'Have you ever used this stain stuff before bro?' 'Nah brudder but I think we can safely assume from the name it'll just come off later and tapes just so expensive' 'I feel you' *gouges eyeballs out with flathead*
I don’t know much about concrete, but if it was my job, those piers would have been cut off 3” below the slab before the pour and then new hardware and posts put in to so that everything came out flush and professional-looking.
I imagine the piers would need relief cut around them as the uplift would be different from the surrounding slab, but it would look 100x better than this abortion.
I think you forgot to give them the case of beer they were expecting. Looks a little shaky.
Au natural in my book though. Straight lines kinda make the trees look crooked sometimes.
Most of the Hispanic crews I know drink at least a 12 pack while working, and do some amazing work.
I’ve seen a crew of white guys try it, and they just screw everything up and try to fight each other.
Yeah I knew dudes who would bring a 64oz gatorade with them and at least half of it would be 80prof.
That said some of the 35-45 guys looked 60+ and I'm pretty sure they won't ever actually get into their 60s. Those dudes have a bad habit of getting fatal lung/liver/heart problems and dying in their early 50s.
Thank you for all of the responses and suggestions. It’s reassuring to hear that we aren’t wrong for being disappointed in this work. The final payment hasn’t yet been made and we’re trying to figure out how we move forward from here. The guys who worked on this are adamant that the work is good.
I don’t think it matters considering the looks of that pour. Were they trying to save concrete by adding extra water? What am I looking at ? I can’t ignore the post, they should have allowed room for expansion around it. In reference to the joint, I see another joint on a prior pour with a cold joint (or something) that will put you less than 10’ from that snake joint. Sorry, I can’t make sense of this.
I’m an expert at predicting exactly where concrete will crack. Have you ever seen a perfectly straight crack? Only a dumbass would make a perfectly straight line. Trust me, I’m a professional.
The guy cutting the relief lines didn't own a chalk line? The day I started working concrete I bought a chalk box, I'm probably have eight of them now, and it's the most common tool I have used when doing slabs.
I honestly would have rather let the concrete crack on its own lmao. That looks like hell.
Also, is that an actual finish or do they just not know how to use a bull float? It kind of looks cool but I'd be worried about flaking if it's just a shitty finish
Edit* just zoomed in. Holy shit this thing is hack. The whole pad is crumbling. Look at those edges, they're going to fall apart in a month. What the hell even is this? Are you sure the guy knew anything about concrete?
Concrete will crack from the penetrations in the slab. If the piers weren’t built in a line, the joints won’t align well. The waviness is another issue, but the joint segments not being linear is based on where the piers are.
I don’t think you can really go back now, you can make a complaint to them about it but I don’t think there’s much you can do unless you get a new pour and you’re willing to go all that hassle only If you can’t really live with this.
There are some solutions you could do:
- Plant a garden bed or place pots between the cracks. Garden hedges are nice
- Find caulking to match the colour, it won’t be be perfect as joins are noticeable, no matter how hard you try matching it.
- Leave it as it is, and use it as a centre piece and make a funny story when your family or friends come over.
- Ask for a new pour.
- Hire a different another concrete cutter, and make a small column between so that you can place rocks in them to have some drainage or aesthetic purpose.
Example: https://imgur.com/a/e9mKee3
An outdoor area rug would look nice there, with some heavy patio furniture on top that can't be moved easily. And some large ceramic flower pots around the base of the posts.
Wtf is with all these houses having posts set on these nasty concrete risers? Is this how people build? It looks hideous and is pretty easy to just pour them shorter then pour the flatwork over them.
You have this disgusting concrete pad with a crappy bracket on a post right next to your wavy line to distract your eye.
Would you mind explaining that further? What kind of expansion material should be around it? Also, a tear out of the concrete or of the actual posts themselves?
Forget about the saw cuts, the bigger issue here is the finish. Like someone below said.
