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Isabel Edwards | October 5,
Concrete is a popular material for everything from building a structure to adding a driveway outside your home. While it is strong and can withstand the worst of the weather, it sometimes can become brittle when there&#;s tension.
That&#;s why it is common to reinforce concrete with something. In the past, this has been steel bars known as re-bars. But now, with developments in manufacturing, concrete reinforcing mesh is the go-to option. So what size do you need for what project?
What is concrete reinforcing mesh?
As the name suggests, concrete reinforcing mesh is a type of strong mesh that can work with rebars or on its own to reinforce concrete. It is made from wires that are melded together to create flat sheets. These are usually in a grid pattern and there are different thicknesses as well as sizes available.
Once the mesh is inside the concrete, it remains there for a long time. There&#;s no worry about rusting because this requires oxygen &#; and buried in concrete, there is none. The mesh works with rebars if the stronger supports are also required. Sometimes they work just as well on their own, depending on the project.
Main types of reinforcing mesh
There are two main options when it comes to this kind of product &#; A142 reinforcing mesh and A393 reinforcing mesh. Each is used a little differently.
Using the A142 mesh
The A142 mesh is made with high-quality steel and has square ends to make it easier and safer to handle (in the 2.42 x 1.22 metre size) . It is perfect for residential use in floor slabs and foundations up to 100mm.
6mm wires are spaced to create 200mm x 200mm squares.
It is popular for use in concrete floors and other structures to increase the overall strength but is also highly durable. It should be manufactured to BS : or BS .
Using the A393 mesh
A393 mesh is made using 10mm thick wires. It is perfect for agricultural, industrial and transport industries as the thick wire increases the strength.
The A393 mesh size is also used for reinforcing concrete in floors and other parts of buildings to increase the strength. It is also used to help control cracks in concrete in areas where this is a common problem. The 10mm wires are spaced to create 200x200mm Squares.
A393 mesh reinforcement should exceed BS &#; or BS Standards
.
Getting the right sheet size
Once you have decided which product you require, then you can look at the sheet size. It is tempting to go for a larger sheet with the industry-standard being 4.8 x 2.4 metres or 3.6 x 2.0 metres.
However, we generally stock a smaller size than this &#; 2.42 x 1.22 metres. These sheets are easier to handle and will fit into the back of a transit van rather than needing a lorry to transport them.
Smaller sheets are also easier to handle when adding them to concrete and because they are smaller, these are more rigid. They still have the same finished edges so there are no sharp edges and require less cutting so there&#;s less waste.
Reinforcing your concrete
There are lots of reasons to reinforce concrete and different methods to do it. Sheets of reinforcing mesh are easy to work with, highly effective and will last a long time, holding the concrete together and making it even tougher.
So, you have a concrete slab you want to build, and you&#;re not sure of the size of steel mesh you need to make sure it remains solid for years to come.
It&#;s a fair assumption that you&#;re a seasoned DIYer or home builder, and you&#;re not prepared to fork out for a civil engineer to tell you what rebar mesh size you need. Fair enough &#; but we must state here that it&#;s probably a good idea to get professional advice from a qualified engineer if you&#;re building anything more than a concrete slab base for your small garden shed, just so that you&#;re not having to repair or replace in 12 months&#; time.
So, what size steel mesh for concrete slab?
Getting down to it, you have a range of mesh sizes available for this.
You&#;ve got your D49 &#;wrapping&#; concrete mesh, which is primarily for screed reinforcement due to its lightweight (100mm x 100mm aperture) construction.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of What Size Wire Mesh for Concrete Slab. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
There&#;s A142 rebar mesh, which is the lightest gauge &#;A&#; spec concrete reinforcement mesh you can get, with 6mm steel rebar and 200mm x 200mm apertures.
(Check prices and order A142 Mesh here)
There's the slighter larger diameter A193 reinforcing mesh, which uses 7mm bar steel.
