How to Lay Out Rebar
- 1). Cut several pieces of rebar into short sections that can be installed vertically in the ground. The pieces should be approximately 1 foot long, and there should be enough of them so that they are positioned every two feet within the concrete pad.
- 2). Drive the cut rebar into the ground at 2-foot intervals using a sledgehammer, laying them out in straight lines and making certain they are driven below the level of the form boards. The vertical bars set closest to the corners and edges of the concrete form should be no more than 6 inches from the form boards.
- 3). Lay long rebar poles beside the upright poles so that they are parallel to one another for the first level of rebar to be installed. These poles should be long enough to span the width or length of the form in which the concrete will be poured, no less than 3 inches from the form boards. They will run horizontally, supported a few inches over the gravel substrate by the vertical rebar that you pounded into the ground.
- 4). Raise one piece of the horizontally oriented rebar at a time so that it is approximately halfway up the vertical rebar posts that were pounded into the ground. Have an assistant hold the other end of the rebar while you work.
- 5). Wrap a piece of heavy, steel wire around the two pieces of rebar to hold the long, horizontal piece up. Grip the ends of the wire with pliers and twist until the wire is tightly wrapped and the rebar cannot move easily. Move to the next upright and secure the long, horizontal rebar to the next vertical piece of rebar. Continue in this fashion until all horizontal pieces that were laid parallel to one another are secured to the vertical pieces within the concrete form.
- 6). Lay rebar across the horizontal rebar that you just secured to the vertical pieces to form a grid within the concrete form. Each of the grid squares should measure approximately 2 square feet. Secure these to the rebar grid with steel wire in the same manner you did in Step 4. Use wire cutters to snip off excess wire. When completed, the rebar will look like a grid that is supported just above the gravel substrate on which the concrete will be poured.
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