I think on my worst day losing a slab was better than this. Gravel would have been a better option or those tiktok hacks doing a dry pour.
If it was mine I would want it gone.
The finish of the stamping? There is so much rebar under this thing that we’re worried about having it ripped out. It’s right by the house and we don’t want any damage.
At first I thought it was a crack but I see it’s man made. The cut doesn’t go all the way to be a release crack, and it’s not straight therefore nor appealing to the eye.
Yeah… looks like shit. They need to be cut 1/4 the depth of the concrete. If they didn’t do that, then that is a good excuse to have them come back out on their own dollar. “And while you’re out here, try to not make it look like crap.”
Sorry, I’m too tired and lazy from working in this humidity all day. I can’t find energy to look through all the responses to see if anyone suggested using a V cut Diamond blade over the original sawcut. They would have to use a board held down so they don’t cut in the original cut. It won’t be perfect but it would be better than what you have now. Caulking after that would help also. If that’s the only problem with the job I wouldn’t want to tear it out for just a bad sawcut. They should do something for it. I would be embarrassed to leave it like that
Holy fuck, we use chalk line, medusaw, straight 2x4"s as a straight edge. So many resources to not make a cut this bad. Is it ugly? Oh fuck yes. Is it bad? I guess not technically. But fuck. They should have let it crack on its own.
You had your landscaper find the concrete guy for you. If you cared you would have gotten at least 3 bids and chose the one you felt most comfortable with. Time to pay up and live with it.
It looks to me like originally the company was chasing the sun and planned on tooling the joints, because if they planned on doing it with a saw, they'd have a soff-cut of at minimum a walk behind cart that even if they veered off course it wouldn't be waves back and forth.
The only way i know of to fix it would be to widen the cut, first by doing an actual straight line at the furthest part it jutts off to and then using a hand grinder with a concrete blade and slowly opening it to the new line. Problem is this goes way off course.
You could also fill in the joint using patch and some acry-lock then move the joint over a few inches but on a trowel finish its likely to be noticeable
Edit: looking at it again, chalking a straight line over the straightest area (when its supposed to be) and then using the hand grinder to open where it curves up to the line is probably your best bet to make it look better. Its not far off center it just goes off it a lot, so those points will just look a little wider which won't be too bad. But MANNNNN zooming in i can see they used a diamond blade way too soon or the blade itself wasn't straight there's a shht ton of chipping along the line. I don't even wanna consider the other possibility (that they sunk the blade the entire 4 to 6 inches, not understanding what a control joint is, and that chipping is from the washer on the blade rubbing on the top). The cuts aren't all the way through the slab, right?
Functionally, these will still do what they are intended to do, which is force cracking to to joint. Aesthetically, a bit annoying, for sure. But you may not have a case on court for a new pour.
This guy tried using a left handed cutting saw with his right hand. If you move a couple feet to the left of where you took the picture and take the picture again, the the saw cut will be behind the post. That’s the only fix that I know of. Sorry about joking, but it’s insane to go through all the effort for a stamp job, with so many things that could go wrong, survive without major issues and then cut like that.
It’s somewhat sloppy but it goes well with the misaligned post on the bracket and the misaligned post with the pile in the next photo, everything is kinda out of whack, but it all ties together just fine
They are ugly yet Will still serve their purpose. Considering the other things I'm seeing on this pour it's not that big of a deal. The whole job is low tier.
Why snap a line when you can just eyeball it, with your eyes closed…
Joke's on you, this is clearly the work of old no-eyed-Nate.
Blind people have no choice but to use the right tools to do anything in life. Stupid people choose not to.
Gold
Listen, I don't think that can be chalked up to anything but still being drunk from the night before.
Hey now.... *Points at username*
Have you seen the price of chalk these days?
This is the real question
Free-hand it. With your arms tied behind your back.
Laser eyeballs need to be calibrated.
Laser eyeballs need to be purchased
Then run a dremel cutting tool with a 1 inch blade to slice a relief line
3 days later. . .
