My GF has contacted a concrete contractor to replace a precast concrete unit patio with a concrete slab. Aaccording her the contractor plans on tying the slab to the two perimeter (house) concrete block walls by doweling rebar. This does not sound like a good idea to me and suggested he just put a expansion material between the two walls and the new slab…….. who wins…….she is in nigaria falls area.
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There is no advantage of tying them together. If there were any settling of the slab, it would transfer the weight of the slab to the wall, which you don't need to or want to do. The slab would just crack further out from the wall.
I would be good to have more than one contractor quote the job.
You are absoluetly right and the contractor is absolutely wrong. Where the slab is tied to the wall is exactly where it will break out as it settles. Just the expansion joints and let the slab float.
I'd check out some other contractors. That one doesn't knwo what he's doing.
~ Ted W ~
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See my work at TedsCarpentry.com
Edited 5/20/2009 9:32 pm by Ted W.
Thanks for your replies, I had a problem with my last house in State College Pa which was a spec house. The builder tied the front steps to the porch foundation and several years later the unusally thick steps settled, pulling out the rebar, causing two soft ball size holes in the porch foundation. I questioned the builders rep why they would do this and he replied that it was the builders standard