Wondering if anyone in the industry could help me understand if we have an ability to have the builder be required to fix the issue we find with our driveway.
We asked for broom finish on our driveway and it looks as though they only broom finished our walk way properly and the driveway itself the concrete dried faster than they were able to broom finish as you can see an attempt however the finish only shows finished lines from broom in small areas and not nearly as deep as walkway. This leaves the driveway very slipper when when after and during rain.
Also in the state of Florida there is no CODE for concrete driveways but industry standard for control joints when looking online is being no more then 15ft apart. Our driveway on the 2 car garage it looks as though they forgot to put it in as it’s 20ft and already cracked just days after us moving into house almost exactly where the control joint should have been.
The builder is refusing to fix this issue as they said they didn’t violate any codes. And are only willing to pay us around $1700 back for the 20×30 piece that shows the crack where the control joint should have been but not replace the whole driveway which will eventually keep cracking where control joint should have been.
im wondering if I have a case that if I took them to court to replace driveway to meet proper industry standards that we would have a chance at winning or if I’d be wasting money on a lawyer.
we did not get what we asked for “broom finish” not have I been able to google and find ANY 3 car driveway on google or in person that doesn’t have 2 control joints cut dividing driveway into 3 parts as it should be at most 15ft apart.
We know it will crack but the control joints are to help it crack in that joint.
I’ve added images of the finish of our driveway as well as full view of driveway to see there is only one control joint going vertically down driveway.
Please help any advice welcome.
Replies
The problem is even if you sue them and you are absolutely correct about everything, what will the court say is a REASONABLE remedy for your problem. You, apparently, think the only remedy is removal and replacement but I doubt the courts will see it that way for two issues that don't affect the ultimate performance or life of the product. I suspect the courts would see the offer of $1700 as more than reasonable compensation given that is likely more than a 10% discount on that size project.
You can still saw cut additional control joints and you can remediate the slick surface in a number of ways. Take the 1700 add a couple thousand of your own money and have an expoxy coating company come out and REALLY dress it up and make it a prominent design feature. They can cut additional control joints and fix the surface slickness while making it attractive at the same time and you will have a decorative finish for half price.
We had a concrete guy come out and said that epoxy coat would be a temporary fix and would need to be recoated every few years.
It also wasn’t graded properly and we get a pool of water daily (from sprinkler water not able to run down driveway due to high spot ) that takes sometimes days to dry in winter. And if it rains it stays and causes slick puddle that many have slipped in. Poor craftsmanship ever concrete company has stated when they look at it to give suggestions and we have 1 yr craftsmanship warranty on house but they won’t seem to honor it for our driveway. That’s why I was wondering if we had a case since they won’t honor warranty craftsmanship issue.
where's Johnnie ? aka brownbag
the $1700 is likely the best you can do
If you have any further concrete work done you have to literally stand over them to keep them from adding so much water the mix is like soup.
If it cracked during cure it had WAY too much water added.
It IS possible that your driveway did not have excess water added as it set up quickly?
Your best bet with minimal $$ for the slippery concern is to get a few gallons of muratic acid from big box store and (wearing a throw away apir of old shoes and pants) broom it over the surface.
Is that your house in the photo? If it is the driveway has control joints. There is an old saying about concrete. There are two kinds, cracked and not cracked yet. It probably is a crappy finish but no building authority is going to do anything about it. Take the money.
I would cut in one inch deep control joints at a maximum of 8 ft spacing, NOT 15 feet.
Ask builder to pay for cutting control joints in addition to the $1700 and i would ask for more than 1700.
I asked him why he chose to only pay for 20x30 area as there are more areas cracked. Another concrete company said at this point since concrete is set it maybe too late for control joints to make any difference since it cracked in its own path
Please quote exactly what the contract said about the driveway installation. Was a broom finish specifically mentioned? Quoting the contract is the only sure way we can know if you have a claim beyond the minimum standard for your area and whatever the code requires. I would cut control joints even this late in time. Keep the old adage in mind: every concrete delivery comes with cracks. It is a way of acknowledging that, no matter how well a drive is prepared and poured, eventual crackage will develop; some sooner, some later.
Yes broom finish was specified when we had it done and other contractors came and said the reason it’s it properly broom finished was because it got away formy them And dried faster than they could handle and they that’s why it wasn’t to the standards of our walk way. This causes me to feel it was craftsman issues which is within our warranty
It got away from them because there weren't enough finishers to do the job properly.
If a broom finish was specified you have grounds of legal action. That the contractor blames fast drying is not the issue. The issue is that the finish does not match specifications.
As someone who occasionally (rarely) does concrete work, specifically the pouring of a driveway, I feel that the lack of sufficient helpers may very well have caused the problem. It happened to me/us. There is no excuse! We re-did our work so that it met the client's expectations and was true to the proposal (contract).