# Bad Pour on River Rock Patio



## KHO (Aug 13, 2009)

I am looking for advice on a patio that had a bad pour and how to handle.  It was a river rock pour but the pumper failed at the end and the cement set before the full process was complete.  I have patches of solid cement and where they tried to expose the pebbles cement is pitted (sand blaster) and where they used the acid, the coloring, which was subtle red became red splashes.  Turns out the cement company sent the wrong pumper with the wrong size hose and it clogged up.  3/4 of the patio was poured this way and then the other 1/4 was poured correctly.  The bottom line is it is a mess.

My contractor wants me to lay flagstone or tile over the bad patio (since I only have about an 1" left between patio surface and sliding door).  I used large river rock on chimney and walkout basement exterior so don't want to go with another stone like flagstone.  Tile seems dicey to me on freeze/thaw issues.

Can I get some advice on tile application give the circumstances?  My contractor is talking about a slate?  Are there any other suggestions?  I ultimately just wanted the river rock with a subtle red to the concrete.  Now to get that will involve a jack hammer so want to see what other options there are..and obviously my contractor is trying to steer me in a different direction.  Please help!  Thanks

Kathy


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## glennjanie (Aug 14, 2009)

Welcome Kathy:
Your concrete company owes you new concrete and the contractor owes you at least half of the labor expense to remove the old and place a new patio to match the rest of the house.
Glenn


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## cibula11 (Aug 14, 2009)

I agree with Glenn 100%.  This is YOUR house and YOU make the calls.  Regardless of the amount of work required to tear out the old and replace it, that does NOT fall on you.  If you really want slate or flagstone instead of the concrete, then that is up to you.  Don't let your contractor convince you after a mistake.  (I would also add that flagstone may be more expensive....if so, they should do whatever they do for the same price as what you paid for the concrete).


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## yesitsconcrete (Aug 14, 2009)

regardless of the fault's source, you had no contract w/either the pumper OR the redi-mix supplier therefore no recourse OR enforceable contract,,, understand the contractor's position well BUT its HE who's on the other end of the contract,,, if you pay, you never get what you want,,, the wrong size hose's immaterial as is the size of the stone,,, changing the surface will call into play elevation - either you live w/a higher surface OR the conc's gotta be chopp'd out to accommodate the stone's thickness,,, btw, if you're in a freeze/thaw clime, the slate'll eventually loosen & pop off  

not to worry - there's enough markup to cover his costs if he's any good.


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