already mixed specifically for the job but they tend to be expensive.
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:23 am
by Mikey_C
I presume there is no option to get them back to gun it out relay it to a professional standard as that is what you paid for rather than the shite job they have offered so far.
this is an example of why continually I end up doing "doing it myself" for the odd occasion you a patio laid, new driveway, some other task needed to be done by a professional do go through the hassle of getting three quotes, try to assess how good they may be from previous recommends, viewing other work they have done, photographs of other jobs they may or may not have done. just at the end of it to have them do badly, leaving you to establish any recourse you might have. at least if you do it and feck it up its your look out. maybe i am just a control freak!!
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:06 pm
by 47p2
I wouldn't be very happy if I had paid for a professional job to be done and they left me with that mess. One of the reasons I did my own garage floor was that I couldn't find someone I could entrust the work to and leave me with a floor I was completely happy with.
If I were you I would have a word with the contractors and ask what they are going to do about it
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:39 pm
by M@tt
cheers for the replies gents, i'm going to remedy his handy work myself with your invaluable advice
anyway i've had an abusive call off the builders wife this evening (he was hiding in background, i even called her on it!) after leaving them terrible feedback on a website that they advertise on
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile....381.htm
she's asked why we've done it? etc etc and "dave" was going to call you back, he's been away etc etc. I think 4 days is more than enough time to make a courtesy call to an unhappy customer hence why i left it.
Anyway she's threatened to send round a building inspector to look at the work and if he says its up to standard she's going to sue me
anyway bit of advice required off the professional builders, does what he's done live up to building regulations? ie have i got anything to be worried about? i'm pretty sure it doesn't. but the missus is now worried some dodgy builder knows where we live!
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:54 pm
by msh paving
That work is not covered by any regulations,building inspector is not interested MSH
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:58 pm
by M@tt
brilliant cheers msh 
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:15 pm
by GB_Groundworks
i'm kinda late to this sorry, i live in sheffield (hunters bar) although most my work is in the high peak cheshire area shame its ended badly
it strikes me as inexperience in concrete work rather than deliberate malpractice. most there prior concrete work would have been footings or floors reading there spiel on that link so wouldn't have been exposed before. a freestanding slab is another matter its not just a case of pouring it in and tapping it with a piece of wood, ask Sean he's a concrete ace.
doesn't look like they had a power float (big inverted helicopter thing) anywhere near it, and any builder/groundwork worth there salt has a vibrating poker or can hire one for £30
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:23 pm
by M@tt
oh he did have a power float!! he kept telling me he'd just put a new set of blades on it costing him £40 prior to the job (sounds like it might not have been used for a while) and then he said the job was such a nightmare it had burnt his blades costin him another £50! blades seemed to have gone up!
oh christ if i'd know you were in sheffield you'd have been on the job in a flash if you'd fancied it! just my luck for not searching properly! :(This forum needs locations under peoples names )
oh and during the call the woman kept asking for my surname i said "why would you need my surname?" i said "you tell me why you need my surname and i'll decided if i need to give it to you" anyway she's said "well we've got your address" to which i took that as a bit of a threat so phoned the cops to report it.
They've then contacted her straight away this evening on her mobile and warned her not to contact me as i took her surname questioning and address stating as threatening and not to contact me further otherwise it would be deemed harrasment and she'd be liable for arrest The cop also told them that this incident had been noted and should anything happen to my property they would be round to see them sharpish!
the cop told her if she wanted to sue me she should contat a solicitor! go on the cops!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:59 am
by irishpaving
Matt it won't take much to sort it out. As mentioned you need to patch up the bad areas and once everything is cleaned off it should look ok. The important area is the surface so have a good clean up and check it's not peeling up anywhere