Watched a buddy pour a slab last summer with zero rebar mesh

I always thought wire was mandatory until I saw his 3 year old patio still crack-free after that hard freeze we had in January. Has anyone else dropped the mesh on residential walks and got away with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_sanchez24d ago

My buddy Mike swore by no mesh on his patio. Poured it four years ago, just straight concrete on a good base. We got a real nasty freeze a couple winters back, like pipes busting and roads cracking kind of cold. His patio? Not a single hairline crack. He did score control joints every 4 feet and kept the mix a little wetter. I still use mesh on my own stuff but that patio is making me rethink things.

joseph_adams6613d ago

Man, that's the thing about control joints right there... they do way more work than people give them credit for. Sounds like Mike figured out the secret is just giving the concrete somewhere to move instead of fighting it with mesh.

lindab4924d agoTop Commenter

Yeah I feel you. My own patio looks like a map of a small city with all the cracks, so maybe I should stop listening to me and start listening to your buddy Mike. Sticking mesh in there just makes me feel like I'm doing something, even if it's probably nothing.