You are right - 40 mm went into the footings but but also one wall pour of 23 cubic meters (according to invoice). The rest were 14 and 20 mm. The horizontal bars were side by side - 4 across.

Posted By evary on 23 Apr 2013 09:10 AM
You are right - 40 mm went into the footings but but also one wall pour of 23 cubic meters (according to invoice). The rest were 14 and 20 mm. The horizontal bars were side by side - 4 across.

evary - something is not right with that. How big is you house? The pump truck operator would have screamed blue murder if someone wanted to put inch and half rocks through his machine! If 40 mm went into the walls you would have founds voids of 5 x 5 not 1 x 1. Take a 6" cavity and lay two pieces of rebar in it and there is not much room for 40mm to pass though. I can't believe that a batch plant would even consider sending 40 mm to an ICF job. Is it possible that the concrete company also supplied the drainage stone for the weepers around the footings?

It definitely says "wall" and it was the next batch after the invoice that says "footings". I'm going to call the concrete company and ask them about this. Thanks for the info - something to add to my panic list.

THe house is 5500 on the main floor but the garage is 3500 square feet and all of the walls were done, with very very high ceilings.

Posted By evary on 23 Apr 2013 10:05 AM
It definitely says "wall" and it was the next batch after the invoice that says "footings". I'm going to call the concrete company and ask them about this. Thanks for the info - something to add to my panic list.

The fact that you did not find 5 x 5 voids indicates you don't need to panic bout this (;=))
Also the fact that it come right after the footings would be the time I normally place my weepers and basement drainage stone. I don't like working in mud! But if the ticket looks identical to the other concrete tickets and spec's a mpa rating and batch times on it than it probably is concrete.

evary - is the drywall installed and tape on the main floor?

Given the rebar placement and size of aggregate, I'd bet that most of your voids are in the shape of an inverted pyramid with the top right below a row of horizontal rebar, probably below the lap splices which are typically 20-24" long for 1/2" rebar.

If all of your walls are above grade, and your voids are ~24" or less in width, and not over a long span (>6') door or window header, this shouldn't be a significant structural issue.

If you can accurately locate the void boundaries, you can drill a ~3/4"-1 hole in the foam near the top of the void with a smaller ~1/4" hole just above that to let air escape. Mix up some non-shrink grout to fluid consistency. Get a funnel with a tube on the end that fits tightly in your 3/4"-1" hole. Pour the void full of grout until it comes out of the smaller 1/4" hole above. Periodically tap the foam with a rubber mallet or hammer and wood block to consolidate the grout into all of the cracks and crevices.

The strength of non-shrink grout even at fluid consistency is typically higher in compressive strength than residential poured concrete.

http://www.quikrete.com/PDFs/DATA_SHEET-Non-Shrink%20Precision%20Grout%201585-00.pdf

I met with my structural engineer today and he assured me that there are no structural problems with the voids. Most of the voids were right over the windows, at the same level. The engineer also advised to fix the holes with the non-shrink grout, as several of you already advised. I am amazed at all of the responses I received. Once again, thank you to everyone!

evary - hope this means you get a good nites sleep tonight (;=))
Best of luck with the completion.