When is it an advantage to use fabric mesh in suspended concrete slabs?
Designing slabs with mesh reinforcement is a proposition that can produce substantial cost savings when consideration is given to the following points. a) Mesh should be sufficient without additional reinforcement. b) The structural system should be predominantly a one way slab system. c) Lapping of mesh should be minimal. d) Lapping locations should be clearly documented so as to eliminate any possibility of top and bottom laps being coincident and so as to maximise usage and minimise cutting. e) Lapping should be achieved using bar splices so that each mesh remains in the same plane. f) Mesh lengths should be factor of the sheet length preferably using full sheets to minimise wastage. A number of recent designs we have looked at for builders in the ACT ignore many of the above points and as a result create a system that is slow to construct, wasteful and burdened with problems in attaining the correct cover as multiple mesh laps (up to 8) occur at the same point and different height
