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a little project yesterday whipped my wrinkled ol butt.
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<blockquote data-quote="gman4691" data-source="post: 1822272" data-attributes="member: 43107"><p>Where I live, you wouldn't want to put a slab directly on the ground. The swelling & shrinking of the clays as they alternate between being wet (swelling) and drying out (shrinking) will end up cracking the slab. What most contractors around here do is to scrape a good bit of clay off of the footprint and replace it with some dirt with a higher sand content. The sand grains serve as a kind of shock absorber for the swelling/shrinking of the clays. For the perimeter and load bearing walls, a trench is dug (usually 18" - 24" deep) which is filled with steel reinforced concrete and poured at the same time the slab is poured. My explanation is probably over-simplified but the point is that the sand grains underlying soil distribute the force of shrinking and swelling so it isn't placed directly on the bottom side of the concrete. I've used sand underneath smaller concrete pads in the past located where clays are at the surface and haven't had any problems with them cracking over a period of 20+ years and counting. In some areas of the county, sand is at the surface and the shrinking/swelling isn't really an issue. Clays take on water in the crystal lattice and it tends to make them swell (some clays more than others). Wet sands however can shift depending on compaction, slope, and load. My contractor called the stuff he used "clay-sand". Enough sand in it to absorb the shock from shrinking and swelling but enough clay for the trenches to maintain their shape without the sides caving in.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gman4691, post: 1822272, member: 43107"] Where I live, you wouldn't want to put a slab directly on the ground. The swelling & shrinking of the clays as they alternate between being wet (swelling) and drying out (shrinking) will end up cracking the slab. What most contractors around here do is to scrape a good bit of clay off of the footprint and replace it with some dirt with a higher sand content. The sand grains serve as a kind of shock absorber for the swelling/shrinking of the clays. For the perimeter and load bearing walls, a trench is dug (usually 18" - 24" deep) which is filled with steel reinforced concrete and poured at the same time the slab is poured. My explanation is probably over-simplified but the point is that the sand grains underlying soil distribute the force of shrinking and swelling so it isn't placed directly on the bottom side of the concrete. I've used sand underneath smaller concrete pads in the past located where clays are at the surface and haven't had any problems with them cracking over a period of 20+ years and counting. In some areas of the county, sand is at the surface and the shrinking/swelling isn't really an issue. Clays take on water in the crystal lattice and it tends to make them swell (some clays more than others). Wet sands however can shift depending on compaction, slope, and load. My contractor called the stuff he used "clay-sand". Enough sand in it to absorb the shock from shrinking and swelling but enough clay for the trenches to maintain their shape without the sides caving in. [/QUOTE]
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a little project yesterday whipped my wrinkled ol butt.
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