# Foundation ground rod cut off !



## SNAFU22 (Jun 9, 2014)

Greetings. New to the website. Licensed electrician here in Southern Ohio with an issue I have not encounterred before and wondering if anyone has any ideas. We ran underground to a newly costructed residential garage, wired it all up etc and then found that the remodeler apparently cut the rebar/ground off when they put the walls up. I suppose he didn't realize what it was and since it was in the way of his sill plate he just cut it off :001_huh: Garage has been finished since Feb/March though we were only able to get underground run completed within the past month or so because of ground conditions due to inclement weather. We have nothing to attach a foundation ground to now so we're waiting to call in the inspection until we can figure out how we're going to get something attached to a ground rod. In 20 years I have never experienced this before so just trying to see if anyone else out here has run into this problem and figured out a way to make it right.


----------



## 3xdad (Jan 25, 2011)

In my state, on new construction, a ufer is a must. If not we have to run 20' #2 bare, 30" below grade attached to two rods.

i would give your inspector a call and ask. Sounds like you don't have a ufer anymore, so just build an electrode and call it a day. Maybe two rods 6' apart is all you need.


----------



## Ultrafault (Dec 16, 2012)

If the builder takes a demo hammer to the foundation he will find a place to attach.


----------



## Voltron (Sep 14, 2012)

Ultrafault said:


> If the builder takes a demo hammer to the foundation he will find a place to attach.


Maybe....maybe not. I would just call and see if two rods are acceptable, here it is if there's no ufer.


----------



## 3xdad (Jan 25, 2011)

Yeah, i would love to have a builder own up and pay for his mistakes, but sometimes, demoing under a wall or whatever is not the best for the customer if there is another alt. OK'd by the AHJ.


----------



## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

Just a FWIW, are you sure your footer meets the definition in 250.52 (3).

If it does, it shouldn't be too hard to find where the old one was.

Ive chipped a couple out before, it was that time consuming.


----------



## SNAFU22 (Jun 9, 2014)

I frankly never understood the change requiring the ufer ground in the first place. I thought those were usually only required in drier areas(western states) or for storage of hazardous materials etc, but in any case at this point I think my only option is to give the inspector a call in the morning. A friend who does concrete work tells me he can even paint the rebar orange where it exits the top of the wall and the framers will still manage to cut it off :whistling2: so apparently it's not an uncommon problem. I guess I have been lucky up to this point. We looked for the rebar for 20 minutes all over the garage. I just didn't want to believe someone was stupid enough to cut it off. To add insult to injury the concrete guys backfilled our trench already and we haven't even been inspected yet . That I have had happen before and usually digging up a few spots for the inspector to check depth etc is enough but still another aggravation.


----------



## Semi-Ret Electrician (Nov 10, 2011)

Were the framers licensed?

Where was the GC?

I'll bet if the framers are backcharged for the chipping/concrete they won't do that again:laughing:


----------



## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

Semi-Ret Electrician said:


> I'll bet if the framers are backcharged for the chipping/concrete they won't do that again:laughing:


Que? Lo siento, no hablo.


----------



## SNAFU22 (Jun 9, 2014)

You guys who have encounterred this problem, how did you manage to get a clamp attached to the rebar? Seems like you'd have to chip away alot of concrete and on the outside of the wall in order to clear enough space to get a clamp in there and be able to tighten it down. Like I say, I have never run into this in the past 5-6 years of being required to install a ufer ground. As far as the GC or framers, dealing with them or calling to gripe won't do us any good at this point. They'll just deny it :whistling2: . I still have to get a ground hooked up.


----------



## SNAFU22 (Jun 9, 2014)

I'm no concrete expert but there are wall-ties closer to the surface on the sidewall. Not sure that those are connected to the rebar however. Anyone know?


----------



## Semi-Ret Electrician (Nov 10, 2011)

I'd call the AHJ and beg

If he holds your feet to the fire..call the GC and ask if he really wants to pay you to bust up his footer.

After chipping, try to attach a rebar clamp or cadweld or oxygen-acetylene, if your hurting for space and the AHJ will allow it


----------



## denny3992 (Jul 12, 2010)

If u can get to half of the bar, weld an "L" piece on it. Elway easier to get clamp on


----------



## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

Have the builder jackhammer the concrete around it deep enough you can get a clamp on it. Or, I've had guys weld a new rebar stub to the old cutoff one. Either way...


----------



## SNAFU22 (Jun 9, 2014)

Cow said:


> Have the builder jackhammer the concrete around it deep enough you can get a clamp on it. Or, I've had guys weld a new rebar stub to the old cutoff one. Either way...


The old stub is out of the question at this point. All the foundation guy could tell me is that it is "3-4 feet down the wall from the corner" I don't want to cut up the sill plate guessing where exactly it might be located(2 x 4 walls). I'm starting to calm down from my initial anger that it was cut off. We're extremely busy on all fronts as we are Electric and Refrigeration svc company. The inspector for the area isn't a bad guy to work with so will ring him first thing in morning. Things have been going awfully well since the beginning of the new year so I suppose one bad one was coming :blink:


----------



## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

SNAFU22 said:


> I don't want to cut up the sill plate guessing where exactly it might be located


There's always NDT rebar locating, once the GC gets that bill he will more careful about who goes around cutting of ufers.


----------

