I’m embarking on a project to finish out my basement. I’m going to have to tear up part of my concrete slab to relocate and add some drains for the bathroom. It’s a slab on grade and I plan to use a demo saw to cut a clean channel through the slab to run the drain pipe from the existing rough in to its new locations.
My question is this: When I fill in the channel I cut out of the slab with fresh concrete, should I attempt to anchor the patched areas to the existing slab? For example I could drill and cement rods into the side of the existing slab and have them extend into the area where I’ll be pouring fresh concrete…
I’m a little concerned about the best way to approach this since the area where I live has the potential for expansive soil–I don’t want the patched areas to pop out (or sink below) the rest of the slab.
Thanks for any advice on what y’all have seen work the best.
Replies
Drill the edges of the cut and insert rebar dowels. You are on the right track.
One caution is to not use any rubble from the demo as fill in your new plumbing line trench. Use new crushed stone or DGA as fill andhand tamp it around the new line. Do't forget to replace the vapor barrier in the cut area.
Dave
Dont worry about cementing the rods in (I am assuming you mean epoxy) just drill the horizontal holes and pound in the rebar. This is to resist force in shear, since you wont have any in tension.
Thanks for the quick feedback!