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A concrete foreman in Denver told me 'The spec is a guide, not a law' during a foundation pour.
We were setting up for a big pour on a strip mall foundation, and the plans called for a specific slump that just wasn't working with the mix we had on site. The foreman, a guy named Ray with 30 years in, looked at the engineer's stamp and just said that line. He adjusted the water on the fly to get it workable, and the pour went perfect. It made me think about when to stick to the book and when to use your gut on site. How do you all handle it when the specs don't match the real job in front of you?
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matthewgonzalez1mo ago
Hold up, adjusting the water content on a foundation pour is a huge call. Doesn't that change the whole water-cement ratio and risk the concrete strength? I get that the slump was off, but I'd at least radio the batch plant for a mix tweak before just adding water on site.
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