One thing so true about remodeling construction is, you never know what you are going to run into, until you run into it. So here is the deal, during a residential construction project in OC, we had been tearing into this patio, when during the demo we ran into some suspect construction, termites and wood rot, but none of it slowed us down a bit, it was all coming out anyhow, and it did so pretty easily.
Where we got the big surprise was when our guys went in with sledge hammers and started to demo the existing patio concrete slabs. Within several bone jarring minutes we found out these concrete slabs were built to with stand a nuclear attack. Sheeeeeesh, what was this guy thinking ??? Well, if you’ve done much construction you know you run into things like this, and this job came to a screeching halt while we figured out what to do. We were burning a few brain cells weighing the merits of continuing, when a couple of the crew, who had been digging around the patio concrete, informed us the slabs were over 3 feet thick.
That did it. We ordered a Bobcat to come in the next day and make short work of this madman’s concrete work. We lost a day, but it was nothing compared to the time we would have blown if we had tried to hang in there and do it with sledge hammers.
And since we had the Bobcat there, we had the crew use it to help with the grade. What the previous owner had done was sloped the patio deck towards the house, so when it rained all the water moved towards the house, working its way through the foundation and under the house. Not a good thing. So we got the Bobcat in there and changed the slope, so when we pour the new concrete patio the water will no longer flow towards the house, but instead to a drain placed strategically in the middle of the new patio. The foundation of the house is now safe! Got to tell you, nothing like a Bobcat to get the job done…fast.
Onward and upward…the crew at Aim Higher Construction