Replies

1. 
   Mongo | Jul 17, 2003 09:53pm | #1

   Without the epoxy coating the rebar would rust.

   Rusty rebar is (kind of...) okay for residential use, but not for commercial/industrial use.

1. 
   johnnyd | Jul 17, 2003 10:03pm | #2

   That's my question...would it be worth it/does anyone do it in residential?

1. 
   kaorisdad | Jul 17, 2003 10:51pm | #3

   Using epoxy coated bars is too expensive in residential construction.  And typically, most residential environments don't warrent epoxy coated rebars.  The only time I would consider this is if the house is in a marine environment.  And even then, I would specify more concrete cover rather than epoxy coated bars.

   Epoxy coated bars are used where road salts are commonly used or in marine environments.  They require special handling, and if cut, need to be coated.  The corrosion resistance is the coating itself, obviously, and any holidays must be touched up.  Usually, they are precut, coated and delivered to the site.

1. 
   johnnyd | Jul 17, 2003 10:57pm | #4

   That makes sense.  This is MN where salt is king.  These mats are laying around, pre-cut, pre-wired, all ready to go.  Lots of steel in these piers.  Got to be on 4" or 6 " centers. 

   Tempting to try a midnite supply run.

1. 
   dougmart20 | Jul 18, 2003 01:17am | #5

   I work for a road (bridge) company in Oklahoma.  I've never seen epoxy coated rebar in any of our projects, or anybody else's projects either. 

2. 
   DavidThomas | Jul 18, 2003 01:53am | #6

   But what's the point? Do you salt your house's foundation? Steel is cheap, lawyers are not. Just buy regular #5 rebar and use that.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska

3. 
   Piffin | Jul 18, 2003 06:38am | #8

   What's this midnight run crap??????

   That's taking the food off of someone elses table. Steel for my house cost about a half days wages. You so hard up you gotta steal steel to have shelter, you don't deserve to have a hole to crawl into, let alone a roof over your head.

   And it that's supposed to be a joke, it's on a pretty low level. .

   Excellence is its own reward!

4. 
   bkhy | Jul 18, 2003 06:45am | #9

   AMEN

5. 
   johnnyd | Jul 18, 2003 05:40pm | #11

   Not something I would EVER do, Piffen.

   Sorry if I offended you.

6. 
   Piffin | Jul 19, 2003 04:05am | #13

   OK

   I guess we all lose sight of the horizon of taste when joking around sometimes and go into a dive.

   Maybe I'm a little sensitive to it. Lately there have been contactors here who discover materials missing within a few days after a certain person stops by a job to look around. I haven't been hit yet....

   Excellence is its own reward!

7. 
   brownbagg | Jul 19, 2003 05:36am | #14

   They used for salt water piers like on a bridge and in chemical plants where chemicals are spilled on concrete  slab by accident. Real common here

2. 
   Mongo | Jul 18, 2003 05:20am | #7

   I've never seen epoxy-coated rebar used in residential construction. I've seen it spec'd once by the structural engineer, but the project was shelved.

   The structural loads in residential (non-seismic, typcal construction) don't reach that required to use coated reinforcement.

1. 
   BungalowJeff | Jul 18, 2003 07:05am | #10

   "The structural loads in residential (non-seismic, typcal construction) don't reach that required to use coated reinforcement."

   ??? It is only economical. Loads have nothing to do with using added corrosion protection. Someone building a shorefront house would benefit from epoxy-coated foundation rebars and driveway mesh.

   Epoxy coated bars are misleading, and it is no surprise that a structural engineer with no actual field experience would over spec a standard house with it. The gentle handling of rebar tends to chip off pieces of the epoxy coating, creating holidays. The roadway salts still want the metal and with a tiny hole, the chlorides concentrate around it and accellerate corrosion. Many states are dabbling in galvanized bars for this reason. Also, the lower friction on an epoxy-coated bar requires several inches more bond length, so the added costs are more than just a dip in the shop....that's not a mistake, it's rustic

1. 
   Mongo | Jul 18, 2003 11:01pm | #12

   On the job (New England coast, btw) that the coated rebar was spec'd, it was explained to me by the engineer that it was needed for loads. No scale/rust on the bar to prevent a good interface between the bar and the 'crete.

   More contact, better grip, more strength.

   I guess he better head back to engineering school, eh?<g>

   Still learning.

2. 
   BungalowJeff | Jul 19, 2003 07:44am | #15

   Yeah, he better head back to school. As I said in my post, epoxy coatings reduce the friction between bars and concrete requiring longer embedment lengths. This results in longer bars in lap splices, dowels and hooks, etc. 

   I work with engineers that insist on epoxy coated rebar for retaining walls, bridge decks, and every other concrete placement under the sun. Meanwhile I design railroad tunnels that do not require any special coating despite aggressive groudwater (translation: contaminated, VOC's, etc.). Stray current from rail traction power is worse than chloride infiltration, so rebar and light steel framing requires bonding, which cannot be done with an epoxy coating....that's not a mistake, it's rustic

3. 
   Davo304 | Jul 19, 2003 08:17am | #16

   Jeff,

   Right on. One of the jobs our Carpenter Shop crew ALWAYS got stuck with when constructing concrete formwork,  was cutting and tieing off all rebar for  the concrete installation. Our steel mill was always replacing crete or simply adding new for one thing or another. Have tied off literally hundreds and hundreds ( if not thousands) of rebar ranging in size from 1/2 inch  to 1-1/4 inch. Majority of rebar was for slab placement, though we did our fair share of retaing wall work too.

   I asked one of our field engineers one day why we never used epoxy coated rebar...the local DOT always used this stuff when redoing roadways....the engineer replied he liked to have the rebar a bit rusty even: because this helped to give a better "grab" with the concrete. He said the expoxy stuff would not bond as nearly so well.

   That's all we ever used...slightly rusty ( our rebar was stored in an outdoor staging area without a roof and no tarps) rebar. A lot of varied (HEAVY) machinery traverses over those creted areas 24/7 and for most part, it has always held up to the demand rigors ( I'm talking machinery weighing and/ or carrying anywhere from 5 to 100 tons at one time!)

   Davo