(Check prices and order A193 Mesh here)
And then you&#;ve got A252 and A393 rebar mesh. Both of these higher spec meshes are for medium usage, in single or double layers (using rebar spacers), for things like driveways and extensions (coupled with rebar cages for footings in some circumstances).
(Check prices and order A252 Mesh here, and order A393 here)
Depending on what you&#;re building the slab for, you&#;re going to want to go for different size steel reinforcement mesh. By size, we mean steel rebar diameter, as you can work out the area yourself (we can cut rebar mesh fabric to size for you if required). You may not even need steel reinforcement at all &#; for very light loadings (such as pathways), properly mixed concrete may well be enough.
For small garden sheds with very light loadings on a concrete slab base, the chances are that you probably don&#;t need concrete reinforcing mesh at all, if you build it properly of course (with sand and hardcore, compacted).
However, if you are expecting to load your shed's floor slab up with heavy machinery, or you&#;re building a large-size garden shed, then we&#;d advise A142 welded rebar mesh as a minimum (potentially with other reinforcing steel if walls will be constructed from brick) for these light use applications.
If you&#;re planning on building a garage base to store vehicles, then likely the loading on the reinforced concrete slab will be substantial. A single car can easily weigh 1,600Kgs, which is 400kg per corner. This loading, plus additional tools, equipment, and other items stored in the construction could easily be loading your concrete ground floor slab with 4,000Kgs including the walls and roof.
Thus, the minimum spec steel reinforcement mesh you will need is A193. However, you may want to add another layer of mesh reinforcement, properly spaced, or use a higher grade such as A252 fabric mesh to ensure you&#;re covering yourself with higher than expected loading. That said, in most cases 2 layers of A252 is overkill for the average domestic garage.
A252 mesh used in concrete slabs includes 8mm high tensile steel bars, and each sheet will weigh just over 45Kgs. Whereas A193 is constructed using 7mm rebar, and weighs 32Kgs per sheet. Both come in standard mesh sheet sizes of 2.4m x 4.8m (or we can cut them to size if required).
All that said, we highly advise speaking to a civil engineer about this, to ensure that you are covering all building regulations and eventualities (you may need to carry out soil tests, manage drainage, and so on.).
Before we discuss this, we must reiterate that you should consult with a civil and/or structural engineer before carrying out any work on your construction for the safety and security of the occupants of the building, and the structural reliability of the construction.
Generally speaking, with regards to steel reinforcement, and specifically reinforcement mesh you&#;ll likely have A252 or A393 spec&#;d on your construction drawings and schedules for the concrete slab. This will cover most circumstances for dead loading from the structure, as well as the expected live loads the concrete slab will experience (footfall).
A concrete driveway that is expected to experience general use with anything up to large SUV sized vehicles will be fine with a single layer of A193 reinforcement mesh.
If you expect to park larger vehicles, 2-3 vehicles close together, or vehicles laden with excessive weight (such as a loaded Ford Transit van), then it may be prudent to increase the reinforcing mesh to A252.
If the driveway will likely be experiencing high levels of heavy loads then consider increasing this further to 2 layers of A252 reinforcing mesh to cover the expected weight on the concrete slabs. A142 mesh will likely not offer sufficient reinforcing strength for this purpose.
At Reinforcement Products Online, we supply varying mesh sizes, including A142, A193, A252, A393, and even B spec structural mesh (B503, B785, B). We stock all mesh types in large quantities (standard and merchant size) ready for immediate dispatch UK-wide. We also provide bespoke cutting and bending of rebar, and prefabrication of rebar cages, columns, walls and ground beams. Avoid the middlemen, and order direct from one of the UK&#;s fastest growing suppliers.
Disclaimer: The advice included in this article is meant to be used in accompaniment with consultation with qualified civil engineers. Use at your own risk. Reinforcement Products Online and its parent company shall not be liable for any issues arising as a result of information contained in the text.
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