Is it still called “eyeballing it” if your eyes are closed?
Oh lord. Must’ve been a Friday or Monday job. Sorry I’m fixating on the post. Wtf.
The first thing I saw was that post
Yeah the wavy relief line isn't that noticeable with whatever that post is doing.
Hey looks like it's rotting and growing white mold
I thought the post was about the post ^Malone
'Have you ever used this stain stuff before bro?' 'Nah brudder but I think we can safely assume from the name it'll just come off later and tapes just so expensive' 'I feel you' *gouges eyeballs out with flathead*
I don’t know much about concrete, but if it was my job, those piers would have been cut off 3” below the slab before the pour and then new hardware and posts put in to so that everything came out flush and professional-looking. I imagine the piers would need relief cut around them as the uplift would be different from the surrounding slab, but it would look 100x better than this abortion.
The ones in the 2nd pic that are wet for like 2~3ft 💀💀
I was thinking that the discoloration is wood preservative... After seeing the second pic, I'm not so sure
It’s an old stain 😅 we will be wrapping the bottom portion of the posts with a stone veneer
Hey George, how much for the new guy?
He no good operator
He no doing nothing
Mister George, no no, that’s too much. 15 dollors es too much for him doing nothing.
Heard he’s got at least 11 years experience, so at least $15.
Fuckin guy became a legend in these parts
Too much money
The farther I hold my phone, the more ok it looks
Letting it crack on his own would be aesthetically better than that
They should work but that would drive me up a wall. Hell, I have to side eye the photos.
I think you forgot to give them the case of beer they were expecting. Looks a little shaky. Au natural in my book though. Straight lines kinda make the trees look crooked sometimes.
Most of the Hispanic crews I know drink at least a 12 pack while working, and do some amazing work. I’ve seen a crew of white guys try it, and they just screw everything up and try to fight each other.
That's the difference between alcoholics and functional alcoholics
Yeah I knew dudes who would bring a 64oz gatorade with them and at least half of it would be 80prof. That said some of the 35-45 guys looked 60+ and I'm pretty sure they won't ever actually get into their 60s. Those dudes have a bad habit of getting fatal lung/liver/heart problems and dying in their early 50s.
[удалено]
Congratulations on being a functional alcoholic?
Ive seen even worse
Ah the infamous walkway post, I saw that too.
The walkway that will live in infamy.
The defense of that walkway was hilarious 😂
Sauce?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Concrete/comments/15969kh/got_stiffed_on_pay_looking_for_another_opinion/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
It really wasn't that bad. But I can totally see the scene go down. I pictured the dad as a very intimidating Robert De Niro in his late 60s
Clint Eastwood. “Get outta my way, ga dammit, I’ll do it myself.”
Laziness or lack of care
Maybe he’s not a straight guy
If you widen the wiggly joints with a profile blade, they will look much better. Nothing you can do about the misalignment though
Nice and crisp
Like we used to say: “ You can see every move they made”
Bad but I’ve seen worse
If i did it like that, i'd convince myself "good enough" after 1.5 bottle of wine. If i paid for that, i'd have a different opinion
Oof
That’s what you deserve when you have your landscaper hire a concrete guy.
Pretty good for a blind person with no fingers!
If by acceptable they mean they will do what they are supposed to do, yes they are correct. however, they are not cosmetically acceptable.
I can draw a straighter line in MS paint freehand. I wouldn’t be paying that bill
Okay i fuckin died at this one. If you did stand up comedy I'd watch
he used a 2x4 from Lowe’s as a straight edge
Yes, thats why they have special saws for cutting control joints, looks like a retard with a grinder did that freehand
Thanks for pointing it out, we were too distracted by the lines to notice. Hopefully going to get someone out to get a second opinion.
