Foreman said he'd fire me over a 1/8 inch slope, and he was dead right

Max Hart · 2026-10-11T13:00:04.389237+00:00

I always figured a little fall was close enough on a garage slab. Then a homeowner in Council Bluffs called us back because her floor puddled an inch of water against the wall every time it rained. We chipped out the apron and measured it, and I was off by almost a quarter inch across 20 feet. The foreman pulled out a 4 foot level and showed me the bubble sitting still, right on my work. I stood there with a chipping hammer in my hand and felt about two feet tall. What got me was a stat he quoted from the ACI, that water needs only a 1 percent slope to drain, which works out to about a 1/8 inch per foot. I had been eyeballing it for 6 years and calling that good enough. Now I keep a string line and a torpedo level in the truck and check every slab before I pull off it. How do you all handle drainage fall on outside flatwork when the plans do not call it out?

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Foreman said he'd fire me over a 1/8 inch slope, and he was dead right | Concrete Finishers - Pinecone Attack