Watch This Video To Learn More About Using or Not Using Rebar For Concrete Driveway 

This is a great video! It provides images and explanations to justify why connected rebar is necessary. Again, great video.

Rebar or no rebar, the number one thing you need to focus on when pouring flatwork is the BASE! Of course it’s faster to rush the base and add rebar, but your work won’t outlast a slab with a good base and no rebar. Focus on the base, add rebar to act as your BACK UP to if the base fails down the line.

Consider using Fiberglass rebar for ultimate longevity. You can also downsize the bar due to it's incredible strength.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this question!

This helped squash an argument with the wife! We are looking at getting our driveway redone. The concrete without the rebar is how our driveway looks right now! Good video!

I enjoy it when smart people get on the internet. I haven't even watched it with the audio yet, looks good; I plan to learn more here.

A round of applause for you 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 Wonderfully explained sir.

Thanks very much for this video. I''d never attempt doing a large concrete pour myself but it helps to know this information when contracting out the job and deciding who takes shortcuts. Plus, I've observed a recent subdivision where the builder did not put any reinforcement in the driveways...no wire grid, rebar, etc...they built a 64 house subdivision in less than a year and if they take shortcuts in the driveway, makes you wonder how many other subpar work was done within the walls of the house.

Very informative! Thank you!!

Yes, so true and not only that, how does rebar get installed, is a very good subject too. Lots of driveways are poured concrete on top of rough soil and no reinforcement at all yet zero soil preparation such as sand and gravel. Most driveways are 3.5" thick, not 4" due to the "2x4" forms they use. Some will use fence wire to reinforce the concrete however they don't use dobies to space the wire up off of the soil. Those who use rebar will also fail big and not space the rebar up from the soil so the concrete doesn't encapsulate the rebar and again, no sand and no gravel prep. It's bad enough to find a decent contractor but to spend the money and not have the right soil grade, preparations, spaced reinforcement (dobies) and so forth just says in 5 years, unless you are lucky, you will have a poor looking driveway full of cracks, gaps and uneven surfaces. There's no good in that.

Good explanation. Would you still recommend tying the rebar together if you were doing 5 independent slabs in a multi step walk. Each slab would have different volume by way of height.. all being the same width. I am intentionally keeping a 2” gap between them and a 6” rise separates as well

Thanks for the info! What if you were doing the sections over time, so at the end of the slab you left the rebar extend a foot out of the slab and when you decided to make to make the next pour, you laid out the rebar and did a one foot overlap of the rebar and welded it to the existing, that should work, do you think???

On the subject of tying separate pours. I'm considering doing an ~500sqft monolith slab in 10 incremental sections with bag product (portland) using a tow behind mixer. I'd plan to get it all done relatively quickly and keep the rebar and mesh covered. Meaning separate pours. Due to the grading and site access, every quote I've gotten from someone to do this location pour is ~$12k. Think that is reasonable task for one man? Mistake to tie the multiple poured sections together or a better approach? Thanks for the great content Greg.

Greg, thanks as always for another great video! Two questions if I may. #1 I will build a 4x19 sidewalk attached to a structure. No cars would pass on it. I thought it would be 4 inches thick. What kind of metal mesh would you suggest? Some said 10 gauge mesh. What do you think? #2 I will build 8 columns with 4 feet by 16 inches diameter sonotubes in which I've been told to put 2 vertical rebars. (Office foundations) My idea is to add footings under those. The calculation tells me to make a 32 inch diameter by 17.6 inches thicker footing. What kind of mesh would you put for this footing? Thanks for your eventual answer.

Hello sir great video , I had a question I am getting pool deck, side walk around the house and pergola concrete pad in the back yard do I need rebar ?

If I wanted to build a solid slab of concrete of the same dimensions (in the video) in a freeze-thaw area (frost depth of 26") with heavy clay, and tree roots... and I didn't want to cut expansion joints, how much rebar would I need? Is it possible to create the same sort of floating slab with a basement beneath... with a clear span of 18'x18'?

