Any concrete experts? Come inside

In reply to DrMikeCSI :

Yup. That's a control joint, not an expansion joint. It did its job and controlled the crack, but needed an actual expansion joint. 

He is insistent that he wasn't finished, and he can finish it. 
Here is his plan:

"I was going to grind it all smooth, then cut the expansion joints, then seal and paint."

He does have a large surface grinder that he borrowed. I mentioned the 1.5" difference in height, he really didn't have a reply to that. 

he said the slab is 5" thick. Not sure how, that would mean the rest of the driveway is 7" thick lol. 
 

I asked about rebar. Uhhh, here's the pics of rebar. 

In reply to DrBoost :

That existing concrete look pretty new. Is it originally just sitting on black dirt without any gravel bed?

What does he mean "wasn't finished?" A big part- the most important part- of concrete work is finishing it. But you don't get to set the schedule on when to finish it, the concrete tells you when you need to finish it,  the day it is poured. You don't let it dry and "finish" it later! And shouldn't there be compacted aggregate under the slab, not just poured onto the dirt? 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

No. 
 

Compacted dirt is a satisfactory base for a driveway. (Although black dirt may have a lot of organics)

No,no,no,no, just no.

The concrete on dirt is normal in Florida, no freeze/thaw heaving. The "rebar job", well it just isn't. The best case would have rebar epoxied in holes in the edge of the old work, wire mesh in field. You can start fights over if the mesh should be 1/3 up from the bottom or 1/3 down from the top. (1/3 up from the bottom; correct).

The fact it was bag mixed tells me there is no way the water to portland ratio was maintained for any kind of strength. Too much water= weaker concrete.

Nicely say, no thanks, and find someone who knows what they are doing.

In reply to jgrewe :

Dr Boost is in FL. Concrete on dirt (without compacted aggregate) is normal. 
 

I'm not sure we've confirmed the job was bag mixed. I don't think it was. 

SV reX said:

I'm not sure we've confirmed the job was bag mixed. I don't think it was. 

Does the photo with the pallet full of bags not suggest that?  (genuine question, I know basically nothing about concrete)

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

I don't see a photo with a pallet full of bags. I see a photo with 3 empty pallets and no bags. 
 

If that was bag mixed, it would have taken more than 3 pallets. And it would have taken an enormous amount of time (like 3 days of mixing).

The pour looks like it was poured too wet, not like it has 500 cold joints in it.  And this doesn't look like the work of a guy that wanted to work harder.

Its possible but it hasn't been confirmed, and the pour doesn't look like it to me. 

I see it now. 
 

If that was bag mixed there is absolutely no saving it.

In reply to SV reX :

9 and 10 post above. It looks like 2.5 pallets of sacks of concrete mix. It also looks like there are more broken pieces of concrete that weren't removed before the new pour began. It looks to me like there was a void under that side of the pour that allowed the concrete to break.

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

Yeah, the pics on page 3 are quite different than page 1.

it's a big mess on both pages.   I don't know what else to say...

Coming back later "to finish" concrete FFS. 
 

Good luck extracting yourself from any further effort (from) or payment (to) the friend. Tell him TYFY. 

Any update??

When I met with him on Friday he was really insistent that he could fix it and it simply isn't done yet. That's why it looks like deep fried cat turds.

Normally I'd have spoke my mind, but in an effort to keep relations in tact I said I'd think about his plan to grind the concrete. That's when I posted here. 

I called him Saturday to tell him simply we're going a different direction. Thanks to all of you, and especially the pros, I could say that I consulted with a few concrete professionals I know out of state, and they all agreed that the only way forward is to scrap what is there and start over. I think he was totally confused.

I paid him $1,000 for what he did. I am not pursuing the money to save relations. It's my fault for not being more diligent. Regardless of my health issues or the situation with my mom and sisters, there's due diligence that I neglected. I paid $1,000 for that education.

I did not ask him to break up and haul away what is there because I'd really like to have him off-site. Not sure what other damage could be done, but I don't want to find out.

Thanks again all of you that chimed in. You didn't have to take time out to help, but you did.

Two things. 

One, that is spectacular. I'd jackhammer the entire thing, at least to the joints.  Trying to bond concrete to a rough edge like that is never going to finish well.

Two, it makes me feel better about the garage floor I poured 30ish years ago.  I knew just enough about concrete to get through the job, but I was way, way under staffed, under prepared, should have poured it in two or three separate pours, etc.  It's ugly, but smoother than the above, and is still functional and sturdy as hell three decades later.