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Rebar too close to the outside

Mark K said:
What about the building department inspector?
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That is a great question. I can tell you that is one of the more common code violations in concrete form work. Often there are one or two areas and the contractor promises to take care of it, otherwise it is a failed inspection and another delay in the project so we hope that they are professional enough to follow through. If it is in many areas, then it is a fail.

Mark, what you are probably not privy to is the amount of phone calls that come into the department after a failed inspection and the arguing because a concrete truck is scheduled and they can't get another truck for a few more days so the failed inspection turns into phone calls to the Building Department and often to a city manager or elected official which gets blown out of proportion.
 
Is it in the scope of the building dept inspector to play QC? Isnt that what the pm or super gets paid for? You know … even as i typed that i thought … yep, the BI should catch that. But they shouldn't have to.
 
The thing is, by the time I get there the job's super and the engineer of record should have looked at this. I am supposed to be a safety net to catch things that might get overlooked. What we are finding is that the super hasn't left the job trailer in days and no one wants to call the engineer for the inspection because it costs too much money.
 
tmurray said:
The thing is, by the time I get there the job's super and the engineer of record should have looked at this. I am supposed to be a safety net to catch things that might get overlooked. What we are finding is that the super hasn't left the job trailer in days and no one wants to call the engineer for the inspection because it costs too much money.
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Nailed it....Everyone is sooo concerned about the money aspect of construction and rarely does anyone care about what is right...
 
steveray said:
Nailed it....Everyone is sooo concerned about the money aspect of construction and rarely does anyone care about what is right...
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My favorite is walking through apartment buildings for a framing inspection and finding a bunch of the engineered wood floor joists drilled by the electrician. I look at the GC and ask what repairs the engineer has specified for the damaged joists. He looks back at me with a deer in the headlights look and ask "do you think I should get them to look at it?" Do I think you should get the engineer to review the field modification of their approved design? Not only do I think you should, I need their approval before I sign off at this stage and you are allowed to proceed.
 
Use spacer wheels to maintain Structural Engineers minimum required distance to edge of concrete, regardless of height or width of concrete wall
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tmurray said:
My favorite is walking through apartment buildings for a framing inspection and finding a bunch of the engineered wood floor joists drilled by the electrician. I look at the GC and ask what repairs the engineer has specified for the damaged joists. He looks back at me with a deer in the headlights look and ask "do you think I should get them to look at it?" Do I think you should get the engineer to review the field modification of their approved design? Not only do I think you should, I need their approval before I sign off at this stage and you are allowed to proceed.
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tm, Let the phone calls begin!
 
jar546 said:
That is a great question. I can tell you that is one of the more common code violations in concrete form work. Often there are one or two areas and the contractor promises to take care of it, otherwise it is a failed inspection and another delay in the project so we hope that they are professional enough to follow through. If it is in many areas, then it is a fail.

Mark, what you are probably not privy to is the amount of phone calls that come into the department after a failed inspection and the arguing because a concrete truck is scheduled and they can't get another truck for a few more days so the failed inspection turns into phone calls to the Building Department and often to a city manager or elected official which gets blown out of proportion.
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Some jurisdictions do not inspect the reinforcing steel when there is Special Inspection. If SI says it is good, then AHJ can accept that.

That said, in my AHJ, we walk with the SI. Any minor violations can be corrected same day and inspected by the SI without canceling a pour. This is a fairly common approach I would speculate.
 
tmurray said:
What we are finding is that the super hasn't left the job trailer in days
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I was doing an interior full demo and finishout with new storefront of a space in miami beach. In the summer. Can you say “hot & humid”? The gc super, who had dyed his hair bright green, did a quick enclosure of one storage room including a temporary a/c unit, and spent most of the day in there. That gc had ethical issues too.
 
As a building inspector I do look for the 3" minimum separation from steel. My problem is I have a full day of inspections and I'm lucky if I can get more than 30 minutes to look at everything. Then what happens after I leave? It could be a day, or days before they pour. AS a city inspector am I supposed to witness every concrete pour? I wish I could...
 
Last two jobs that had a third party inspector I found the dudes in the job trailer, hope their giving them the report.

I'm a bit paranoid of this relationship that the contractors have with the third party guys?
 
Joe.B said:
As a building inspector I do look for the 3" minimum separation from steel. My problem is I have a full day of inspections and I'm lucky if I can get more than 30 minutes to look at everything. Then what happens after I leave? It could be a day, or days before they pour. AS a city inspector am I supposed to witness every concrete pour? I wish I could...
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Is California a 3" minimum inside or outside and not relevant to rebar size?
 
Pcinspector1 said:
Last two jobs that had a third party inspector I found the dudes in the job trailer, hope their giving them the report.

I'm a bit paranoid of this relationship that the contractors have with the third party guys?
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You have every right to be concerned about the relationship between private providers and their relationship with the contractors. If the inspector upsets who is paying them, they could be replaced.
 
If the inspector is imposing a 3" cover to all situations then he is not enforcing the building code. Review ACI 318.

This could result in a safety concern in some instances if the engineer assumed the code required cover would be complied with.
 
Mark K said:
If the inspector is imposing a 3" cover to all situations then he is not enforcing the building code. Review ACI 318.

This could result in a safety concern in some instances if the engineer assumed the code required cover would be complied with.
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I did not say I was "imposing" a 3" cover to all situations. I said that's generally what I'm looking for. I should have specified that's what I'm looking for in foundation footings of standard residential construction. Most situations that involve various different applications of cover requirements also involve special inspections and an Engineer would be supervising the work.

I don't like to second guess Engineer's who are supervising their own designs, or performing special inspections. Take it easy man, this isn't a battle unless you make it one.
 
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