permaculture

["John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

> Thats the stuff.  I see it in a lot of widths and shapes at the local
> pre-cast concrete products factory, not sure if it is ordered that way
> or  if they form it there.

Right.  That's used in cast/poured concrete applications, especially
slabs...just put some in some formed steps myself.

> Why not use standard concrete fiber (fiberglass I think) rather than
> mess  with all that chicken wire?

You mean what's called 'engineering fibers'?  Dunno.  With a good FC
armature of close-knit mesh (of whatever kind) I don't know that they'd
add much.  Don't know how they'd affect the 'trowelability' of the
material either.

> the stuff
> tends to rust  out fairly promptly with moisture and is a coated wire,
> dissimilar metals  tend to have corrosion problems as they form mild
> electric currents and  move atoms around.

So wouldn't expanded metal lath have the same issues?  It's a galvanized
metal product...?

> Has anyone knocked apart some
> of this chicken wire  reinforced material after a few years?  Be
> interesting to know if the CW  held up.

Perhaps I'll get back to you in a couple years... ;-)


John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net