A rebar dowel is a reinforcement measure provided to typically tie two or more concrete structures or elements together. A rebar dowel can be left outside of a concrete element like a sidewalk, driveway, curb, or patio, in this way allowing another concrete element to be tied to it at a later date.
Alternatively, when extending an existing concrete element like a patio or slab, concrete dowels can be drilled and inserted into the existing concrete element. Then from there the next concrete element will be placed and poured to tie in with these dowels. The dowels effectively becoming part of the next structural or architectural concrete element to be poured.
Photo Above: Concrete rebar dowels bent sticking out vertically from a concrete element. Rebar dowels like this can be used to tie into adjoining concrete structures, such as a slab, using built-up materials underneath in this scenario.
Designing Concrete Dowels
The frequency and length of concrete dowels is a distinguishing character of the structural requirements of the concrete element. It is also a characteristic which may be defined by the determination of a structural engineer. Concrete dowels can help to adjoin two structures where otherwise lifting, elevation changes, unnecessary cracking, and general lack of structural stability could all be issues. So, rebar dowels are both for new construction and construction renovations.
Common Use Cases of Rebar Dowels
Some typical use case of rebar dowels include foundation concrete to outdoor elements like patios, slabs, driveways and others. With concrete dowel usage, the direct implications of heat transfer from an outdoor concrete element to an indoor concrete element can be concerns. In some cases, with adjoining two or more construction elements, the utilization of a thermal break to ensure no heat loss or cold intrusion can be utilized.
Vertical Dowels: Concrete reinforcement left vertically to allow attachment of subsequent elements. Can also form part of concrete columns. These concrete reinforcement elements are left from an existing sub-grade concrete structure like a pilaster or a pile cap.
Some use cases of concrete dowels:
- Tying two or more structures together.
- Adjoining grade beam with concrete slab structure.
- Attaching concrete patios or outdoor concrete slabs to building foundations.
- Attaching thickened edge concrete or concrete curbs to concrete sidewalks.
- Commercial concrete purposes: interior slab-on-grade floors to reduce joint spalling and cracking undeer heavy forklift or equipment loads.
- Pre-cast concrete elements to be tied into cast-in-place construction elements.
- Concrete basement slab construction tie into foundation wall.
There are even more use cases for concrete dowels, it really depends on the construction element in question.
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Deluxe Concrete Services is a professional Calgary concrete contractor. They provide services including concrete patio, concrete foundation work, concrete sealing services, concrete basement slab construction, exposed aggregate concrete, stamped concrete, foundation waterproofing and more. For all your Calgary concrete service needs, call on the professionals from Deluxe Concrete Services.
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