Wire Mesh Vs. Fiber for a Poured Concrete Driveway

Wire Mesh Vs. Fiber for a Poured Concrete Driveway Without sufficient reinforcement, poured concrete driveways may crack over time from weather and wear. Two ways to reinforce concrete, increasing its resistance to impact and lengthening its lifespan, are with wire mesh and glass fibers. Wire Mesh Wire mesh is a common alternative to rebar as one of the primary materials concrete workers use for reinforcing driveways. Composed of a welded grid of wire fabric, it comes in sheets or rolls laid out over the driveway slab before the concrete is poured. Wire mesh holds together cracks that form over time, but doesn't help minimize or prevent those cracks from occurring. Fiber You can add fiberglass, or glass fibers, to the concrete mix as a secondary reinforcement. Concrete artisans primarily use fiberglass in decorative projects, mixing it in with the concrete before pouring to provide three-dimensional reinforcement to the finished product. The millions of fibers in fiberglass reinforcement block the growth of micro-cracks in the concrete, creating improved tensile strength. Comparison Concrete workers and do-it-yourselfers often install wire mesh improperly, trampling it into the sand under the slab in the process of setting the concrete, negating much or all of its reinforcement benefits. Since fiber is added into the concrete mixer prior to pouring, that risk is avoided. However, fiber is not strong enough to resist the impact a driveway sustains, and it doesn't protect as well against slab shrinkage or thermal expansion. Therefore a combination of wire mesh and fiber reinforcement is best.