Skip to content
Menu

Coordination

Is the area ready? A readiness check before a trade starts

By Review.LivePublished 3 min readHow we write

At 7:05 on Monday the flooring installer tests the new concrete topping on the ground floor of a nursing school and shakes his head: too wet for the adhesive's warranty. By 7:30 his crew of four is back in the trucks, and 900 m² of sheet vinyl waits in the corridor.

Sunlight crosses a clear concrete floor beside bare block walls and an empty doorway.
Photo: Brands&People on Unsplash

Walk the area the day before the trade starts, with its foreman if you can, and check five things: previous work complete and inspected, access for the crew and its material, the area clean and clear, dimensions and surfaces within what the trade needs, and its services on. Fix what fails that afternoon, or move the start before the crew leaves home. The constraints log shows that the work is planned; only the area shows a slab still wet or a room full of another trade's material.

Book the slow tests ahead

Some checks cannot start the day before. INSTALL's published procedure for in-situ concrete humidity testing calls for the slab and the air above it to be at service conditions for at least 48 hours before testing, and each probe to equilibrate for 24 hours before a documented reading. Book the testing agency early and have it confirm the current standard, equipment instructions and reporting requirements for your job.

  1. Ask the foreman what the trade needs, and add what its specification section sets: work before it complete, access, clear space, tolerances, temperature, moisture and services.
  2. Book the tests that take days so results are in hand by the walk.
  3. Walk it the day before, in the area, item by item, with the foreman or lead hand.
  4. Measure instead of guessing: a straightedge on floors, a tape on openings, temperature and humidity readings.
  5. Decide by mid-afternoon: fix what can be fixed before morning; if the problem needs days, move the start and confirm it to the trade's office in writing.
  6. Record the result with photos in the daily report. The condition record when an area changes trades is the area handoff.

Common mistakes

  • Checking the schedule instead of the area.
  • Walking it at 7:00 on the day the crew arrives.
  • Accepting "it will be dry by Monday" without a test.
  • Letting the crew work around a problem.

Checklist

The day-before walk

  • Previous work complete, inspected and tested
  • Access for crew, material and lifts
  • Area clean and clear
  • Dimensions and surfaces measured
  • Moisture and temperature results in hand
  • Power, lighting and heat on
  • Go, or a new start confirmed in writing

Check your understanding

The ceiling foreman wants to start level 2 on Friday, but its above-ceiling inspection is not until Tuesday. What do you do?

Show the answer
Walk the floor and decide that afternoon. Tiles put in before the inspection may have to come out, so release only work it does not affect, such as another floor or, if your inspector accepts it, the grid alone, and tell the foreman before his crew leaves home.

Sources

  1. RH Testing on Concrete SlabsINSTALL (International Standards & Training Alliance) · accessed

Related articles