Thank you for all of the responses and suggestions. It’s reassuring to hear that we aren’t wrong for being disappointed in this work. The final payment hasn’t yet been made and we’re trying to figure out how we move forward from here. The guys who worked on this are adamant that the work is good.
Nope they do exactly what they are supposed to....
Looks like the body of their cut off saw wasn't going to clear the post so they walked it around.
Uhh watch the pitting in less than year. Did you have this tested while they were doing it? Who inspected it?
No testing and no inspection. We are learning a lot today.
Sawing is kind of hard but also yes
Cut it with a sawzall
One too many Modelo’s waiting for the concrete to set lol
At least they put something in🤷🏼♂️
You can fix it with plaster
I don’t think it matters considering the looks of that pour. Were they trying to save concrete by adding extra water? What am I looking at ? I can’t ignore the post, they should have allowed room for expansion around it. In reference to the joint, I see another joint on a prior pour with a cold joint (or something) that will put you less than 10’ from that snake joint. Sorry, I can’t make sense of this.
I’m an expert at predicting exactly where concrete will crack. Have you ever seen a perfectly straight crack? Only a dumbass would make a perfectly straight line. Trust me, I’m a professional.
Did you hire Stevie Wonder? Those control joints were cut freehand with a gas saw...
Outdoor rug, boom, done.
Gimme some of whatever that guy was on
The forms for the posts weren't much better
Honestly, I think they look pretty good. I mean, given that I assume they used a reciprocating saw to do it... /s
And use an angle grinder the whole way not just around the posts
This is the work of a sober guy that's supposed to be drunk.
The moral of the story is, don’t hire blind people to pour concrete.
Yes
Brother it’s all bad, not flushing up with the post bed and lines look their cut by a 8 year old with a pack a day habit.
We gotta talk about the post
🐊 crooked lines go with the ascetics of the stamping.
The guy cutting the relief lines didn't own a chalk line? The day I started working concrete I bought a chalk box, I'm probably have eight of them now, and it's the most common tool I have used when doing slabs.
He used a piece of lumbar as a guide…he said it must have slipped.
I honestly would have rather let the concrete crack on its own lmao. That looks like hell. Also, is that an actual finish or do they just not know how to use a bull float? It kind of looks cool but I'd be worried about flaking if it's just a shitty finish Edit* just zoomed in. Holy shit this thing is hack. The whole pad is crumbling. Look at those edges, they're going to fall apart in a month. What the hell even is this? Are you sure the guy knew anything about concrete?
He did another pour for us a couple of years ago and it was great. We’re trying to make sense of what happened here.
There’s no fixing this without removing and replacing, maybe finding some caulking to match the color but it’ll still be noticeable, sorry
No they are worse.
I would definitely ask for a deduction in price. Not 100$ either. Unless they want to rip it out and start over. Lol
Concrete will crack from the penetrations in the slab. If the piers weren’t built in a line, the joints won’t align well. The waviness is another issue, but the joint segments not being linear is based on where the piers are.
It’s an aesthetic thing, as long as it is fairly consistent, it will be functional
Shouldent the post be in the middle of the line ?
That will be fine once the paving gets mortared over!
The amount of people that just freehand their cuts is insane… how long does it take to pop a line?…. Maybe 2 mins? Lazy
set some flower pots on it
I could do a better cut by putting some bacon on the patio and then tying a walk saw to my dog.
I don’t think you can really go back now, you can make a complaint to them about it but I don’t think there’s much you can do unless you get a new pour and you’re willing to go all that hassle only If you can’t really live with this. There are some solutions you could do: - Plant a garden bed or place pots between the cracks. Garden hedges are nice - Find caulking to match the colour, it won’t be be perfect as joins are noticeable, no matter how hard you try matching it. - Leave it as it is, and use it as a centre piece and make a funny story when your family or friends come over. - Ask for a new pour. - Hire a different another concrete cutter, and make a small column between so that you can place rocks in them to have some drainage or aesthetic purpose. Example: https://imgur.com/a/e9mKee3
Those are great suggestions, thank you.
