Stan in Oly, WA
Well-known Member
Yesterday I poured a concrete pad at the back door of the garage of a house I own. It runs uphill at a slight angle away from the door so that it can meet a sidewalk a few feet away without an offset of about an inch which would create a stumbling hazard. It is on the south side of the building, the direction all our rain comes from, so I view it as a large sheet to direct rainwater into the garage. To prevent this, I pressed a length of 1-1/2" galvanized steel pipe into the wet concrete to form a shallow (3/4" deep, M/L) channel to carry water away from the door. (The pad also slopes down slightly in that direction.)
By the time the concrete had set up enough for me to finish it last night, the pipe was stuck tightly enough that it would have taken a good whack to dislodge it. I couldn't decide whether the concrete was less likely to be damaged if I removed the pipe then, or waited until the concrete cured for a few days. Since it was a 50/50 choice to me, and one choice let me go home and the other might have involved staying to repair surface damage, I left the pipe where it was. The concrete will still be quite green this morning when I go there. Should I knock the pipe out now, or stick to my decision to let the concrete cure for a few more days before removing it?
By the time the concrete had set up enough for me to finish it last night, the pipe was stuck tightly enough that it would have taken a good whack to dislodge it. I couldn't decide whether the concrete was less likely to be damaged if I removed the pipe then, or waited until the concrete cured for a few days. Since it was a 50/50 choice to me, and one choice let me go home and the other might have involved staying to repair surface damage, I left the pipe where it was. The concrete will still be quite green this morning when I go there. Should I knock the pipe out now, or stick to my decision to let the concrete cure for a few more days before removing it?