The Definitive Guide to 3x3x3 Concrete Rebar Chair w/Wire(Dobies) from Sepulveda

While the rain has actually kept us from doing any excavations, we have kept hectic doing a little prep work. We cut some posts and cross beams for the batter boards. Those will be going up as quickly as the ground dries a little bit more. We've likewise been developing some wire dobies for when we lay the rebar for the footings.

if you require the rebar 3 inches off the ground, get cups that are 3 inches tall) A scrap wood board Wire cutters An x-acto knife All total, these products cost me about $14. There are 50 cups in the plan so this will make 50 dobies. For contrast, the big box shops sell a pack of 100 plastic rebar chairs for $60.

Not too shabby. We try out a couple ways of doing this. For the very first technique, we started by cutting a hole in the top of the cups. Place the cups upside down on the wood board and sealed the bottoms with modeling clay. The wire is bent into a long narrow "U" shape.

Concrete Dobie, Rebar Support Block - RW Foster Concrete Products - Gaston,  OR

Dobie - Janell Concrete and Masonry Equipment Fundamentals Explained

I placed the board throughout the wheel barrow to make filling them much easier. Fill them from the top. Carefully tap the board to tamp the cement down and release any large air bubbles. It's not needed to get all the air out, just any huge pockets. They just have to be strong enough to hold your rebar in place; they don't have to be pretty.

3" x 3" x 3" Wire Dobie Block - DB332W - Build With BMC

Press the wires into the cement, ensuring they are centered. They're like little volcanoes, other than they're not This is what happens if you tamp it too hard. The seal can and will break and concrete will go all over. Don't do it. It's unpleasant and not the excellent kind of messy.

< This Piece Covers It Well ="p__5">Congratulations. This technique worked well, but we have a great deal of dobies to make. After several batches the clay began to get cement in it and it ended up being tough to deal with. So we got lazy, er, creative. Yeah, that's it. We simply stuck the wire through the bottom of the cup and poured the cement in.