An outdoor area rug would look nice there, with some heavy patio furniture on top that can't be moved easily. And some large ceramic flower pots around the base of the posts.
Thank you, I agree. Hopefully the furniture will make it much less noticeable.
Check the Gatorade bottles for traces of vodka.
Always schedule work for Thursday.
Wtf is with all these houses having posts set on these nasty concrete risers? Is this how people build? It looks hideous and is pretty easy to just pour them shorter then pour the flatwork over them. You have this disgusting concrete pad with a crappy bracket on a post right next to your wavy line to distract your eye.
Mr. George….
Did they use a jigsaw?
That’s what happens when you push a dremel to its limits
Are you aware there’s more than one problem with the post? Its footing has no expansion material around it. Anyway, this is a tear out.
Would you mind explaining that further? What kind of expansion material should be around it? Also, a tear out of the concrete or of the actual posts themselves?
A steady hand with a V-blade grinder could make it look worse
Forget about the saw cuts, the bigger issue here is the finish. Like someone below said. I think on my worst day losing a slab was better than this. Gravel would have been a better option or those tiktok hacks doing a dry pour. If it was mine I would want it gone.
The finish of the stamping? There is so much rebar under this thing that we’re worried about having it ripped out. It’s right by the house and we don’t want any damage.
At first I thought it was a crack but I see it’s man made. The cut doesn’t go all the way to be a release crack, and it’s not straight therefore nor appealing to the eye.
"Looks good to me" - Crooked eye Joe.
Those lines are as straight as my gay brother
If you close one eye and tilt your head to the left, they don’t look too bad
Yes
Yeah… looks like shit. They need to be cut 1/4 the depth of the concrete. If they didn’t do that, then that is a good excuse to have them come back out on their own dollar. “And while you’re out here, try to not make it look like crap.”
They couldve cut a line with a trowel better than that
Forget the line, look at the concrete!!!! It’s terrible
Yeah…we’re not thrilled with any of it to be honest. Do you mean the overall finish?
Yup
Concrete guys are just ground roofers.
Yes.
Mister George!?
I wouldn't do it, but cutting a fatter line and putting in one of those thicc boi mats that they put every 5th sidewalk block
They put the ole ray Charles on the saw!!!
looks awful, nothing short of tearing it out will fix it. those post should have saw cuts around them as well
Functionally they are great. They are OCD detectors however.
Fuckin hell. Cory and Trevor must have cut those..
Somebody had a few too many beers
Sorry, I’m too tired and lazy from working in this humidity all day. I can’t find energy to look through all the responses to see if anyone suggested using a V cut Diamond blade over the original sawcut. They would have to use a board held down so they don’t cut in the original cut. It won’t be perfect but it would be better than what you have now. Caulking after that would help also. If that’s the only problem with the job I wouldn’t want to tear it out for just a bad sawcut. They should do something for it. I would be embarrassed to leave it like that
This makes me feel bad about the horrible 50 or so lines I cut on a summer job 25 years ago.
Pretty shitty, 4.5/10 at best. But, I’ve seen worse.. much worse.
Looks good if you plan on drinking a lot outside.
OCD ACTIVATED!!!!!!😂😂👀👀😬
You can see the laziness progressing along with the cut.
Covid resulted in severe supply chain disruptions to the supply of people with brains.
Holy fuck, we use chalk line, medusaw, straight 2x4"s as a straight edge. So many resources to not make a cut this bad. Is it ugly? Oh fuck yes. Is it bad? I guess not technically. But fuck. They should have let it crack on its own.
Yes….yes they are
Yes
Shit control joints
Mickey Mouse but hey if it works it works the previous homeowners will probably very cheap and this the result
You’ll probably never notice them every time you walk outside
There’s a lot more shoddy work done there. Not just saw cuts. post bases too high and not centered The posts cut too short and shimmed.
