Cold Joint 3

[AUCE98]

I have a situation that I would like some opinions on. A contractor had begun pouring a spread footing for a gravity column and run out of concrete. The next two concrete trucks were rejected, so the concrete that had already been poured into the foundation had hardened. The contractor had proceeded to pour the remaining portion of the foundation creating a cold joint at mid-depth of the footing. My question is what should I recommend as remediation?

The column is only a gravity column, therefore there are no concerns of lateral moments, only that created by the resisting soil pressure. Since there are no dowels between the two segments of concrete, shear friction based on ACI-318 cannot be attained. My thoughts were to determine the in-plane shear stress at the cold joint and have the contractor drill and epoxy reinforcement dowels required to resist that shear. Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[SlideRuleEra]

I have been on both sides of this situation before (at different times, of course). Here are my recommendations:

1. Assuming that you did not create this problem, you are under no obligation to accept inferior work. Have the Contractor remove and replace the footing, at their expense.

2. If the Contractor wants to salvage the exisiting work, have them hire an Engineer and prepare a detailed plan for remedial action and submit it to you for review and acceptance. Of course you will want the plan signed and sealed by the Contractor's Engineer. If it looks reasonable, accept the plan, and have the Contractor's Engineer verify the that the remedial action has been carried out per the plan.

3. Don't recommend any remedial actions yourself - then you may be "on the hook" if things don't work out.

This kind of problem happens often, it is manageable. Often the Contractors & their Engineers can come up with very creative (and acceptable) solutions.

Best Wishes

 

[AUCE98]

SRE,

Thank you for the help.

Regards,

AUCE98

 

[fepc]

AUCE98

Your proposed solution should work. However, I agree with SlideRuleEra. Notify the contractor that replacing the footing may be his cheapest solution as the cost of the engineering plus the repairs may be more. Also what about a fee for your time in evaluating a proposed solution?

Good Luck

fepc