Can concrete footings be poured over 3 days.?

Question

We are building a brick summer house/garden office in the garden. The builder started mixing and pouring the concrete this morning, then ran our of cement. He said would finish on Monday but, I thought foundations had to be laid in one go. Will by building be damaged by this?

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

It's a Mickey Mouse builder that turns up with not enough cement to fill the hole.

Yes foundations on the scale you are talking about should be laid in one go and it would be normal to hire a cement lorry.

Will the building be damaged by this. There's a possibility depending on the lie of the land and the weight distribution of the structure.

This is a basic error, so I would be tempted to invite Trading Standards to the party on Monday. They will soon enough tell you if the work is up to scratch or not and if your builder isn't qualified the sooner he ceases work the more you will save in the log run.

Answer 2

not a good idea to continue over days with concrete. you may in the long run find cracks unless the builder knows how to prevent this. get a signed note guaranteeing this in case you need to take him to court in future

Answer 3

It is a bad Idea to to pour a foundation in different stages unless tied together with rebar. Pouring in different stages causes cold joints and they are not as strong, even when tying them together with rebar. Contact your city inspector and make sure he is aware of the issue. If it is a small building the weaker cold joint may be fine.

Answer 4

Better done in one go.

Answer 5

you should tie in the different pours with tie bars.

We do this on very large pours.

Seems that your chap is a bit un-organised if he has not planned ahead,and made sure that he has sufficient material before starting the task.

Answer 6

if he didnt leave re-bar sticking out for the next pour have him drill some holes and put some pieces in...another thing he could do is to cut a keyway in with a quickie saw to tie them together...

Answer 7

Should not matter ,concrete takes several weeks before it reaches its final stage of setting ,

Answer 8

should be ok if your builder paints on some PVA at the time of his next pour the instructions are on the container