That engineer's comment about my rebar spacing back in 2018 still sticks with me

I was working on a strip mall foundation outside Akron, Ohio and an older structural engineer stopped by. He pointed at my rebar grid and said "you're wasting steel and making weak spots, son, 18 inches apart is the sweet spot for 6 inch slab." I had been doing 12 inches out of habit from residential work. Since then I adjust spacing based on the load calculations, not just what I'm used to. Anybody else get a simple piece of advice that actually saved them money and time?

2 comments

2 Comments

gonzalez.vera25d agoTop Commenter

Had a buddy who spent years doing rebar on autopilot until some old foreman told him to "stop building fortresses for parking lots." He actually started reading the plans instead of guessing and saved his company like 15 grand on one job.

gonzalez.vera25d agoTop Commenter

Nah, I gotta push back on this a bit. Overbuilding isn't always a waste if the ground conditions are sketchy or the concrete guys are known for sloppy pours. I've seen too many jobs where someone "optimized" the rebar and then a slab cracked right down the middle because they skated by with minimum coverage. Your buddy got lucky his old foreman was right for that one specific job, but on another site that "fortress" might be the only thing holding the damn thing together. Sometimes those old heads have a point about reading plans, but I've also seen them screw the pooch by cutting corners.