He Made Us Pour His Concrete Slab 10 Inches Thick! (Waste of MONEY?)

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We were hired by one of our best customers to form, pour, and finish this house slab. The owner wanted to pour the entire slab 10" thick which is a little overkill for a basic house slab.
Was this a waste of money or not? Let me know in the comments.
Personally, I'll do whatever the owner is paying me to do. It's his money and if that's what he wants then that is what he is going to get.
I'm not judging. If you ask me for my opinion, then I'd tell you pouring the slab 10" thick isn't necessary, we've had very good luck pouring exact same slabs 6" thick and just thickening the edges to 10 - 12" thick by about 2' wide.
The slab pour and finish went very good and all is well. We ended up using about 25 extra yards of concrete pouring this thick.

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[TimothyFish]

Builders always "overkill" their personal houses, but that doesn't make it "wrong." It just makes it the kind of house you want to buy after they are done with it.

[fastflo]

Concrete is cheap. The guy is a builder he knows what’s up. More concrete is better. Everything now is so cheap and built to a minimum . Nothing wrong with doing things right . That is how I would want mine done . 👍🏻

[aeronothis]

Owned a big house (3.5ksqft) on a float slab that was 6" and there are already foundation issues 20 years into the houses lifespan. Thicker slab and/or extra rebar will increase the lifespan of a house and reduce the cost of future issues. Absolutely worth the extra initial cost to put in the extra crete.

[j.muckafignotti]

10” is appropriate when the customer asks for it, also, he’s running hydronic heating for his slab. 10” will be a lot more stable than a minimum cheap 6”.

[sbrazenor]

If he's been a builder long enough, he knows why he wants what he wants. He's obviously got the money to burn on it, so I don't see what it would matter. I usually go with overkill options when I do things, because I know that I'm going to get a level of quality that far exceeds the minimum.

[SoloSc]

It's definitely not overkill. I have background in structural engineering. It depends on the soil and design of the house, I have seen my architectural friends pouring 12" of foundation. I have personally seen too many houses with foundational problems with typical 6" foundation.

[MrMNRichardWright]

With radiant floor, the 10” slab should provide more thermal mass for heating in winter. Would be interesting to see if impacts heating costs and comfort.

[swilldenn]

Most builders know minimum code. Since its his house, he's probably tested the soil and has calculated everything twice, between how much weight is going to be added, plus how much settling the slab is expected to move.

[conanobrien]

In Slovenia, Europe, where I design houses, this wouldn't be enough and layers would be different.
1. We start with dig that is 45-50" below ground level.
2. 20" gravel filling compacted with roller
3. 2-4" concrete without any rebar to which we lay hydro insulation
4. 10" termo insulation that also prevent bigger damage in event of a earthquake
5. 12" reinforced concrete slab (with probably double amount of the rebar used from what I can see you used)
6. once again hydro insulation
7. brick walls
8. 6" systemic termo insulation board with channels for floor heating (much closer to the final layer and more efficient)
9. 4-5" "dry" screed depending on expected load
10 tiles, parquet or whatever you decide to walk on

[adubs.]

I've designed radiant systems like that for a living and 10" is a lot more mass to bring up to temp, but once its there it will stay for some time. Also helps to protect the tubing long term because of thermal stress. The thinner slab is more prone to cracking which will put pinhole leaks in that system. Once you start getting leaks, its game over for that loop because you basically have to use glycol, and therefore should not hook it up to the water system for makeup.

The only problem I see is those tubes were laid out below the rebar. They need to be closer to the top surface. Ideally 3-4" down. its insulated of course but you're still going to see a ton of back losses.

[paulperano]

I think it's a simple answer, "If the client wants a 10" slab or a 20" slab then its right." Foundations should be built to become a nightmare for a demolition crew to remove. As Fastflo1 said below, in the long run 'concrete is cheap' so don't be cheap laying your foundations !

[memadmax]

It’s his money, it’s his house, and the customer is always right.
Personally, If it was my house and I had the money to make it bulletproof, I would do the same thing.

[jameslmorehead]

My grandpa poured a slab for his garage/workshop back in the 60's (40'x60' building). He did a 2'x2' grade beam with two additional interior beams in a cross. Those were set with 5/8" rebar every 6 inches both horizontally and vertically. He let those set, then poured a 10" slab on top with the lines to let the slab fracture set above the beams. To this day, that building has not moved. Our soil around here sucks. It's 180'+ of heavy clay with layers of sand. Hydraulic movement is a big problem. We even added a second story to the building back in the 80's.

I don't think the contractor's 10" slab is overkill. I bet he won't have problems with it in his lifetime.

[joecifelli]

Smart decision by the home owner. The increase in strength and piece of mind for only 20+ yards of concrete is a wise choice.

[techburnsca]

You don't gain much by adding 4" more concrete without adding reinforcement. Doing it that thick, might as well double layer your rebars to make it worthwhile thickening your slab. Concrete is very strong under compression but weak under tension, that's why we use reinforcements. Thicker slab does not increase tensile strength that much. I'd rather go 8 inch with double layer reinforcement than 10"with one layer.

[ritste]

With radiant floor heating, the thicker concrete will hold more heat so the system won't have to cycle as much. He can probably schedule the floor heat to come on when he is getting the cheapest power. Not sure if this is the reason, but would be a good one.

[albertosa]

The owner is absolutely right. He Did a nice radier, solid foundation for his house. The difference of material equals a long life and healthy structure.

[gtfangel]

I can see how the 10" consistent slab saves labor putting in the haunches on a 6" slab. Would there be a $3k labor savings? Like someone else mentioned, there is a lot of thermal mass here, which helps in temperature moderation

[amead]

I’ve always been fascinated with watching a house getting built from beginning to end.

You only get one chance to lay the foundation. Might as well do it so you’re happy.

[MarkB-vpki]

There's still alot of good contractors out there but I'll tell you... you guys really layed that slab out like professionals...great job