How to Save Money When Buying Steel Fibers

White Construction Company uses 30 pounds of steel fibers per cubic yard for our concrete reinforcement &#; this product has eliminated the use of rebar in concrete slabs.

Our use of steel fibers instead of rebar saves time and money on your project.

Since concrete is the last phase in a Post Frame Building, rebar would require you to pump concrete inside the building through a door opening. We offer our steel fibers as an add-on to our foundations that will save the customer money, pump charges, and labor.

For more information, please visit well.

Our steel fibers we stock are more economical, and are proven to be more effective than rebar or wire. The only labor involved with our steel fibers is pouring the fibers into the concrete truck.

Rebar and wire have the tendency to sink to the bottom of the concrete slab. We typically pour 4 inches of concrete in our buildings. Our steel fibers are throughout the entire slab from top to bottom.

Do not be fooled by our competition! When they tell you they include fibers in their concrete, they are usually talking about synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers will only prevent cracks during the plastic settlement phase. Synthetic fibers are intended for outside pours, on sunny, or windy days. Remember that synthetic fibers do not prevent cracks after the concrete has hardened. Concrete needs to have steel reinforcement to prevent cracks, and give strength to the concrete foundation. Steel fibers will prevent cracks from spreading after the concrete has hardened.

We will guarantee our concrete to last, and give a full warranty for the life of the building when using steel fibers.

For more information, please visit Stainless Steel Fiber For Refractory.

Lelandwelds said:

Funny, I started out wanting a version of this idea. I wanted an epoxy regular garage floor. I also wanted a rock dust or crushed rock and fines floor for welding and working on equipment. It would be impossible to tear up and easy to freshen up messes.

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You can have both if you section the floor out. You don't have to rely on internet myths or "knowledge" here; the ACI document details this out.

Lelandwelds said:

What? Of course thicker slabs are stronger just like taller steel trusses are stronger.

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Not for a "thin" (8-ish inches, or less) slab. It's important not to confuse a thin slab, which is continuously supported by the ground with a simple beam, which is only supported on two ends.

With a simple concrete beam, you rely on the depth and the steel reinforcement to counteract the sheer forces and the large bending forces. (Neither of which should be seen in a slab on ground.)

With a continuously supported slab, you have the ground underneath resisting vertical forces, so there is typically no sheer. The ground underneath also helps the slab resist bending. (The slab will only bend as far as the ground beneath gives way.)

So, the pad depth and the reinforcing steel (on a thin slab) are not structurally significant with regard to vehicle traffic forces, other than spreading out the bearing forces on the ground (like the footing does on a foundation.)


Here's another way you can think about it: If you put a 1" thick sample of psi concrete on the ground and a 6" thick sample of psi concrete on the ground, both are going to break right at the point where you apply psi of pressure. (The 6" thick sample isn't any stronger than the 1" sample in that scenario.)

(Depending on how you use a slab and attach certain machinery/equipment to it, there could be situations where the depth becomes significant to resisting some bending of the slab, but I can't think of any off hand.)

Lelandwelds said:

Every slab I have ever been under or broken has a huge void area underneath.

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You just proved the point. The minute that you develop a void under the slab, things get really weak - you go from a continuously supported slab to the simple beam condition. (Shear happens at the edge of the void and there is room for the slab to bend into the void. Most thin slabs won't have enough reinforcing to deal with this and will crack.) < This situation isn't a slab issue, it's a ground or a sub base issue.


If you are concerned about the base and voids, you can structurally reinforce your slab. The ACI guide specifies how to do this also. My garage is built on top of some really poor quality fill and I went this way. I recall that I had to use #4 bar spaced somewhere around 6" OC for a 5" psi slab.

You can have both if you section the floor out. You don't have to rely on internet myths or "knowledge" here; the ACI document details this out.Not for a "thin" (8-ish inches, or less) slab. It's important not to confuse a thin slab, which isby the ground with a simple beam, which is only supported on two ends.With a simple concrete beam, you rely on the depth and the steel reinforcement to counteract the sheer forces and the large bending forces. (Neither of which should be seen in a slab on ground.)With a continuously supported slab, you have the ground underneath resisting vertical forces, so there is typically no sheer. The ground underneath also helps the slab resist bending. (The slab will only bend as far as the ground beneath gives way.)So, the pad depth and the reinforcing steel (on a thin slab) are not structurally significant with regard to vehicle traffic forces, other than spreading out the bearing forces on the ground (like the footing does on a foundation.)Here's another way you can think about it: If you put a 1" thick sample of psi concrete on the ground and a 6" thick sample of psi concrete on the ground, both are going to break right at the point where you apply psi of pressure. (The 6" thick sample isn't any stronger than the 1" sample in that scenario.)(Depending on how you use a slab and attach certain machinery/equipment to it, there could be situations where the depth becomes significant to resisting some bending of the slab, but I can't think of any off hand.)You just proved the point. The minute that you develop a void under the slab, things get really weak - you go from a continuously supported slab to the simple beam condition. (Shear happens at the edge of the void and there is room for the slab to bend into the void. Most thin slabs won't have enough reinforcing to deal with this and will crack.) < This situation isn't a slab issue, it's a ground or a sub base issue.If you are concerned about the base and voids, you can structurally reinforce your slab. The ACI guide specifies how to do this also. My garage is built on top of some really poor quality fill and I went this way. I recall that I had to use #4 bar spaced somewhere around 6" OC for a 5" psi slab.