In short: Three of the four Mickleham slab findings are fixable in the hour before the pour. The fourth is measured afterwards and is much harder to live with.
Pods that float
Waffle pods loose and not fixed down before the pour will move when concrete is placed around them. Pods that shift change the shape of the ribs, which is the structural part of a waffle slab. Fixing them down is quick and is exactly the sort of thing that gets left when a pour is booked.
Cover, again
Insufficient concrete cover to the reinforcement is the most universal pre-pour finding we record, in Mickleham and everywhere else. Steel too close to the surface is a durability problem measured in decades, and it is set permanently in the minutes after the inspection.
Bracing on the drawings but not on site
We have also recorded bracing shown on the engineering plans and not installed. Like every drawing-versus-site finding, it is not a matter of opinion - the detail exists or it does not.
The two that come after the pour
A slab deviating from level by more than the tolerance allows, and a slab extending beyond the timber frame by over twenty millimetres. Both are measured findings against the standard, and both affect what happens at every stage after them - framing, cladding and finishing all inherit the problem.
Written by the Owner Inspections team from inspections carried out in Mickleham. Licensed building practitioners, Building & Plumbing Commission registration CDB-U 53425.
