Concrete

[mzaitz]

All,

I have a project where a 5 ft wide wall footing was placed during the Thursday when the weather was more than 50 degrees (air temp) then that night it was below 32 degrees (air temp). To my knowledge, no protection was provided on the top of the footing. The footing has a U shaped rebar sticking out and there are cracks at every piece of rebar running across the 5 ft width. See the attached photograph. It is from the Owner's rep so I will need a formal response. The footing supports a 2 story load bearing tilt up wall. I have not received information on the concrete temperature yet but have requested it. Since the top of the concrete was not protected it likely shrunk due to temperature and the rebar restrained it giving the cracks. I do not see this as being an issue but do not have much experience with this. Any thoughts or concerns?

 

[Ingenuity]

Looks like plastic settlement cracking. What is the depth of the footing?

 

[mzaitz]

In the office so more information:

The footing is 5 ft wide x 2 ft thick with 6#6 longitudinal and #4@12" T&B transverse.

I have asked a host of questions but have not received answers yet. These include concrete temperature, how much of the footing was placed on Thursday, when it was placed, etc.

It appears to be plastic cracking but I am thinking that the cold weather did not help. In the photo, the 2 longitudinal bars appear to have been in place (there appears to be concrete on them). My thoughts are, it was a cold evening/night with low humidity and that started the plastic cracking but then the longitudinal bars shrank due to the cold and made the cracks slightly worse. I do not believe there is any issues with the cracks.

 

[CTW]

Are there any photos of the footing before it was poured? Did you or anyone else inspect the reinforcing before it was poured? The cracks seem unusually wide for having (6)-#6 in a 5 ft wide footing, so I'm wondering if the reinforcing was placed according to the plans. These questions may be part of the questions you submitted that haven't been answered yet, but I thought I'd ask them anyway.

 

[mzaitz]

CTW

Have asked for that already. I did not inspect the footing, however, there is a Special Inspection firm handling inspections per the code but I have not seen anything from them yet.