Learned something this weekend from a house flipping show on A&E. They needed to cut the slab for a electrical cable to a new kitchen island. Usually not a big deal if you can rent the specialized saw or find a contractor that specializes in that work.
The contractor (Las Vegas) refused to cut the slab until they had it imaged for tensions rods. Cutting one of those rods can literally get someone killed. It’s called a post tension slab and I had never heard of this building technology before.
The imaging showed that the slab did have the tension rods. Luckily they were able to cut the slab in a safe area that avoided them.
That’s freaking scary. I’ve watched DIY shows for over thirty years and never saw this issue come up before. Cutting basement slabs or houses that are on a slab is so common for plumbing upgrades. I’ve jack hammered slabs to replace bad plumbing working construction through college.
According to this forum these slabs are only used in a few areas. Thank goodness. Putting a potential bomb in concrete is just stupid.