Hello,
we are currently building and do not have an independent expert involved, so please no fundamental discussions on that topic. Interior work has been ongoing for two weeks. This week, we are bringing in an expert who can at least assess the current state to see if anything has gone wrong before everything inside is closed up. Key details:
- Angular bungalow built with solid construction (calcium silicate bricks) with an uninsulated roof and external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
- Approximately 1 m (3 ft 3 in) frost protection strip, reinforced concrete slab foundation (there is definitely a type of dimpled membrane underneath)
So far, from what I could see, I have not found any major errors. Last week, the electricians started and had to partially remove the wooden formwork of the ring beam while laying the electrical wiring for the lighting. At two points, we noticed that the concrete in the ring beam was not properly compacted in certain areas. A photo is attached. Since interior work has already begun, it is no longer really feasible to remove all the wooden formwork (160 m² (1720 sq ft) living area, and the ring beam covers all the interior walls as well).
Should I be concerned about this? In principle, with the external insulation and assuming no thermal bridges occur, the ring beam should always remain dry and corrosion should not be an issue, right? In this case, it is "only" a non-load-bearing interior wall, but what if similar voids have occurred in other areas? The builder does not consider this critical (our relationship with him is good).
we are currently building and do not have an independent expert involved, so please no fundamental discussions on that topic. Interior work has been ongoing for two weeks. This week, we are bringing in an expert who can at least assess the current state to see if anything has gone wrong before everything inside is closed up. Key details:
- Angular bungalow built with solid construction (calcium silicate bricks) with an uninsulated roof and external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
- Approximately 1 m (3 ft 3 in) frost protection strip, reinforced concrete slab foundation (there is definitely a type of dimpled membrane underneath)
So far, from what I could see, I have not found any major errors. Last week, the electricians started and had to partially remove the wooden formwork of the ring beam while laying the electrical wiring for the lighting. At two points, we noticed that the concrete in the ring beam was not properly compacted in certain areas. A photo is attached. Since interior work has already begun, it is no longer really feasible to remove all the wooden formwork (160 m² (1720 sq ft) living area, and the ring beam covers all the interior walls as well).
Should I be concerned about this? In principle, with the external insulation and assuming no thermal bridges occur, the ring beam should always remain dry and corrosion should not be an issue, right? In this case, it is "only" a non-load-bearing interior wall, but what if similar voids have occurred in other areas? The builder does not consider this critical (our relationship with him is good).
This is not a wooden cover, but a U-shaped wooden form that is meant to stay in place. One more thing I just noticed: the steel reinforcement bars appear to be placed right next to each other here. Shouldn't they (I’m not sure if there are 2 or 4 of them) be distributed evenly within the ring beam / bond beam?