New Foundation - Is it okay to be so rocky?

[Brendamp]

Hello,

I'm having a new house built. I don't know anything about it...so I hired a general contractor. I went out and looked this weekend and the foundation wall looked sort of crumbly. It's in the crawl space, so I'm not concerned about appearances, but I want to know if it will effect the structural integrity. You can see the first image in greater detail if you click on it.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9050/rockyfoundation001.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/231/rockyfoundation001.jpg/)

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/6779/rockyfoundation002.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/rockyfoundation002.jpg/)



I don't want to complain if it's not a problem, but if it is, I want to say something before they get much farther.

Thank you in advance for your time and advice.

[RTF]

What you have are called honeycombs. When they poured the walls they did not vibrate the concrete as it settled into the form. We would never leave it like that. It should be rubbed/filled with a concrete sand mix so that it matches the rest of the wall and fills all exposed voids. It should not effect your structural integrity. Make sure it is waterproofed properly.

[Brendamp]

Hello RTF,

I really want to thank you for taking the time to answer. I feel much better now. It's hard to know where to turn to get an unbiased answer on things like this. I'm sure glad this site is here, and that people like you are willing to spend your time answering questions for folks like me.

Thank you again,
Brenda

[davidpeters]

If they are doing work like this now , it means more bad work is to come. I would never let my concrete workers get away with doing work like this. That wall is sitting on a concrete footing which has also been done very poorly. as a General contractor their job is to make sure that the concrete contractor is doing a good job. Thats why your paying them so much money to over look your house construction. This is not as critical as other things in your house like framing, electrical and plumbing. I would tell your general contractor that you will not put up with this type of work. As a general contractor myself it is my duty to please the customer. Customer is always right.

Thats just my 2 cents