Basement Floor Slab Rebar: Is It Needed?
Does a basement floor slab need rebar under the Ontario Building Code? What Section 9.16 requires, when reinforcement is needed, and what size and spacing to expect.
Concrete Wall Rebar Spacing: Vertical, Horizontal and ICF
How vertical and horizontal rebar spacing is set in concrete and ICF walls in Ontario: OBC Part 9 rules, CSA A23.3 minimum wall steel, placement and examples.
Cost of Rebar for a Concrete Slab: What Drives It and How to Estimate
What sets the cost of rebar for a concrete slab: bar size, spacing, laps, accessories and placing. Includes a worked weight estimate and how to get a firm quote.
Does Fibre-Reinforced Concrete Replace Rebar?
Can fibres in concrete replace rebar? Micro vs macro and steel fibres, why GFRP bar is a different thing, and where fibres can and can't stand in for steel bars.
Does Rebar Stop Concrete Cracking? When Rebar Is Needed
Does rebar stop concrete from cracking? What rebar really does, why concrete cracks anyway, when Ontario code requires rebar, and what happens without it.
Dowel Bars vs Tie Bars in Concrete Pavement
Dowel bars vs tie bars in rigid pavement: smooth dowels that carry load across moving joints, deformed tie bars that hold lanes together, and how to order each.
Doweling Rebar Into Concrete: Hole Size and Epoxy
What size hole to drill for 10M and 15M rebar dowels, why the adhesive maker's data sets the bit size, and how to choose an epoxy or hybrid adhesive.
Fiberglass and Coated Rebar Mesh: Options for Slabs
Fiberglass rebar mesh, galvanized mesh and epoxy-coated mesh compared for slabs: what each product is, where it helps, and where concrete quality matters more.
How Much Rebar per Cubic Metre of Concrete?
Why there is no single kg of rebar per m3 of concrete, how to convert a steel ratio to kg/m3, CSA A23.3 minimums, and worked slab, footing and column examples.
How to Cover and Repair Exposed Rebar
How to cover exposed rebar in concrete: find the cause, when to call an engineer, how a proper rebar repair is done, and what rebar ghosting on a slab means.
How to Find Rebar in Existing Concrete
How to find rebar in existing concrete before coring, drilling or cutting: drawings, cover meters, GPR scanning and X-ray, what each can detect and their limits.
How to Install Wire Mesh in a Concrete Slab
How to install welded wire mesh in a concrete slab: base prep, laying and flattening sheets, lap length, tying mesh together, setting the height and protecting it.
How to Lay and Tie Rebar in Footings
How footing rebar is laid out and tied: cover on soil, concrete block supports, placing order, tie types, corners, laps, dowels and what the inspector checks.
How to Rebar a Concrete Slab: Step-by-Step
How rebar goes into a concrete slab, step by step: reading the callout, base prep, laying out the grid, chairs, laps, tying, openings and protecting the mat.
How to Tie Rebar: Knots, Patterns and Tools
How to tie rebar together with wire: the snap tie step by step, saddle and wrap ties, which intersections to tie in slabs and walls, and pliers vs tying tools.
Monolithic Slab Rebar: Thickened Edge Layout
How rebar is laid out in a monolithic slab with a thickened edge: edge bars, corner bars, slab-to-edge ties, interior thickenings, and Ontario code limits.
Rebar Chairs: Should Rebar Be Off the Ground?
Why rebar must be held off the ground on chairs or blocks, what happens when it is not, whether chairs stay in the concrete or weaken it, and what to use on soil.
Rebar for Concrete Steps and Stairs
Do concrete steps need rebar? How rebar and dowels work in solid steps, stair slabs and cantilevered steps, what the Ontario code says, and ordering bars.