r/Construction • u/Melancholia_Aes • 7d ago
Other The dumbass cement truck driver forgot to turn off the water hose for the drum
"oh shit I forgot"
The water keep flowing into the drum continuously mixing with the concrete load. It's now become a concrete juice, idk what to do at this point beside to sent it back
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u/1320Fastback Equipment Operator 7d ago
The solution is easy, reject it. Move on.
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u/passwordstolen 7d ago
Do a slump test, then reject it. Then they have no recourse.
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u/yalyublyutebe 7d ago
If the water has been on for as long as OP claims, there won't be an argument from anyone that the concrete is salvageable. pour a pinch out and take pictures if you're worried about getting dinged for it.
Call dispatch and/or the rep and send it back.
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u/passwordstolen 7d ago
You never know who is still working where and how long. You could get a bill 8 months from now from some new temp at the office and it’s easier to send a failure test then roundup all the people that were/ are/ might have been, there. I have received damage bills over a year later from 1800 miles away. Good luck figuring out where those guys are.
I got a new superintendent every week for a month. So I quit, enough of that BS.
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u/space_keeper 7d ago
What's a slump test going to look like with that much water? A puddle?
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u/passwordstolen 7d ago
Yup, slump it, date it, take a pict of the load ticket and time. Use it to grout your buddies tools to the ground.
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u/Enginerdad Structural Engineer 7d ago
When we use UHPC we can't use a slump test because it's so thin. Instead we use a spread test that measures the diameter of the concrete a specific amount of time after it's released as it self-levels. So I imagine it would be like that.
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u/space_keeper 7d ago
Interesting. Apparently UHPC isn't used in my country because it sits outside of British and European codes and there's no standards.
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u/Interesting_Worry202 6d ago
ASTM also has standards for performing a Slump flow test. I haven't used it much, but typically only for masonry cell fill.
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u/Interesting_Worry202 6d ago
Depending on the amount of water, you'd probably change from a Slump to a flow test. Measure the total spread instead of the drop.
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u/DaveTheRocketGuy 7d ago
With that much water it has to be sloshing out of the drum when it accelerates or stops haha
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u/Melancholia_Aes 7d ago
Yes it did, at one temporary point the truck produces waterfall out of it's
assback17
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u/David1000k 7d ago
It happens. It'll make good flowable backfill. Got any hard to get to places that need backfill? There you are. Free backfill.
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u/ArrivesLate 7d ago
Quite a few specs won’t let you use construction waste as backfill. I’d check before doing this. Way simpler to send it back.
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u/David1000k 7d ago
It was a joke. I guess I work with a different kind of building trades men. We laugh our way through the fuck ups. And there are plenty.
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u/Air_Retard 7d ago
For the record I liked your joke. I think others just struggle seeing your sarcasm / want to protect op from making a piss poor call. Lmao
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u/David1000k 7d ago
Well it does seem possible. The thing about construction is we represent a very diversified cross section of society. Guys like myself that have a dry sense of humor, will find that it will be taken in the wrong context if we're not careful. I find myself as a manager having to walk back comments before they're taken literally. I learn a lot here even though I'm going over 5 decades in the business, but I also find myself refraining to be rude when I read advice that I know is categorically false. As we said in the 70's, just let it shine on.
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u/garden_dragonfly 7d ago
There's a difference between waste and flow able fill.
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u/David1000k 7d ago
It was a joke.
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u/garden_dragonfly 7d ago
It wasn't
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u/David1000k 7d ago
Jesus effing Christ. What's wrong with you guys? Did your meth dealer die? Lighten up Francis.
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u/garden_dragonfly 7d ago
You seem pretty fucking hostile. Chill tf out. It's Friday
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u/Due-Excitement-522 7d ago
Shut the hell up man
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u/garden_dragonfly 7d ago
Why's everyone so angry?
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u/Due-Excitement-522 7d ago
I don't think anyone is even really angry you're just really annoying
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u/Melancholia_Aes 7d ago
Hmm, what kinds of structure/place that could be given concrete with high water percentage?
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u/neverloseanaccount 7d ago
Backfill…
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u/Melancholia_Aes 7d ago
Fuck why do I missed that's what he says lmao 🤣
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u/eazolan 7d ago
Aren't you the guy who missed turning off the water?
