"BobK207" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 10:36 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I had some plumbing work done to relocate some drains, broke the 4"
concrete
slab and the trench was 2' x 8', but the main drain was located in a
different location and in order to reconfigure properly, the plumber
eventually made a trench 4' x 12' in size. This is a pretty big trench
and
I don't think I can just put back the sand, compact it, throw in a layer
of
moisture barrier and pour new concrete.

Do I need some sort of rebar or wire mesh? If so any recommendation on
procedures?

Thanks,

MC

The performance of a SOG (slab on grade) is very dependent on the
underlying soil conditions.

Often it is difficult for a DIY'r to be able to compact well unless
the soil is very amenable to compaction. In your case you have
sand...should be pretty much self-compacting.

How deep is the trench (width are not AS important)?

How upset will you be if the repair slab cracks or breaks up?

I'd go thicker, as a 4" slab is really too thin for rebar to help
much, gotta go to at least 6".
Keep the water / cement ratio of your mix low to minimize shrinkage.

Edge doweling & rebar is something I would do (because anything bigger
than hairline cracks would bother me) but I'm not really sure it would
be worth the extra effort. Plus if you've got chronically wet soil
conditions the added dowels in the 4" slab might rust & cause slab to
crack.

But if you want to do the "belt & suspenders" approach; dowel with #3
bars 12" o/c using an epoxy setting compound like Sika AnchorFIx #1 or
#3, span the trenched area with #3's at 12" (both ways) and know you
made every reasonable (or unreasonable) effort to prevent
cracking....but concrete (unless PT'd) cracks.

cheers
Bob


Thanks Bob. I would say the "disturbed" depth of the trench is about 8" to
12" below the bottom of the concrete slab. It's about 8 inches now but the
pipes are half buried at this point I think the plumbers shoveled some sand
back in after the did the work.

It's Miami, Florida so yes it has very high water table the cast iron pipe
we replaced were corroded on the external surface after 35 years.

If its hair line cracks it probably wouldn't bother me, but I don't think I
would know unless the tiles pop or there is an ant trail or subterrainean
termites. I plan to spray some termicides after the sand is compacted. I
was not going to do anything special other than spraying some water and jump
up and down repeatedly to compact the sand.

Originally the slab had lots of wire mesh in it.

I would be upset if the new section of the slab settles.

If I pour 6" thick slab instead of the original 4" will it offset the need
to do dowels?

MC