Rebar needed? underneath 18" tile floor in 16 story building.

[micky]

Should have been steel reinforcing in the cement under the tile?

I was at a 14th floor apartment being remodeled. 18" square, ~1/2" thick, marble-like tile being put down in the living room. They ran out of tile so we could see the edge of what had been done. About 1" of cement beneath the tile.

AIUI, underneath everything is a concrete floor. Isn't that true for any 16-story, 40-year old building?

Someone commented that there should have been steel reinforcing in the cement under the tile? Is that true?

[dadiOH]

In the floor, yes. And there most certainly is.

In the mortar bed under the tile and on top of the floor, no.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, If you want to see rebar you have to dig into the concrete. Rebar is imbedded.

[micky]

Yeah, but because the contractors ran out of tile with only 4 pieces yet to put down, I thought some wire mesh might be sticking out. Or at least my brother's grown step-son must have thought so. But he's a pretty nice guy, and my brother could have done a lot worse.

[micky]

That's what I thought. One of my family members said otherwise, and I was checking out how much he knows.

(It was someone on the other side of the family of course, an in-law. :-) My brother doesn't know the answer but he woudln't speculate about what he doesn't know. That's why he's the only M.D. I really trust.)