Concrete base - rebar or fibre?

[jonv]

Hello!

Well, after two years of messing about I will soon be laying the slab for my build... I'm getting a hand from a local builder for that part and when I said I wanted a reinforced slab he suggested that rebar wasn't necessary and concrete with some sort of fibre added would be fine.

I'm thinking that the fibres do something a little different to the rebar and I should stick with rebar like most of the builds on here appear to.

So, what do you folks think? Is this fibre reinforced stuff sufficient or is rebar advised?

thanks,

JV

[david s]

You could use either. Provided you get the correct fibres and add and mix them correctly, you can end up with a slab of the same strength. Our local council no longer bother with rebar for footpaths, but use fibres instead because it saves so much labour.

[jonv]

Interesting... so what are the correct fibres and proportions?

[david s]

There are many different materials used eg. steel, plastic, fibreglass etc. Go to a concrete supples dealer. Addition of fibres to the mix will be given in product instructions or data sheet. Actually you may have to buy way more than you need. Many are packaged in a minimum quantity to treat a cubic metre (around 10X what you need) Get some advice from a local concrete supplies dealer.

[jonv]

Sounds like good advice! Thanks

[UtahBeehiver]

For those interested, here is a link of various types of concrete fiber reinforcement.

http://www.abcpolymerindustries.com/concrete-fibers.php