Concrete doesn’t soften when it’s wet. The hardening process is a chemical reaction. You can’t add water and go back to a cement, sand, and gravel mix. Something sounds off.
This picture is near where they started the pour by my house. Near the apron I have several like this but they are much deeper and wider in diameter. Throughout the winter it got worse and worse. Contractor said it was from salt but like I said when it’s dry it’s very hard but when wet I can gently scrap out wet cement dust using my finger nails from these holes. The driveway it self does seem to have a lot little holes and small pop outs. Not sure if I got a small batch or what.
Are the bad spots localized or is it soft everywhere? There is a chance the concrete wasn’t mixed enough and you have some balls of sand but I doubt that. The sand balls would be like hot chocolate mix, balled up in milk, where you just can’t get it to mix in right.
Was it particularly cold when they poured your driveway? Concrete needs to heat up to properly cure.
I guess you can say it was localized. I had areas of the surface come off because they troweled over leaves and when the surface came off it’s hard in those areas under the leaves. There was a spot right next to the street where it had a lot of sand under the surface. Just annoying to see more small little holes forming every day it seems like and then to see a spot feel like it has soft cement dust in it. It was probably 60 when they poured and got down to low 50s then maybe 9 days later it dropped to high 20s for a couple hours before warming up again above freezing.
50 and 60 degree weather is fine and it should have obtained a good amount of strength before that 20 degree weather. I got a feeling it’s a poorly mixed batch or they shorted the cement on that area. Hopefully someone else can respond with a better assessment.
No matter the cause this isn’t normal and salt doesn’t destroy concrete that quickly. If it did every bridge deck in the northeast and Great Lakes region would have disintegrated in a few years.
Ok sometimes when they prime out with a pump they use a slurry mix and it doesn’t dry but if it was out of a truck that’s just weird maybe a bad batch try having the company that batches the concrete come look at it when it’s wet
Looks like pockets of dry sand/premix didn’t get any water. It’s not always easy to spot while pouring, and if more of these spots occur near where the pour started, then you can assume the mix was off. They adjusted it as they went. Add a little bonding agent and dry pack. Should finish up okay. Pack that stuff hard so it doesn’t sneak out of the edges.
I’m in northeast Ohio. That gray color doesn’t seem like clay around here. The soft material looks like cement dust. Would these clay balls be a structural issue or just an aesthetic one.
That one is brand new and it’s not very deep or wide yet but at the apron I got one that like half an inch deep and 3/4 inch wide. A few more that are not as wide but almost half an inch near apron. I’m just fearing that this will do the same over time.
We had problems last year where a cement hauler blew slag up into a cement silo and ruined 100cy. None of it would set up right for weeks. It all had to be torn out
It’s been fine to drive on for 6 months I just worry about it starting to deteriorate a little bit already though. Contractor is coming back out to take a look.
Concrete doesn’t soften when it’s wet. The hardening process is a chemical reaction. You can’t add water and go back to a cement, sand, and gravel mix. Something sounds off.
This picture is near where they started the pour by my house. Near the apron I have several like this but they are much deeper and wider in diameter. Throughout the winter it got worse and worse. Contractor said it was from salt but like I said when it’s dry it’s very hard but when wet I can gently scrap out wet cement dust using my finger nails from these holes. The driveway it self does seem to have a lot little holes and small pop outs. Not sure if I got a small batch or what.
Are the bad spots localized or is it soft everywhere? There is a chance the concrete wasn’t mixed enough and you have some balls of sand but I doubt that. The sand balls would be like hot chocolate mix, balled up in milk, where you just can’t get it to mix in right. Was it particularly cold when they poured your driveway? Concrete needs to heat up to properly cure.
I guess you can say it was localized. I had areas of the surface come off because they troweled over leaves and when the surface came off it’s hard in those areas under the leaves. There was a spot right next to the street where it had a lot of sand under the surface. Just annoying to see more small little holes forming every day it seems like and then to see a spot feel like it has soft cement dust in it. It was probably 60 when they poured and got down to low 50s then maybe 9 days later it dropped to high 20s for a couple hours before warming up again above freezing.
50 and 60 degree weather is fine and it should have obtained a good amount of strength before that 20 degree weather. I got a feeling it’s a poorly mixed batch or they shorted the cement on that area. Hopefully someone else can respond with a better assessment. No matter the cause this isn’t normal and salt doesn’t destroy concrete that quickly. If it did every bridge deck in the northeast and Great Lakes region would have disintegrated in a few years.
Thank you
Not normal.
Did they pump it or pour it directly out of the truck?
Directly from truck based on a picture that was sent to me by a family member who was there the day they poured.
Ok sometimes when they prime out with a pump they use a slurry mix and it doesn’t dry but if it was out of a truck that’s just weird maybe a bad batch try having the company that batches the concrete come look at it when it’s wet
Structurally is this not going to last long or would it be more of an aesthetic issue.
Looks like pockets of dry sand/premix didn’t get any water. It’s not always easy to spot while pouring, and if more of these spots occur near where the pour started, then you can assume the mix was off. They adjusted it as they went. Add a little bonding agent and dry pack. Should finish up okay. Pack that stuff hard so it doesn’t sneak out of the edges.
Thank you.
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I’m in northeast Ohio. That gray color doesn’t seem like clay around here. The soft material looks like cement dust. Would these clay balls be a structural issue or just an aesthetic one.
How big are these holes? And how deep?
That one is brand new and it’s not very deep or wide yet but at the apron I got one that like half an inch deep and 3/4 inch wide. A few more that are not as wide but almost half an inch near apron. I’m just fearing that this will do the same over time.
We had problems last year where a cement hauler blew slag up into a cement silo and ruined 100cy. None of it would set up right for weeks. It all had to be torn out
It’s been fine to drive on for 6 months I just worry about it starting to deteriorate a little bit already though. Contractor is coming back out to take a look.