A GC's throwaway comment about my expansion joints stuck with me

Last Tuesday on a pour in Austin, the general contractor walked by and said, "Man, you cut those joints deeper than the code book cares." I thought he was busting my chops, but he explained that his last three callbacks were all shallow cuts that cracked anyway. I always went 1/4 of the depth because that's what my first boss taught me, but this guy showed me his phone photos of failed joints at exactly that spec. I bumped it to a full 1/3 on the rest of that slab and honestly the saw work felt smoother too. Has anyone else gotten a better result going deeper than the minimum? I'm curious if that's just a Central Texas clay thing or if it applies everywhere.

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alex_taylor1018d ago

Is one GC's bad luck really enough to rewrite what every slab guy has done for decades?