Posted by MoparNorm on Thursday, March 11, 2004 at 0:19AM :
In Reply to: Re: caddilac taste - vw budget posted by Steve Pellock on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at 9:52PM :
For starters, wire mesh is the same cost or more expensive than re-bar, only the re-bar labor is more expensive and I assume that this is a volunteer labor project. Wire mesh is not strong enough to be worth installing, even at 6x6-10.x10. Wire mesh rolls cannot be placed evenly into the center of the placement, it wants to coil up. The mesh is only 7' wide and needs to be spliced, these splices tend to cause more cracking than they prevent. Splicing bars at 40 diameters ensures that there are no weak points for the crack to follow. Concrete cracking will follow the edge of the sheet of the wire mesh. At 24'x24' you'd have 13 bars each way at 2' centers, not quite $80 dollars, $150 for 18" centers and footing steel. you can't buy a roll of mesh for than price, unless you use chicken wire. Your square footage is worthless if it's foundation is weak. Isn't there something in the Bible about houses built on sand vs. rock?? = )
MN
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