On 20 Dec 2004 07:46:33 GMT, (Bob K 207) wrote:

That particular statement alone should have been enough for the crew to
have told the CWO to go pound sand. The strength of weld joints is
actually stronger the the steel itself. Take two plates, weld them
together, place in a vise near the seam, bend back and forth -- the steel
will fracture away from the joint before the joint fractures (for a good
weld job).



Actually the CWO is correct, on both comments.

Tie wire is only there to hold the rebar in place until the concrete is placed.
RC is not space shuttle work or brain surgery. Just get the correct number of
bars at the correct depth & you'll be fine.

Rebar is not to be welded unless it is a weldable grade. Most commonly used
rebar has too much carbon. If site welding of rebar cages made sense (cost or
performance) they'd be doing instead of using tie wire

cheers
Bob



Yep, following the links provided by another poster, it appears that
rebar is actually weakened by welding. My bad. [slinking back to the
corner for now]