I did a quick search and didn’t find a discussion on this. If it has been covered before, please direct me to the posts.
I am building a shop out back and getting ready to pour the slab. I have decided to put wire mesh in the slab and began that process this past weekend.
Any suggestions on techniques for unrolling the mesh would be greatly appreciated. Anything has got to be better than the “three stooges” show I was putting on!
I found that if I anchored the end and unrolled a lenth of mesh on the driveway, then cut it to lenth, the mesh would roll up much looser. I then took the looser bundle onto the pad area and unrolled it upside down. Its own weight seemed to make it lay flat except for about 10 feet from each end. I placed a 2x across and performed a series of small bends at each end. It worked, but lots of time on my knees on the mesh.
Thanks in advance.
Daen
Replies
We use to do it with two guys. One guy rolled out the wire while the other one stood on the loose end. The first guy then cut the wire to length, being sure to stand on the end he was cutting off. They would then get hold of the cut length as they stepped off of it and flip ip over. Still holding onto it they could then back bend the curl out of each end.
This was generally done within the area of the pour, so there was no need to handle the roll or the cut lenght more than that ine time.
Be very very carefull with wwm rolls. If that loose end gets awy and rolls back up on you, you can get some nasty cuts and holes poked in ya.
pretty much the same way as Dave suggested. The other way we have done it is to unroll it springy side facing down. You do need to have a gorilla doing the unrolling, but it is doable.
Bruce
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I definitely thought about unrolling it springy side down - but quickly came to the conclusion I wasn't quite gorilla enough!
Darn, I was hoping someone would say "all you gotta do is... and it's easy!"
Daen
You can buy 8x20 sheets that are flat. Still need the gorilla to move those around.
Darn, I was hoping someone would say "all you gotta do is... and it's easy!"
Your wish, my command :)
WWM also comes in flat sheets, available at concrete supply places, but I'll bet that's not what you were hoping for now that you've got roll(s) already.
You could always make tomato cages out of what you have and get the flat stuff :0
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
daenAll you gotta do is pull up on the rewire every 5' or so across the width. It's easy.KKWe switched to fiber so no free tomato cages for me.
I'll also vote for the flat panels, though probably too late for you. I've used the rolls a couple times on floors we poured in my father's workshop, but when I did my own garage, I used 5x8 panels. Much, much easier to work with.
Don
Ditto: never use rolled mesh. Always 5' x 10' flat sheets. My local lumber yard stocks them.
Riversong HouseWright
Design * * Build * * Renovate * * ConsultSolar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
It really take two guys. One stands on the end while the other unrolls it. After you have it unrolled you both lift it and flip it. Then you walk on it with a shovel. If it needs a little extra bend you hit the wire with the point of the shovel. That is the way I was tought to do it.
I just read the other posts. sorry for the duplication. The shovel works better because you don't have to lean over and pick up anything. I always try to save my back. I'm no gorila.
Edited 2/25/2008 6:26 pm ET by popawheelie
That's the way I grew up doing it.
But I have flipped it over. It takes three that way. one guy stands on the end while the other two roll it out. Just keep over bending it so it sits flat.
But two then flipping is better.
There's a thread in here somewhere, like "bizarre gardening accident" or "tomato cage of death", or something, where I posted a pic of the stitches in my wife's throat as we were unrolling WWF to make tomato cages and it got away from me and jumped on her.
She was standing on one end, as I unrolled away from her. The incoming roll bowled her over, but the part she was standing on was what got her.
I'd also vote for curved side down!
Forrest - learned my lesson
I was thinking about how likely that could be - sorry that happend to her!Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
If your hair looks funny, it's because God likes to scratch his nuts. You nut, you.
The easy way?
Sure.
Leave that half-rusted junk at the yard to be somebody else's problem.
I'm biased, though, and I admit it. I've busted up too much concrete with WWm in it, and none of the mesh was ever anywhere near where it had to be. Most was in the bottom face of the crete where it was walked down to by the hands placing the mesh. I pulled out a bout 700' of sidewalk once that had mesh undulating out of the bottom of the concrete following the "spring" of the mesh.
I'd much rather #3 @ EW--spacing based on use.
Although, thorough subsurface prep is far better here in my river bottom silt and mud soil than trying to get by with the least thickness of concrete and rebar as a person can.
ah grasshopper, now you know why I push fiber
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my spelling is not bad, my keyboard is covered with dirt and I cant see the keys.