July 1: Inspection "Passed with Flying Colors"

Ronnie came out to work on Friday morning and finished suspending the slab rebar above the moisture barrier with small pieces of concrete and wire bolsters.  Around 10:20 am, he awoke me with cell phone call asking for "the design" so I put on my bathrobe, got one of the 3 copies of the engineering design and put it under a weight on the patio table.

Sometime around 12:40 the inspector arrived for 1pm appointment.  I heard Ronnie and the inspector talking and opened up bedroom window shade to watch.  For the 3 minutes or so I was watching the inspector was mainly looking at slab preparation, then down at his notepad.  The inspector had a trimmed beard and looked a bit older than Ronnie.  Not long after 1pm, the inspector left and Ronnie knocked on front door.  "The Inspection Passed With Flying Colors!" he explained.  Though actually the inspection report, written by Wayne A. H* (illegible last name which Ronnie didn't know either, could be Hanuh) is a yellow carbon copy with dark grey writing.

He gave asked me to make copies of the inspection report (mainly a set of checked boxes) and the receipt for the $200 inspection fee.  He took the copies and I retained the originals.  The inspection report noted the 27" beam depths per engineering, but then had some abbreviation neither I nor Ronnie understood "16 UNDIST."  It noted that there was no wire mesh.  Ronnie said he would install the optional mesh on Saturday if possible.  He agreed that it would be installed no later than Tuesday, and the pour would be scheduled with local concrete company such as Ingram or Bexar Wednesday or as soon as it could be scheduled.

I asked if it was OK that he was adding wire mesh after inspection and he said it was, and I asked if being that the design was for brick and we were using much lighter fiber cement if that would mean it was even less likely to have trouble from ground shifting and he agreed it was "above and beyond" the requirements and should be fine.

I brought out my check carbon for the special payment I made on June 1 to cover engineering costs.  We agreed that I had covered the soil test, engineering, design copies, and the inspection fee ($200) in that payment for $535.81.  He suggested he had not collected $35 for digging the soil sample, so I included that $35 with the $670 advance I promised after the inspection, for $705 total.  He agreed to see about getting 4000 or 4500 PSI concrete as I asked him, and agreed he could handle it, and I said I would immediately reimburse him for the extra cost.  The minimum specification required by engineering is 3000 PSI.

He was also planning to use extra concrete to pour a concrete ramp.  He explained he would use "dowels" to attach the ramp to the slab, that would keep them from shifting apart like my patio and front entry sidewalk.  We agreed that it would go 1 inch beyond the 6 foot wide french doors on either side.

I later remembered talking to him about ramp before.  I did not (and still do not) like the idea of tying ramp to foundation, it worries me very much that this will put undue stress on the foundation.  I would prefer either free floating concrete ramp, and ignore the shifting, or a wood ramp.  I think given that choice before he recommended the wood ramp.  I'm planning to call him Saturday morning to make this change.  A wood ramp means that when patio is ultimately poured, the ramp can be replaced with decking, and moved to the side of the decking.  I think the wood is better because it allows easier changes, and can't damage the concrete slab, and probably won't shift as much either because it weighs less.  Of course the wood ramp wouldn't be as permanent, but given the unknown configurations of future patio that could be a plus.

I did some reading online and see that in some cases they use smoothed and greased dowels into the slab, with holes drilled after slab is poured, to allow some horizontal but not vertical movement for ramp.  The in other cases, the dowels are fixed into the foundation but the ramp has groves which fit over them, accomplishing the same thing.  Then in still other cases, they use felt in between ramp and slab, with dowels going through the felt.  I wonder if Ronnie had any of these more sophisticated ideas in mind.  Anyway, I still don't like the idea of connecting slab with ramp.  I'm spending a lot to make a slab as robust as possible amidst very expansive clay soil and I don't want to compromise that merely for a ramp.