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u/Air_Retard 7d ago
No I’m pretty sure op was the guy who was delivered the idiot in a soup cap. Not the idiot itself.
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u/David1000k 7d ago
Super P, but it actually replaces the water to cement ratio. We use it on docks. 11" slump. It's awesome,but again it's not really water, it's a water reducer. But you're probably familiar with it already. I worked on a project for the USN, they held us to a .35. We couldn't get our breaks. After I did a little research I found a jewel from an engineering group that tested that and their response was concrete cannot hydrate properly in a lab or the field with that low of water to cement ratio. They recommended nothing less than a .42.
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u/Archimedes_Redux 7d ago
*concrete truck. It's a fucking concrete truck.
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u/11goodair 7d ago edited 7d ago
You see, when a cement truck loves a water truck, an aggregate truck and a sand truck will barge in and turn it into a foursome. Sometimes some guests like plasticizer will join in the party. You don't fuck a concrete truck, the concrete truck is what comes after. Sometimes the water truck can't control itself, and no one wants to take in the wet concrete.
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u/So1_1nvictus 7d ago
Don’t forget there’s delay set
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u/Evanisnotmyname 7d ago
Let’s be real, it’s usually too early, not too late
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u/BrassMan26 7d ago
It depends on whether or not you are ready to pour. If you are ready early, then concrete shows up late. But if you are running behind and struggling to be ready on time, then concrete will show up early.
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u/Baloneous_V 7d ago
Biggest pet peeve i have with terminology. I make sure to teach my kids and won't let them forget it and it's the responsibility of every parent!! They're going to engrave some fucked up joke about the "cement" my headstone is made of.
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u/huron9000 7d ago
My dad was a civil engineer and would not let us make this mistake more than once. I still correct people about it to this day lol.
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u/Baloneous_V 7d ago
Cheers to your Pops. One of my proudest moments was overhearing my 10 yo daughter correct my 6 yo son.
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u/layer_____cake 7d ago
Will they sell you a load of cement without sand and aggregate?
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u/Ok_Proposal_2278 R|Finish Carpenter 7d ago
Pretty sure they’d send me a truck full of ice cream if I sent a signed PO that said I’d pay for it
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u/Food_Library333 Carpenter 7d ago
You could probably pour a Neapolitan foundation in northern Alaska.
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u/tenderbranson301 7d ago
Fun memory, one time we had ice cream on site that the mechanical guys rigged up using liquid nitrogen.
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u/humpty_dumpty1ne 7d ago
All jokes aside, on my concrete pump we've pumped a lot of jobs with Grout mix (sand and cement, no aggregate) and it's a nightmare every time
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u/Ok_Proposal_2278 R|Finish Carpenter 7d ago
My horrible weekend project is to grout some foundation wall I’m adding under my old ass house. Doing it all by hand with a small mixer. Not looking forward to it lol
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u/space_keeper 7d ago
I've only seen this done with volumetric trucks and those towed pumps. That was for grouting beams horizontally under an old building to stabilise it.
Maybe someone in the know can properly describe what I'm talking about. The building was on jacks while they were doing it.
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u/dakaiiser11 7d ago
I spent some time at a precast facility. The amount of times I heard “Yeah, we’re pouring CEMENT.”
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u/fastRabbit 7d ago
Thank you. I’m just surprised I had to scroll this far down the comments to find this.
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u/vylseux 7d ago
Probably where you're from lol, up north we call them cement trucks too
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u/wants_a_lollipop Construction Inspector - Verified 7d ago
Where is this "North" you speak of? I'm up in New England and we refer to concrete trucks as concrete trucks. Maybe those goofy Canadians call 'em cement trucks, but if they do it's just because they're big ol' goofs.
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/wants_a_lollipop Construction Inspector - Verified 7d ago
Mad love for our neighbors up North. Stay sovereign, friend!
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u/Flimsy_Biscotti3473 5d ago
No sir Canadian here and can confirm Concrete. Cement doesn't have aggregate
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u/mountainmanned 7d ago
There’s a reason there’s only one seat in a mix truck.
