In article , "tom
patton" says...
Hi all
Just putting steel reinforcing mesh in my 150 by 600 foundations about 13
metre run.
My brother in law-a civil engineer said just set the bottom layer on some
bits of broken paving slab then use u shaped upstands to wire on the top
layer both must be bedde 50 mm from the exterior.
I mentioned my method to the brickie he was horrified for gods sake dont put
any lumps on the foundation base.
How is this supposed to be done--there must be a simple method.

Presumably he wants you to support it on wires attached to stakes or
shuttering. Ideally pour enough to support the steelwork, then
remove the wires before pouring the rest, so you don't get wires
sticking out of the finished slab.