I am in zone 4a. Pouring fully insulated (3″ XPS) monolithic slab for my dirt cheap pretty good house. I will be using the concrete as my finish floor and I will have 3/4″ pex radiant.
Options for reinforcement I am considering:
Rebar 16″ O.C. #3 (3/8″)
Welded Wire Mesh 6×6 W1.4 10 gauge (about 1/8″ diameter wire) 8’x20′
Regardless I will have 2ea #4 rebar in footer/edge beam
I am not sure which route is stronger.
The 8×20 panels will be about half price, but will have to sit on ground and be lifted as the pour happens. Also, they are 6″x6″ squares, so pex will be at odd locations.
The 3/8″ rebar would be spaced exactly at 16″ (pex spacing) and would be on chairs.
Making sure the mesh is lifted is not a problem in that I will have a good size crew of help, and I can assign one or two detail oriented guys the job of making sure that happens.
I THINK, but do not know that the wire mesh is a stronger route. I deduced this by a visit to the micro helix website (I am not using this). But their calculator recommended 4lb per yard for mesh and 11lb per yard with the rebar schedule.
Thank you for your advice.
-Mike
If you have any questions on concrete reinforcement mesh. We will give the professional answers to your questions.