RC Concrete (Ross Connors' owner) was hired to build 15 exterior cement stair treads, two above-ground cement deck slabs located adjacent to the living room and master bedroom, and a cement front patio slab.
During the construction of the cement stair treads, Ross Connors never verified the size of the stair treads before constructing them. As a result of his carelessness, all the cement treads had to be redone, causing us costly delays. In addition, he never did build the treads correctly so they could be mounted on the stair beams with standard stainless steel brackets. Each tread had the mounting holes in different locations. Our inspector noticed that he failed to make sure the spacing between the treads did not exceed the 4" spacing requirement.
We hired an ICC building inspector from another county to inspect all the concrete work to make sure it complied with all building codes. In addition to the stair treads not complying with building codes, neither the cement decks nor the cement patio met code requirements.
The entire cement patio had to be removed because Ross Connors had placed the cement against untreated lumber. He claimed it was not his fault because he is hired to only pour concrete and not to make sure the structure is correctly built or correctly waterproofed.
The most expensive mistake Ross Connors made was when he poured the cement slab for our above-ground cement decks. He made several costly mistakes for which he refused to take responsibility: 1. incorrectly poured the south side of deck slab so that it slopes and drains toward and not away from the house, 2. negligently poured cement directly over three door pans making them useless for draining water away from the house, 3. incorrectly poured the cement slab directly onto the waterproofing membrane that was the wrong thickness and had no protective drain board installed. The protective drain board would have protected the membrane from wire mess tears and allowed water that penetrates through cracks in the cement slab to drain away from the house, 4. failed to place the wire mess on pedestals or risers to make sure the mess was evenly located inside the cement slab, 5. incorrectly poured cement against the entire exterior OSB wall of the house without any metal flashing to prevent water from leaking between the slab and the house, 6. incorrectly poured cement over the fence railing posts and mounts before they were properly waterproofed, 7. incorrectly pour cement against the untreated trim and siding material, and 8. incorrectly built the cement deck drip edge so that water drains between the fascia and the gutter and not into the gutter.
The estimated costs for a permanent repair for Ross Connor's gross negligence, according to several contractors, will exceed $65,000. read more