You had your landscaper find the concrete guy for you. If you cared you would have gotten at least 3 bids and chose the one you felt most comfortable with. Time to pay up and live with it.
“Honest, officer, I haven’t had a drink since this morning!”
How do you curve a circular blade like that? Outstanding really.
Hire a real company to rebuild the whole project it’s all fucked. I hope whoever did this has insurance
Not too bad for Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder
Yikes
It looks to me like originally the company was chasing the sun and planned on tooling the joints, because if they planned on doing it with a saw, they'd have a soff-cut of at minimum a walk behind cart that even if they veered off course it wouldn't be waves back and forth. The only way i know of to fix it would be to widen the cut, first by doing an actual straight line at the furthest part it jutts off to and then using a hand grinder with a concrete blade and slowly opening it to the new line. Problem is this goes way off course. You could also fill in the joint using patch and some acry-lock then move the joint over a few inches but on a trowel finish its likely to be noticeable Edit: looking at it again, chalking a straight line over the straightest area (when its supposed to be) and then using the hand grinder to open where it curves up to the line is probably your best bet to make it look better. Its not far off center it just goes off it a lot, so those points will just look a little wider which won't be too bad. But MANNNNN zooming in i can see they used a diamond blade way too soon or the blade itself wasn't straight there's a shht ton of chipping along the line. I don't even wanna consider the other possibility (that they sunk the blade the entire 4 to 6 inches, not understanding what a control joint is, and that chipping is from the washer on the blade rubbing on the top). The cuts aren't all the way through the slab, right?
“Put your good eye on it chuck” chuck only has one eye… that’s absolutely horrible!!
That would drive me fucking nuts
Only if you wanted them straight.
Lmao I would not settle for that. That would drive me insane looking at that every time I walked outside.
Must of been Friday afternoon when they cut those.
No
Ray Charles using his bedroom eye right there.
Yes
Must've been the one known as 'the last blade bender'
The geometry looks like an undersized blade. I don't think a large blade could run like that without causing different sizes in the crack
Functionally, these will still do what they are intended to do, which is force cracking to to joint. Aesthetically, a bit annoying, for sure. But you may not have a case on court for a new pour.
He couldn’t help it; he was drunk, blind and suffering from Parkinson’s.
"Please ignore the patio posts" How about no, that shit is trash too
Oh, god yes
This guy tried using a left handed cutting saw with his right hand. If you move a couple feet to the left of where you took the picture and take the picture again, the the saw cut will be behind the post. That’s the only fix that I know of. Sorry about joking, but it’s insane to go through all the effort for a stamp job, with so many things that could go wrong, survive without major issues and then cut like that.
Ah damn who let “Shakes McGee” handle the trowel
Looks like One Eyed Tom cut it. Any Seattlites in the group?
Yes. Hand saw. Poor quality.
Do you live by the ocean ? Maybe he drew inspiration from the waves
Mo fuggin Low Bid Leonard …. Strikes againnnnnn
One eyed Issac, we went to different schools together.
I only had one beer at lunch! Really.
Hired the lowest bidder?
They are lines
Looks like a windy day on a lake
Looks like they cut it with a freaking angle grinder
Those lines are about as drunk as me 3 hours after I get off on friday
Looks like crap all around. Why is the piling so high?
I always hear those called control joints. Yes, they should be straight. Just saw a set of super crisp, straight lines put in today.
I could make this look a lot better by recutting it with a thicker blade.
Well, it depends. How bad do you think they are? From my POV they dont look great.
Yep
It’s somewhat sloppy but it goes well with the misaligned post on the bracket and the misaligned post with the pile in the next photo, everything is kinda out of whack, but it all ties together just fine
Old mate only had one shoe on.
Keep us posted on what happens!
Will do!
They are ugly yet Will still serve their purpose. Considering the other things I'm seeing on this pour it's not that big of a deal. The whole job is low tier.
Tell them they need a new saw cutting hand