New Construction in Inglewood on a Post-Tensioned Slab
New houses in Inglewood on post-tensioned slabs where the soils report finds swelling clay, with tendon layout, stressing records and city review.
Steel tendons pulled tight through the concrete after it cures let a slab on clay act as one stiff plate, and that post-tensioned slab is our first recommendation for a new Inglewood house whenever the soils report finds expansive clay. Clay of that kind heaves as it soaks up water and contracts as it dries, lifting an ordinary slab in one corner and dropping it in another. A tensioned slab rides those movements with far less cracking.
Tendons, stressing and the inspection record
Each tendon is a high-strength strand in a greased plastic sheath, laid in a grid at the spacing and height the engineer's slab plan sets, with anchors at the slab edges. After the pour, once the concrete reaches the strength the plan calls for, a hydraulic jack pulls each strand and locks it off. The crew records how far every tendon stretched, and the special inspector compares those numbers with the design before the tails are cut and the anchor pockets are grouted. A tendon that stretches short or long is investigated before work moves on.
Plumbing, future drilling and the city's review
Drain lines, conduit and every other pipe that passes through the slab are set before the tendons, and the tendons are routed around those sleeves on the plan. The tendon layout goes into the house records, because drilling into a tensioned slab later, for a post anchor or a new drain, can cut a strand that is under great force. Any later penetration starts with a scan. Plan check at the City of Inglewood covers the slab design with the structural sheets, an inspector sees the tendons and steel before the pour, and the stressing record goes into the permit file.
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New Construction in Inglewood: questions
The soils report sets the slab design, so its lab work matters here: an expansion index test on the clay, and the moisture and swell figures a post-tensioned slab is engineered from. A boundary survey and a topographic map come with it, and on an urban lot the survey also places the curb, the driveway approach and any existing utility connections the new house will reuse.
If an Inglewood lot backs onto an alley, the build can be supplied from behind, though alley width limits truck length. An alley also serves other garages, so it can be blocked only while a load comes off, and material moves straight through a rear gate. Shorter trucks mean more deliveries for the same house.
From the engineer's slab plan, yes. The detailed tendon layout comes later from the post-tensioning supplier as shop drawings, so the slab is priced from the plan's tendon spacing and edge depths, and the supplier's drawings are checked against that plan before the pour. Stressing and the special inspection are listed with the slab.
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