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"That was the day that Madison, Wis., had 4 ft. of standing water downtown from the rain," he recalls. "At the jobsite, we had 4 in. of rain in about an hour. Seventy-five percent of the floor had been finished and 25 percent of the surface was washed off." The wind ripped the huge tent superstructure that had been installed completely off the building, so it did nothing to protect the pour.

To save the damaged floor, Hausz called for help. "I've got an old trick up my sleeve that I was taught by my former boss at Keonig Concrete Corporation," he says. "He brought one of his riding finish machines the next day with three of his guys, and we broomed all the water off the surface of the concrete. We reagitated the surface and we broadcast 1,000 lbs. of dry Portland cement on top of the existing slab. We used the riding machine and burned that stuff back in and got the other stuff to bond. Now you can't even tell where this water problem happened." Hausz estimates using this procedure to salvage the floor saved about $30,000 compared to the cost of removing and repouring it.

Even though it rained again when the lower level was poured, this time the damage was minor. "The rain put us probably about three weeks behind schedule," Hausz says. "There was a big gap between pouring each floor because it kept raining." It rained at least twice a week for three straight months at the jobsite during the time Hausz Concrete was trying to do its work.

Man-made trouble

The delays in pouring the floor slabs meant the waterproofing contractor who was supposed to seal the Spancrete on the upper level landing slab that was to get decorative stamping had to be rescheduled. Once this company's workers were on-site, it took them three days to seal the slab. But the waterproofing was inadequate. It kept leaking and had to be redone seven times, with each reapplication taking three days. The waterproofers kept patching the leaking section of the floor instead of redoing the whole slab as Hausz requested. Since they were under the supervision of the general contractor, he did not have the authority to direct their activities or to hire another waterproofing contractor. This delay in getting the slab sealed put his company another month behind schedule.

Revising the schedule

Because of the necessary work sequence on the job, Hausz could not work on other aspects of the temple while waiting for the rain to stop or for the waterproofers to finish their work. He was forced to find some unrelated jobs to fill the time and supplement his company's revenue. Other subcontractors, including stone masons and steel workers, could not do their parts of the temple job while waiting for the slabs to be poured. The plumbers and electricians were able to do some work but were also put behind schedule.