Would the integrity of concrete floors and blockwork on an unfinished build be compromised?

MidlandsJack

I know of an unfinished house that was started around the time of the 2008 recession and construction was halted when the recession hit. Concrete slab floors were poured and block work built to wallplate level. Roof was never built so the concrete has been exposed to the elements for the best part of the last 15 years.

My question is this; would the integrity of the concrete be impacted by this exposure over the time period?

TIA

If it was done right the concrete etc will be stronger now than when it was laid as concrete continues curing more or less forever (hence Roman concrete is still rock-solid in many places). Concrete should be kept wet (ideally underwater actually) for as long as possible to cure more slowly and therefore stronger (keeping it wet for a week after laying can increase the strength of concrete by about 50% I think, and keeping it underwater for months can double (I think) it's effective strength as compared to concrete that is allowed to dry out straight away.

Also if you think about it, how many concrete footpaths are laid to a depth of 4 inches of concrete on a minimal amount of hardcore & then left exposed for many decades with zero maintenance and are fine, even without keeping it wet etc as above? Plus all those concrete walls around the place? Concrete would be fairly useless if exposure to the elements caused it to crumble.

But it's a late Celtic Tiger era build, so you have to assume there's a relatively high probability that it was NOT done right in the first place (think pyrite, mica, god knows what other minerals will become household terms shortly in future) so it's probably a good idea to get it examined & tested professionally if there's any intent to complete construction.

Any timber should be ripped out & recycled — that will obviously be rightly fcuked by 15 odd years of exposure to Irish weather.

Yellow_Fern

U values of walls wont match current needs. How does that work? Are you required to renovate to a 2022 standards?

Lumen

Corroded wall ties?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119494508#Comment_119494508

Good point. I was assuming 9 inch cavity blocks for some reason.

Wouldn't wall ties be very corrosion resistant though? And likely to be fairly sheltered in any event?

MidlandsJack

Thanks for the information folks. Much appreciated. I suppose my worries were more about the blockwork than about the concrete slab flooring.

Blockwork doesn't appear to be affected by mica or other mineral inclusions as there is no sign of crumbling.

I think it was more the idea that the blockwork is generally protected from the elements fairly soon after being constructed and considering this build has not been that perhaps the integrity of the walls could be called into question