Emergency – spilled concrete in yard
BillHartmann
| Posted in General Discussion on
My next door neighbor is doing a remodel and in the process pouring a new basement slab and doing some re-inforcement.
They brought in a concrete pumper and ran the hose down my yard (His house is actually over the property line, but that was done 1935).
Anyway the hose clogged before they even got any concrete into the basement. So they poped a joint and beat one it until it start flowing.
FLOWING ABOUT 1/4 YARD ONTO MY YARD!
They said that they would “clean it up as best they can”.
My question is how much damage will this do to the grass. I am not that concerned with the immediate damage, but will it keep new grass from growning and will the run off where the wash it down kill more grass downhill.
Replies
probably won't be much of a factor, unless there is some 'exotic' chems added to gain some working aspect in the mix - I'd think they could let it set up a bit, break it up, rake/shovel, and then evaluate - if the sod is intact, water for several hours with a sprinkler, give it a couple of weeks and evaluate again - main change I'd expect is calcium in the juice changing the PH - sulfer applied to the area would offset that - how 'maintained' is the lawn? one specie of grass? thick? - the more groomed the area, the more difficult to patch repair - if you have to go for seed, try to match specie/variety so color/drought response/freeze tolerance/etc will be the same -
My main concern was that they would just try to wash all of the concrete way.
But they scooped most of it up. And washed it but is still the sand and gravel.
Then then washing it down and walking around tore up what little grass that there was.
The problem is that last fall I had dug up this area for drain pipes and it was too late to get a good stand of grass and I new that there would be settling so it was half grass, half weeds, and half dirt.
I will probably get him to buy me a little sod. I need something down to control the errosion.
After seeing this I am think that if this did happen in part of the yard that had stiff stand of 3" grass that the think to do, if it was not walk all over, would have been just to scope the excess and get down to about 1" layer and just let it setup. The take out the concrete with the top of the blades.
What I do when placing concrete (because I only do very small jobs) is have a bunch of empty boxes standing by, about 12" x 12". Spilled or excess concrete goes in the boxes, about 3-4" deep. When it sets, instead of waste to put in the landfill, you now have free stepping stones.
-- J.S.
Since when is spilling concrete on your yard an emergency?
Since when is spilling concrete on your yard an emergency?
When it's someone elses fault - -
Ron
"Since when is spilling concrete on your yard an emergency?"
Since about 3 hours ago.
What I was wondering was it there was anything special to do before it setup.
if they spilled anything in your yard or did any other damage to your grass any thing else they are responsable to return it to perfect shape "we will clean it up as best we can" does not cut it dont let them get away with that.you were good enought to let them cross your yard if they are profesional at all they will take care of it without being told to
A popular solution on some larger job sites is to throw a few 2x4s around the concrete. Nail as necessary but no need to square it up. The lumber just confines the pile to a nice compact size and keeps an adequate edge thickness. Then place a piece of rebar, #4 will do, so that a loop sticks up.
Once the concrete sets up a chain fall and an "A" frame is used to hoist the pie into a truck. A forklift, crane or loader will also work. This leaves very little concrete behind and pulls out very little of the grass. This mini slab can be added to any other pour of sufficient size. Makes a nice post base and it also makes a dandy boat anchor.