setting steel mesh in foundations

[tom patton]

Hi all Just putting steel reinforcing mesh in my 150 by 600 foundations about 13 metre run. My brother in law-a civil engineer said just set the bottom layer on some bits of broken paving slab then use u shaped upstands to wire on the top layer both must be bedde 50 mm from the exterior. I mentioned my method to the brickie he was horrified for gods sake dont put any lumps on the foundation base. How is this supposed to be done--there must be a simple method.

[Rob Morley]

Presumably he wants you to support it on wires attached to stakes or shuttering. Ideally pour enough to support the steelwork, then remove the wires before pouring the rest, so you don't get wires sticking out of the finished slab.

[Rick]

You can buy some "plastic feet" to put under the bottom layer, they are not as good as half bricks. I used both, both passed building regs inspection.

Rick

[John Rumm]

I went the half brick route on my shed base - and wired together the rebar at some of the crossovers to keep it all in place.