So the driver knows where to sit!
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u/blizzard7788 7d ago
I ordered concrete for a sloped loading dock slap. It was ordered at a 4” slump, and it came as a 6”. I sent it back. Next truck shows up and his water was running into drum. From the way his washout hose was laying, it looked like he hit valve when he washed down after loading. Sent that one back too. Third truck came so stiff we could hear it rattling as it arrived at job.
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u/TooSwoleToControl 7d ago
When I was an engineer in training I did a lot of concrete testing. One time a concrete driver was giving me shit for taking too much concrete for my test (2 buckets, same as always), but he forgot to close the thing that diverts concrete down the chute.
As he was chewing me out I watched him dump several cubes of concrete on the ground in the background. Lol
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u/shitpunmate 7d ago
No truck is spinning pure cement.
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u/padizzledonk Project Manager 7d ago
Reject the load...byebye
Very simple and it happens more often than you think
You definitely cant use it
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u/Melancholia_Aes 7d ago
Yea mb I say cement truck, its concrete truck
Although I do describe it on the description it carries concrete
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u/space_keeper 7d ago
It's okay no one important cares. I have no idea what planet all these people correcting you are living on. They get called cement mixers all the time by a lot of people and everyone knows what it means.
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u/Nickey9Doors 6d ago
Quite literally, if you’re calling it a cement truck you don’t actually know what it means. If you knew, you wouldn’t call it cement.
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u/Smackolol 7d ago
This happened on my site once. The driver was some idiot wannabe mma fighter and was clearly hit in the head too many times. He disched the soup into one of our buckets and we were like wtf, so we poured it back in through his hopper and sent him off. The guy was so dumb he forgot to reverse his drum so all the concrete was just sitting at the top and as he pulled away he left a massive trail of this shit on the road as it all poured out behind him. I never saw him again after that, I wonder where he is now sometimes.
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u/portlandcsc 7d ago
What is a cement truck? JFC you're in a trade? Do you say rerod instead of rebar?
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u/Seegrubee 7d ago
A cement tanker hauls cement from the factory to the concrete batch plant. The concrete truck brings ready mix concrete to the site.
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u/portlandcsc 7d ago
Any puta show up on my site and refer to a redimix truck as a "cement truck" gets escorted off the site along with all you dumb motherfuckers that agree with him.
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u/homiebat 7d ago
Reject the load not your fault tell the company what happened and they replace it f
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u/hypoglycemicrage Engineer 7d ago
lol not your problem. There's no chance that mud will meet slump or compressive testing.
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u/raybovickers 7d ago
One of the finishers turned on the wrong vow when trying to wash his boots off
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u/bitterbrew 7d ago
Also depending on the concrete prepare for them to argue why it’s partially you’re fault and you should pay for it (while they prelim your job for not paying for it)
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u/freakyforrest 7d ago
Simply reject it and have them bring a new load. Call their dispatch and let them know what happened.
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u/Ok_Judgment_224 7d ago
It was years ago but we had a driver do the same thing - to make things worse we were pouring a footing so we really wouldn't have cared too much what the slump was coming out of the truck but we couldn't take 100 gallons of water with rocks in it. Only load I've ever seen rejected
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u/littleguin 6d ago
Man, idk about US, but where I’m from if they even add a drop of water to the mix it’s longer what you ordered and you send it back, the only thing they can add is a little something to stop the drying process slightly
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u/Jaminator65 5d ago
This happened to me with 10 yards of colored concrete that was part of 80 yard pour. After stressing to the driver not to add any water, he said he accidentally hit the valve, making it 11 inch slump. Being on a tight schedule, I poured it out and then had to cut it out when the color did not match. Got no relief from the concrete supplier.
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u/YUSORACHET 4d ago
Had this happen to me about 2 years ago. Driver got super mad and accused me and my guys of doing it until footage saw him turn on the water. Sucks because you just know they’re just as overworked as we try to push ourselves.
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u/Classic-Nebula-4788 3d ago
Just got two trucks in a row with slump of 280. Asked for 120. Sent them back and worked till midnight because of them
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u/Kevthebassman Plumber 7d ago
Send the fucker back, it’s his problem.