Is mesh an option? I don’t know if it’s cheaper or better so I was wondering. My drive is 20 years old with 1” stone that is well compacted. No trees or soil erosion

This is a very helpful video. I am having the exact problem in my driveway. The only difference is a drain pipe that runs parallel with the concrete joints and there are drains at each joint where the corners of the concrete slabs meet. This is located immediately outside my garage doors so it is a high traffic area. I've gotten two different assessments from contractors and one suggested after demo and discovering whether there is erosion around the drain and checking the compacting, I would need 6 inches of concrete or 4 inches of concrete depending on what he finds after demo. He recommended rebar in each instance due to the high traffic area. The other contractor suggests 4 inches and using some type of concrete that has some built in material that substitutes for the rebar. Is there such a thing? I have never heard of it. From your video, it seems that I need rebar to avoid the problem I have. Cracking and slabs raising just as you have shown here.

What if I’m getting a 21x20’ slab in my back yard with no car traffic whatsoever? Should I get rebar if I’m thinking about putting a gazebo? It will be used for only light traffic and basic family gatherings

Would it be possible to pour the foundation of a house (like a double wide) with this method? Using a harbor freight mixer? And lots and lots of bags of cement?

I'm building a 105.5 x184.5 sf slab that is double mat with #9 rebar at 12"oc and height of slab is 2.83 feet , so it's a continuous pour ( 8 in total ) so this video makes a lot of sense , btw my wall height is 27 feet tall , is a process water basin

Yet another example of how water is always your main enemy in housebuilding. Everything from mold in crawlspaces to porous brick, tile showers with no red guard sealant, bad flashing on the roof, gutter misalignment, the slope preventing drainage, not sealing basements, no air gaps behind veneer exteriors, the list goes on and on. All moisture problems. Water is scary.

Thanks so much for this video. This is a great lesson, I really do appreciate it.

Nice video, always drives me crazy to see concrete work with zero rebar

Great video, but I have one concern: doesn't rebar bend under a certain amount of perpendicular force? Is this bending something we will need to worry about? Like if it were for a garage pad, or house

Great video, Greg. My vote in where I come from (Ontario, Canada) Would be for the use of rebar all the time! With frost considerations and the weight of cars to consider, spend a little more now; rather than a great deal more, later on!!

My Brother's house has a massive amount of driveway and many of the separate slabs are lifted and/or cracked. We discovered that there is zero reinforcement and no base preparation under the slabs when we demolished the worst one to replace it. I'm pouring small sections to join my asphalt to my new garage and I'm using rebar but not connected to the adjoining slabs.

Few builders do rebar anymore in footings or garages. I had a hell of a time getting the builder to place rebar in my footings. He argued politely stating it isn’t necessary and I finally said it’s my home and I want two rebar on chairs. So he did it but resented it. I’ve seen so many who do not put rebar in concrete driveways either. Unbelievable today.

Ya in a perfect world

How far apart is tje rebar sopost to be??

Why driveways are not build like foundation slabs? At least here in Florida I would imagine that would last 100x longer, almost every single driveway developed big crack due to roots and water.

Doesn't rebar rust, expand and eventually cause cracking?

What if you were going to do a driveway in sections but didn't want to remove all the old concrete in one shot or set up all the rebar at once? Say you removed a section of old concrete that is 1 foot bigger per side than what you want to pour. Then you rebar it with the notched forms so you will wind up with the new concrete with 1 foot long rebar sticking out the sides. Then when you do the next section you just wire more rebar on to whats sticking out to go in the next section. The reason I ask this is because my endurance isn't what it used to be, I'm 67 and I just can't work like I used to, this would allow me to do smaller sections. In my area it's impossible to hire it out because of the demand.

👍

Not be a DA, but what if you only had chain fence in a pinch, could it work if you used layers of it, and used chicken coup wire humped over into arches to keep the layers separated, could that work in a pinch... JW, not trying to be a DA,

I had my driveway and sidewalks done 8 months. They didn't use rebar. I already see problems with cracks. 12 grand down the drain. If your driveway bad your better off selling the house.

Rebar in a 6 inch poured driveway is completely and totally unnecessary! Period!!!! The base on which the concrete is poured is the most important thing. In most cases 4 inch concrete is sufficient with proper base.

For small area there is no need of rebar

Can you just add a ton of rebar to make it super strength? 😂

Are you an engineer???

ALWAYS use rebar or mesh, fiber is crap.