The Government really could spec re-bar to excess - when we built the Titan2
silos, they used the largest rebar made, 2 1/4" diameter, on 12" centers
both vertical and horizontal, inside wall and outside wall - and the
concrete was 8 ft thick on the top half of the silo walls. Concrete was
also "Class A", had to meet 3000 psi compressive strength.
Most house cellar walls I've seen in the last 20 years have been poured with
cheap concrete between forms and without any wire or steel to keep cracks
from separating. Most of the time the builder is long gone before too many
cracks show up, or the owner just doesn't see them or know that it isn't
"normal".
Werner
----- Original Message -----
From: "R A Bennell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT House Building
Hey Werner
Probably not a lot of rebar. I was there when they setup the basement
forms but really cannot remember what there
was. None in the floor of course. We added onto the house in 87 and the
engineer that helped to design and then
stamped the drawings did not want us to cut holes in the concrete wall
into the part that is now crawl space under
the new part because he feared we would cut rebar and reduce the strength
of the wall.
Randy
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Werner Fehlauer
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 4:28 PM
To: Mercedes Discussion List
Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT House Building
Randy - unless your builder was exceptional, there probably isn't much
"rebar" in the concrete - floor slab, foundation, or walls. From the
1950s
on, many builders skipped rebar in foundations, and used wire mesh in
slabs
when they thought of it. And all that on earth that wasn't fully
compacted
or undisturbed. How often do you think a laborer just shovels in a bit of
dirt because they want to save a bit on the concrete? Or water down the
mix
to make it easier to work, thereby weakening the final product??
Werner
