At 07:21 PM 2/8/2005, Tom Bott wrote:
>Got an estimate from a concrete man today and he said that on a 4" slab he
>does not use wire mesh but uses "fiber reinforced concrete" 3000
>psi. Does anyone have some knowledge of the strength and durability of
>this type vs. the wire mesh being floated thru the pour? I am located in
My garage / basement has the fiber stuff. It would probably be ok if
you're going to just leave it bare. But if you go for paint or other
coating [you should!] the fibers become a royal PITA.
A year ago, I did a DIY epoxy job on the garage with this stuff:
http://www.airtechcoatings.com/harddeck.html after cleaning and acid
etching the concrete, there were fibers sticking up all over the
place. Air Tech coatings suggested that the first epoxy coat "might" stick
the fibers down. If not, the suggested burning them off with a torch, or
sanding after the first coat. It became obvious the fibers were going to
ruin the finish, so I opted for the sanding (not fun with a 5" orbital
sander for 620 sq ft!)
My brother bought a new house and we coated his floor last March with
this: http://www.ucoatit.com/ He ran into the same problem with the
fibers and tried torching them off without much luck. He ended up just
painting over them all. I think it came out crappy looking -- the fibers
stick up through three coats.
I'd definitely spring for the rebar. Is it really much extra?
-Wayne
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