Chain link fencing as metal in slab

Stan in Oly, WA

Well-known Member
I have quite of bit of chain link metal fencing that I'll probably never use. Would it be good metal to put in a concrete slab in place of rigid steel mesh reinforcement? Better than nothing, or worse?

Stan
 
Put the fence on craigs list and sell it and if you want reinforcement in your concrete get the proper mesh or rebar is better yet.
 
(quoted from post at 14:24:42 06/07/16) I have quite of bit of chain link metal fencing that I'll probably never use. Would it be good metal to put in a concrete slab in place of rigid steel mesh reinforcement? Better than nothing, or worse?

Stan
ikely have a problem having it laying on the sand under your pour rather than up in the middle of it.....too flexible.
 
I would sure as heck use it but I would make sure to pull it up real tight in the forms to sort of make it per-stressed wire then when you remove the forms the concrete will be even stronger due to fence trying to pull it self loss
 
don't use it as the steel is not lnear and the play in the links will tend to let the concrete crack as it expands and shrinks.
 
It would also be a nightmare to maintain required edge distances for reinforcing, ie; deformed metal bar, woven wire mesh etc. Rebar is set on chairs for support during placement of concrete, W.W.M. is usually tugged up by hand during concrete placement.

See the photos in the link below. You would have to tension the fence fabric in both directions, and support it somehow, otherwise the concrete will just displace it to the sub base where it will won't do much to reinforce or strengthen the slab.
Reinforcing chairs
 
Stan, back in the mid-80's one of the guys I worked with put in a concrete patio behind his house about 20'x30' and that's what he used. He didn't have rebar, someone gave it to him, patio is still there today. I can't remember if he went 4" or 6" deep, but I and some buddies helped him wheelbarrow it from the front of his house where to mixer couldn't make it to the back. Scored it properly for cracks, still there today. As someone said when you unroll it, it has a tendency to want to pop up no different than unrolling a role of reinforcement wire. Unroll it, flip it so the ends want to push up, weight of the roll drops it in the center span...and don't think for one second that its going to push its way through heavy wet concrete before it dries, it won't. Pull it out taut so it is tight, and my buddy's patio is still there today, 30 years later in cold, hot northern Illinois.

Mark
 
Fwiw, have used strips of old chain link laid on the ground to keep woodchucks from digging under slab, dogs from digging under a fence line. Grass grows up thru it OK.
 
Poured a 20'x 30'x 4" thick slab for my first shop floor and used chain link fence for reinforcing steel. It is still there and and not cracked. I have run a D-8 Cat across it and no problems. It out lasted the building.
 
If you are going to spend the money on concrete, I would spend a little more for rebar. If chain link fence was good in cement it would be sold as such.
 
You should go in business building public roads if you can strehgthen 4" of concrete to hold a D-8.
 
I've heard of and seen dobies for holding up rebar and W.W.M. but chairs are new to me. The trouble with working by yourself, for yourself, is that you miss out on all the good stuff.

Stan
 
"If chain link fence was good in cement it would be sold as such." You'd think so, but it doesn't necessarily work that way. Some things are never questioned because everybody knows they're true, until it turns out they're not. That's why I ask questions. Did you know that in colonial days in America, nobody ate tomatoes because everybody knew they were poisonous? Somebody back then could have said, "If they weren't poisonous, people would eat them, so that proves they're poisonous." I try to keep myself open to new possibilities.

Stan
 
Mesh is pretty cheap and not too difficult to work with. But if you have some fencing that would otherwise go to the scrap yard, you might as well use it. The slab will be much stronger than an unreinforced slab, and I suspect it will be stronger than it would be with mesh.

The biggest downside I see is the difficulty of pulling it up into the middle of the slab during the pour. It's hard enough to pull up mesh; fencing will be worse. Large aggregate will get trapped in the fencing.

If you're putting in control joints, it's a good idea to weaken mesh along the joint line by cutting every other mesh wire. That will be a lot of work with fencing.

As Mr. T would say, I pity the fool who tries to tear up your slab!
 
Thanks Mark. This happens to be a small pour---30"X92", for a tool storage structure along my back fence. I'll be mixing it with a mixer, so it wouldn't be much trouble to fill the form half full, throw in the metal, and fill the form. That wouldn't be possible with a larger form without risking a cold joint, but I'm not going to do it anyway. I've already got my mesh set. I was only asking about using fencing for future reference because it occurred to me while working on this project.

Stan
 
Do what MarkB says. The ONLY reason 'chain link' isn't used as reinforcement is the cost. The 'idea' that it will flex is absurd; it's locked in the concrete!
 
I say go for it, especially the size. That slab will not crack with chain link in it. I had the unfortunate task of trying to break a slab that was a garage floor with chain link in it. The sledge simply bounced off it, had to get a jack hammer to get thru it. The floor was 30 plus years old and not a single visible crack anywhere, I think it was due to the chain link....
 
wrecked out some old concrete livestock water troughs many years ago.
wasn't a stick of rebar but plenty of scrap iron of whatever he could come up with.
they never leaked through the many years I lived there.
 

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